Colorado Rockies Quick Hits: CarGo, Michael Saunders, Chris Rusin

Today, we have some quick hits about a former Rockie and some roster moves for the Colorado Rockies.

As you have probably seen by now, former Colorado Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez has signed a minor league deal with the Cleveland Indians, ending his 10 year tenure with the Colorado Rockies.

You can check out some of his franchise ranks here in this tweet.

Now that CarGo is gone, the longest continually tenured Rockies player is Charlie Blackmon, as he has played in a Rockies uniform at the major league level since 2011 (Chris Iannetta made his debut with the Rockies in 2006 but he was with other teams from 2012 through 2017).

Gonzalez will make $2 million this season if he makes the Indians major league roster and if you look at their atrocious depth chart of outfielders, even with his struggles in the past two seasons, it would be a crime if he doesn’t. He might not be ready for Opening Day considering that he’s missed a month of spring training and there’s less than 2 weeks left until Opening Day but I would guess that you will see him in an Indians uniform by April some time.

You might be sad to see him leave the Rockies but at least he goes to the Indians, a team that the Rockies are friends with on Twitter and he adds to the many ties that the Rockies and Indians have (plus a series of trades that the Indians and Rockies had in the O’Dowd era, including the Ubaldo Jimenez trade).

We here at Rox Pile wish him the best of luck with his new team.

More from Rox Pile

• A Colorado Rockies Thanksgiving
• Colorado Rockies: What if Todd Helton had played football instead?
• Colorado Rockies: Charlie Blackmon out for the season
• Colorado Rockies: Injuries shift look of roster ahead of Dodgers series
• Colorado Rockies: Has Sean Bouchard earned a second look in 2023?

Another roster move

Back to this year’s team and roster, the Colorado Rockies have released outfielder Michael Saunders, per Nick Groke of The Athletic. He signed a minor league contract with an invite to MLB camp in January.

He played decently in Spring Training as he hit .261/.393/.741 in 23 at-bats but the Rockies obviously don’t have room for him. He will likely latch on with another team who needs some outfield help or has an injury to one of their outfielders.

After yesterday’s cuts and now Saunders, the Rockies major league camp is down to 40.

An injury means an open spot

After the news on Antonio Senzatela‘s foot injury, Chris Rusin will likely not start the season with the Rockies as he will likely be on the new “injury list,” according to Bud Black (h/t Groke).

As Groke mentions, this likely leaves Carlos Estevez, DJ Johnson, and Harrison Musgrave competing for two spots in the bullpen.

All three members of the trio have appeared in at least 6 games and 6 innings for the Rockies in spring training and each have an ERA of 2.25 or less so it will be a tough decision for the Rockies as all three have pitched well.