Colorado Rockies Rundown: Everybody’s Done For The Year!

Sep 16, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Colorado Rockies right fielder B. Barnes (1) reacts after striking out against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Brandon Barnes is done for the year

(via MLB.com)

According to MLB.com, according to Walt Weiss, Brandon Barnes is done for the rest of the year after straining his hamstring earlier this week against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Barnes will finish his season slashing .251/.314/.341 with 13 doubles and two home runs in 281 plate appearances. As a fifth outfielder, who can play all three positions with some speed and decent defense — and a guy who Weiss apparently loves in the clubhouse — Barnes did well enough for the Rockies this year, especially considering who was playing every day in front of him.

[ Related: David Dahl is our Top Prospect at the AA level for 2015 ]

That being said… between Corey Dickerson, Carlos Gonzalez, and Charlie Blackmon in front of him, and David Dahl, Jordan Patterson and Raimel Tapia coming very quickly behind, there’s certainly not a long-term spot for Barnes in Denver, especially since he has yet to prove he can consistently hit well enough at the big league level.

Might he get another year or two working as a fifth outfielder? Absolutely. Can he play a long time in the Major Leagues as a fast, tough fifth outfielder? In the words of Sarah Palin, you betcha. But his window for significant at bats — barring injury from starters — probably is closing pretty quickly, and his future with the Rockies may be limited to another season, if that.

Next: Yohan Flande is done for the year

Aug 9, 2015; Washington, DC, USA; Colorado Rockies relief pitcher Y. Flande (58) pitches against the Washington Nationals during the 2nd inning at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Rafael Suanes-USA TODAY Sports

Yohan Flande is done for the year

(via MLB.com)

Also in that Brandon Barnes story on the last slide, we’ve got news that Yohan Flande may not pitch again for the Rockies this year. After getting hit with a comebacker last week against San Diego, Flande missed his most recent start (which would’ve been Friday night against the Dodgers), and is now trying to recover to return to the rotation or bullpen.

Weiss said that it was still up in the air whether Flande would appear in the last six games, so I suppose we shall see.

[ Related: Colorado Rockies to sell high on as the winter approaches ]

If the season is over for Flande, he will finish with a 4.88 ERA (18 games/10 starts) covering 66.1 innings, striking out 42 while allowing 25 walks and winning three games while losing three more.

For a long reliever who was thrust into the rotation, Flande was halfway decent for most of the year until fading near the very end of the season. Next year, should he find a spot on the team, it should most certainly be in the bullpen as the Rockies’ long man: he throws strikes and has shown the flexibility to go multiple innings, and would work well saving starters who blow up early in games.

Next: Jose Reyes is done for the year

Sep 4, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Rockies shortstop J. Reyes (7) during the seventh inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. The Rockies won 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

Jose Reyes is done for the year

(via MLB.com)

Add another one to the done-for-the-year list, with Jose Reyes and some achilles heel problems!

We see that Jose Reyes wants to get back out on to the field, but based on recent comments, it appears Achilles tendon pain may keep him off the field for the rest of the year:

“The Achilles is a very serious injury and you don’t want to [tear] that. I want to finish the season. But I don’t want to go out there, try to be tough and make it worse. But if it’s a little sore, but good enough to play, I want to.”

[ Related: 2015 Albuquerque Isotopes Top Prospect Award: Trevor Story ]

Hey, Jose, with all due respect, don’t stretch yourself, man. Cristhian Adames has been proving himself lately in your place, Rafael Ynoa and Daniel Descalso have been doing well enough in utility roles, and I am A-OK if this is the last time you’ll ever be seen in a Rockies’ uniform.

No sense in having him get hurt even worse in the final week of the season and risk him hurting his already bizarre trade value as the Colorado Rockies (hopefully) try to ship him out of town this winter.

Next: Miguel Castro is done for the year

Sep 14, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Colorado Rockies relief pitcher M. Castro (46) works against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the eighth inning at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports

Miguel Castro is done for the year

(via MLB.com)

Miguel Castro, who came over with Reyes in the Troy Tulowitzki deal, has also been officially shut down this year. Back soreness is the culprit for the tall and lanky Castro, who has registered triple digits on the radar gun, but has also struggled in his stints up in the big leagues this year.

