The Colorado Rockies Should Not Be Starting Yohan Flande Or Gonzalez Germen

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Jun 29, 2014; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; New York Mets relief pitcher G. Germen (71) pitches against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the seventh inning at PNC Park. The Pirates won 5-2. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

The Colorado Rockies need to make at least a temporary fifth starter decision — and while the decision is up in the air, I can tell you who it absolutely should not be.

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So we asked you in a poll yesterday about the Colorado Rockies’ options regarding their fifth starter position that’s coming up, mostly likely on July 28, on the road trip to Chicago and St. Louis. As I (ok, as most of us) see it, the options on the table for the fifth starter include Aaron Laffey, John Lannan, Jon Gray, Yohan Flande, and Gonzalez Germen.

Gray probably isn’t ready, Laffey has already been up once and threw well enough, Lannan is a longtime big league veteran who is probably the best bet for this role (we’ve written about him before, if you’re curious), and… OK. Let’s talk about those last two guys on that list: Flande and Germen.

I love Flande and Germen. I’m actually not really sure why, because both of them are kind of the 26th-27th man on most rosters. (Well, on most rosters, both guys would probably be buried in AAA, but on the cellar dwellin’ Colorado Rockies, we find ourselves with both guys hanging out in the bullpen.)

I think I like them both so much — aside from my sarcastic I love Flande comments on Twitter — because you’ve gotta cheer for the underdog. The guy who nobody expects to be anything. And when they throw a few scoreless innings, hey, it’s a damn good feeling to see the forgotten man (men) come up big for a team with payroll committed, well, everywhere except those two guys.

All this nice, esoteric kumbaya mumbo-jumbo aside, though, it’s kind of important to look at facts. And the facts are that Yohan Flande and Gonzalez Germen are not big league starters, even in the short-term, and shouldn’t be considered as serious options for this Colorado Rockies’ fifth starter spot (even if it only goes through a couple turns of the rotation).

So let’s make the rotation case against my two favorite players and focus on one other guy who ought to be starting for the Colorado Rockies…

Next: The Case Against Yohan Flande

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