The Colorado Rockies continue to find ways to make me to want to scratch my head.
Earlier this week, I received a text message from a friend asking me whether or not the Colorado Rockies were going to bring back Carlos Gonzalez. My reply, in a little bit more colorful language, was absolutely not.
Then, of course, to my utter dismay, this tweet by MLB Network insider Jon Heyman came out on Thursday:
HUH?!?!? This must be a joke, right? What is going on in the Rockies’ front office that would make them even think about bringing back CarGo for the 2019 season?
For starters, the now-33-year-old Gonzalez has been average, at best, the last two seasons in Denver. Not to mention his woeful home/road splits and his success (or lack thereof) against left-handed pitching.
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Second, the Rockies do not need another left-handed bat in the lineup. They added left-handed Daniel Murphy to a roster full of lefties and the need for a right-handed bat was somewhat addressed on Wednesday, with the low-risk/high-reward signing of first baseman Mark Reynolds to minor league deal.
Most importantly, the outfield is already crowded and, like last season, the signing of CarGo would block the development of highly touted prospects. The Rockies’ outfield already looks set with Charlie Blackmon, Ian Desmond, and David Dahl.
Raimel Tapia is out of options and will have to either make the roster as the fourth outfielder out of the spring or be traded. If they wanted to go with CarGo as a fifth outfielder, it would mean either one fewer are out of the bullpen or one fewer infielder. This would also block the path for one of other outfielders on 40-man roster such as Noel Cuevas, Yonathan Daza, Sam Hilliard, or Mike Tauchman from making the majors.
We all love Carlos Gonzalez and his contributions to the Rockies’ organization over the last 10 years but it is time to move on. There are a few problems that need to be addressed on the upcoming roster. However, the addition of CarGo is not one of the answers.