Weiss, when revealing the news that Castro was done for the year, also said this about what he saw from the very young righthanded relief pitcher:

“I saw a big fastball and a really good slider. I saw some changeups in his later outings that surprised me. That was a good pitch for him. I didn’t know he had it. To see him use it in games and use it effectively was encouraging.”

[ Poll: Will the Colorado Rockies finally commit to re-building this winter? ]

Next year will be a really big season for Miguel — imagine him doing something similar to the path Jairo Diaz has been on this year for the Rockies, or, hopefully, even slightly better.

Castro may well start the season in AAA again, but if he can show some development along the way, he should be a mainstay power arm in the back end of the Rockies’ bullpen, and — best case scenarios here, people — join Diaz, Scott Oberg, Tommy Kahnle, Adam Ottavino, hell, even Rex Brothers (remember him?) in some mythical dream power bullpen that magically gets out and is young and controllable.

Next: Jon Gray, rotation mainstay?

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, rotation mainstay?

(via Purple Row)

Eric Garcia-McKinley is a really smart (and yes, sabermetric-focused) guy, and you should read this entire piece on Jon Gray that he put together, so I’ll only share a very small portion of the end of it, and let him contextualize what Gray’s stats mean at this link right here:

“The last time I was in Colorado covering a Rockies game, Bryan Kilpatrick and I were chatting about statistics with Cory Sullivan in the dugout. He said something to the effect of “players don’€™t care about FIP.” In one sense, he‒s wrong. If players care about walks, strikeouts, and home runs, they care about FIP. They just don’€™t call it FIP. The same can be said about cFIP and each of its components. In another sense, though, he’€™s right. I have no delusions that I can make Jon Gray feel better about his 5.53 ERA by informing him of his cFIP. Jon Gray isn’€™t my audience for this piece though. The purpose of it is to save the Rockies watcher’s hands from violent offseason wringing. It’€™s still possible that the inability to make mental adjustments can derail him, but he’€™s made mental, as well as mechanical, adjustments in the past, so I trust he‒ll do so again. Advanced statistics might help prevent a crisis of confidence for some players, but I don’t think Gray is one of them. Because of that, we should keep in mind the anxiety that Nick Groke recently reported when we watch Gray pitch next season, especially at home. It’s up to the Rockies coaches to get his mind on something else, because all other on the field factors suggest he’s going to be just fine.”

[ Related: Trevor Story is our 2015 Top Prospect at AAA Albuquerque ]

Gray still has a lot of work to do, and it’s not foreseeable yet if he can be an ace, or a star, or a good number 2 or 3 starter, or even a long-time serviceable big leaguer. What is for certain is that numbers seem to point in his direction thus far, and he’s done enough on the mound to pass the eye test, too, that would suggest there are some things about which you should be very encouraged.

We don’t yet know if the Colorado Rockies have a legit future-of-the-franchise starter in Gray. Will we know next year? Probably. Also, maybe not! It takes guys a while to develop. But we will have a much better idea after another season than we do right now with just 40 innings to the young man’s name.

Next: Mat Latos, 2016 option in the rotation?

August 29, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher M. Latos (55) reacts to umpires after being charged with a balk in the fifth inning against the Chicago Cubs at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Mat Latos, 2016 rotation target?

(via MLB Trade Rumors)

Just gonna leave that link right there for you guys. Mat Latos was pretty pretty pretty bad with the Dodgers this year (and he wasn’t good with the Marlins before that earlier this summer, either), but up until this year he actually put up some decent numbers starting for the Reds and Padres.

We’ve written before about perhaps, hey, maybe taking a flyer on this guy next year as a buy (relatively) low candidate to start some games (think Chris Rusin, but with a much better Major League track record, more velocity, better stuff, and a higher short-term upside).

[ Related: 2015 Albuquerque Isotopes season in review ]

Guess we’ll see what the Colorado Rockies do, but the broader point of speculating about Latos remains: the Rox need as much pitching help as they can get, and guys like this really are not the worst thing in the world when it comes to just having halfway-decent warm bodies in camp.

He’s a step up from the “innings-eating” warm body of the last season (Kyle Kendrick), and would probably fetch a similar price on a one-year deal. Is the Hot Stove here yet?

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