Colorado Rockies Rundown: Injuries, Injuries, Injuries!

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Sep 22, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Rockies third baseman N. Arenado (28) looks back after striking out in the eighth inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

Your morning rundown — news, notes, analysis, and more — on the biggest stories surrounding the Colorado Rockies for Thursday, September 24, 2015.

Nolan Arenado shaken, but OK

(via MLB.com)

Neck injuries are always scary, and when Nolan Arenado banged his head and neck hard against the ground with two outs in the ninth inning on Tuesday night, I for one thought back to the concussion sustained by Justin Morneau when he dove for a ball in May against the Los Angeles Angels.

It doesn’t right now sound like Arenado is as injured now as Morneau was then, but Arenado was immediately removed from the game on Tuesday night, and was not in the lineup Wednesday.

Updates from MLB.com on what went down after the game:

The Rockies pulled Arenado from the game. Head athletic trainer Keith Dugger checked Arenado in the clubhouse postgame and said he did not appear to have a concussion, but Arenado will be checked again. “He’ll be fine,” Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. “He hit his head pretty hard on the ground. At that point, there was no sense keeping him out there.”

Having just read this incredible but very sad piece on traumatic brain injuries and concussions relating to football, I am probably in a more conservative mindset than most, but head and neck injuries aren’t a joke. We’ll have news about several players getting shut down below, but if Arenado is feeling head and/or neck problems in the next couple days, it might be worth it to shut him down, too.

I know, that’s all speculation — no word yet on if that’s happening. But it’s something of which trainers and coaches for the Colorado Rockies ought to be incredibly mindful. Arenado’s done enough this year, and the Rockies aren’t playing for anything; don’t mortgage a future with this kid if you don’t have to, because the Rox need nothing the rest of the way this summer.

Oh, BTW, add Charlie Blackmon to this list; he was a late scratch from Wednesday night’s game with a sore neck. Everybody is dropping like flies! Then Brandon Barnes, who replaced Blackmon in Wednesday’s lineup, strained his hamstring running out a fly ball and was removed from the game himself!

Injuries!

Next: Jon Gray gets shut down for 2015

Sep 14, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Colorado Rockies starting pitcher J. Gray (55) works against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the second inning at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports

Jon Gray shut down for rest of 2015

(via Twitter)

We all obviously expected the Colorado Rockies to do this very soon — granted, I actually thought this would happen before his last start against the Pittsburgh Pirates — but Jon Gray has been officially shut down for the year.

Thomas Harding with more:

#Rockies skip Walt Weiss says RHP Jon Gray has reached his innings limit and will not pitch the rest of the year. Weiss says it was planned
— Thomas Harding (@harding_at_mlb) September 23, 2015

Having thrown 40.2 innings this year (he finishes 0-2, 5.53 in nine games/nine starts), Gray certainly did more than get his feet wet for 2016, and should be ready to go out of the game come Opening Day.

ROOT’s Jenny Cavnar tweeted something interesting regarding Gray’s shut down:

Walt Weiss announcing today that Jon Gray's season is over after reaching inns limit. expect full season 2016 #rockies
— Jenny Cavnar (@jennycavnar) September 23, 2015

Full season 2016 — does that just generally mean Gray will be counted on next year as we are all hoping? Or does that mean no innings limit next year? As teams develop young pitchers, they often give innings limits (think Matt Harvey‘s 180-innings limit in New York, though Harvey’s case is complicated by an elbow surgery).

I guess only time will tell, and perhaps we’ll be talking about Gray’s full-season workload at this point next year!

Gray’s final stats:

Jon Gray's final 2015 stats:

0-2, 5.53 ERA, 9 game/starts, 40.2 IP, 52 H, 26 R, 25 ER, 14 BB, 40 K
— Rox Pile (@RoxPileFS) September 23, 2015

Next: Jorge De La Rosa's 2015 is over

Jul 27, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; Colorado Rockies starting pitcher J. De La Rosa (29) reacts after the Chicago Cubs score during the fourth inning at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Caylor Arnold-USA TODAY Sports

JDLR is done for 2015

(via Twitter)

In more shut down news, the Colorado Rockies are sitting down Jorge De La Rosa for the rest of 2015, which for him likely was going to be two more starts (one last night against Pittsburgh, and one next week in Arizona).

Thomas Harding had that news, too:

#Rockies manager Walt Weiss says LHP Jorge De La Rosa is done for the season. LHP Yohan Flande has a possibility to start again this year
— Thomas Harding (@harding_at_mlb) September 23, 2015

De La Rosa, as we reported, is dealing with an Achilles heel injury. Apparently, he’s been struggling through it for several starts, and only recently it’s gotten so bad that the Rockies have made the decision to shut him down the rest of the way. We speculated as much earlier this week.

As for Flande, also listed in that tweet, he’s given up his Friday night turn in the rotation to David Hale. The lefty is dealing with a comebacker injury he sustained last week against the San Diego Padres, and he can still pitch next week, perhaps in Arizona or San Francisco.

Obviously, neither of these guys should’ve rushed back to the rotation, anyways. The Rox aren’t playing for anything, De La Rosa is going to be counted on quite a bit in 2016 (well… at least until the trade… which we’ll talk more about later), and it’s best not to risk anything dumb in the final ten days.

De La Rosa’s final stats:

Jorge De La Rosa's final 2015 stats:

9-7, 4.17 ERA, 26 games/starts, 149 IP, 137 H, 73 R, 69 ER, 65 BB, 134 K
— Rox Pile (@RoxPileFS) September 23, 2015

Next: Happy birthday, Gonzalez Germen!

Jul 31, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; Colorado Rockies relief pitcher G. Germen (62) pitches against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Gonzalez Germen celebrates birthday in the bullpen

(via Twitter)

Here’s a nice tweet from the Colorado Rockies:

Happy Birthday to Gonzalez Germen!

Germen turned 28 on Wednesday, and he’s putting together a fairly solid season in Colorado as a middle reliever. He’s probably not one of those guys who factors in long-term in a pen for what hopefully will be a good Rockies’ team in 2017 or 2018, but he’s done good work this year (except for a 6.1 BB/9 walk rate) and you can’t hate that.

Happy birthday, Gonzalez German Germen Figaro. Hope you enjoyed the day!

Next: Quinton McCracken up for a GM job

Jun 1, 2014; Boston, MA, USA; A general view of Fenway Park during the eighth inning of the game between the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bays Rays. The Boston Red Sox won 4-0. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

Former Rockies’ OF Quinton McCracken for GM?

(via BoSox Injection)

This is a very nice piece from our sister site, BoSox Injection, about the Sox interviewing Astros’ director of player development Quinton McCracken for Boston’s open GM role.

McCracken, of course, played for the Rockies in 1995, 1996, and 1997, hitting .291 in Colorado over that time frame after the club drafted him out of Duke University. He went on to have a long career with several other big league ball clubs, and has been working in Major League front offices ever since.

The Sox are going to be interviewing several other candidates, and they have a lot of options, you’d imagine, considering the well-respected and well-connected Dave Dombrowski is running the show now in Boston.

Some interesting analysis here regarding the ins and outs of Boston’s front office, from the guys at BoSox Injection:

My concern here is with his lack of experience. Six seasons doesn’t seem like a huge amount to me for such a job as general manager. McCracken is going to be a prime candidate for advancement for his involvement with the Astros who are likely to make the playoffs this season after several down seasons. Another member of the Astros front office ex-assistant GM, 30 year old David Stearns was just named the Milwaukee Brewers general manager. So, perhaps if you look at a whiz kid like Stearns, six years might be considered plenty of experience for the GM job. While McCracken was a rung or two below Stearns, the Astros success reflects well on him in terms of the success of all its young players. Perhaps he could continue to assist in that process with the Red Sox. The position of General Manager for the Red Sox will hold less power than most other organizations who don’t have a President of Baseball Operations making the final decisions. This could be one reason that McCracken could get this job, however, as he would likely be accepting of such a role since he has never advanced so far in an organization. This is an involved process, of course, and many other candidates will be brought in.

Nevertheless, with McCracken joining Gabe Kapler (director of player development for the Dodgers) and Jerry Dipoto (former GM of the Angels), it’s always nice to see former Rockies in impactful front office positions.

Next: Kyle Kendrick limps to the finish line

Jul 31, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; Colorado Rockies starting pitcher K. Kendrick (38) reacts after allowing a solo home run to St. Louis Cardinals third baseman M. Carpenter (13) in the first inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Kyle Kendrick fades… again

(via Rockies Zingers)

So whenever my dogs and/or cat does something bad, or dumb, or pathetic, I always tell them — as they look so pathetically pitiful up at me after doing whatever it is that they did — that “it’s really tough being a dog today, isn’t it?”

Then, they sniff their butt and walk away.

That’s kind of like what it is with Kyle Kendrick in a Rockies uniform. It’s been really tough to be a Kyle Kendrick in 2015. To the best of my knowledge, Kendrick hasn’t sniffed his own butt. But — but! — one or two more starts, and Kendrick will be able to walk away.

Rockies Zingers’ Nick Tremaroli analyzes correctly that it’s been a tough year for Kyle. The shut down likely won’t happen, though; with Gray and De La Rosa having just now been shut down, and the Rockies already (literally) doing the proverbial limp back to the barn, Kyle Kendrick is likely destined to start twice the rest of the way…

More from Rox Pile

Home / Colorado Rockies News

Nolan Arenado shaken, but OK

Jon Gray shut down for rest of 2015

JDLR is done for 2015

Gonzalez Germen celebrates birthday in the bullpen

Former Rockies’ OF Quinton McCracken for GM?

Kyle Kendrick fades… again

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