Colorado Rockies: Exclusive reactions to the Jorge De La Rosa signing

Yesterday, we confirmed that the Colorado Rockies have signed the franchise leader in wins, left-hander Jorge De La Rosa, to a minor league contract. After Friday’s loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the home opener, we got a chance to talk to some Rockies who played with De La Rosa about their reactions.

News broke toward the end of the game on Friday that the Rockies had signed the franchise’s all-time wins leader, Jorge De La Rosa, to a minor league contract. He has spent the past two seasons in a relief role split between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Chicago Cubs.

However, this spring training, he found himself without a home so the Rockies decided to take a flyer on him on a minor league deal to provide themselves with some depth for the bullpen.

De La Rosa spent parts of nine seasons with the Rockies from 2008 through 2016. Two of his teammates during that tenure, Chris Iannetta and Chad Bettis, are still with the Rockies. Both of them spoke exclusively to Rox Pile’s Jake Shapiro after the game on their thoughts about the return of De La Rosa.

Iannetta was De La Rosa’s catcher from 2008 through 2011 with the Rockies but he also was teammates with him with the D’Backs in 2017. He spoke on how great of a person and a teammate that De La Rosa is.

“First and foremost, I remember him being one of my favorite teammates of all time,” said Iannetta. “He’s an all around great guy but he’s a competitor on the mound, he has great stuff, [and] I think that his career has spoke[n] for itself. What he was able to do in Coors Field and what he did when he went to Arizona…If he can get back in [game-playing] shape and get back to where he wants to be, it will be a great addition to this team depth wise.”

Rockies fans remember De La Rosa as a starter but he became a reliever with the D’Backs, which is something he only did nine times in his 209 appearances as a Rockie. If he makes the team, he would be a reliever so Iannetta, who played with him when he was a reliever in Arizona, said it’s a bit different for him and De La Rosa both.

“He’s out there to get one guy out or pitch one inning–two at the most–so he’s just coming right at guys,” said Iannetta. “It’s a more simplified approach than it was as a starter.”

Iannetta said that it was simplified for one main reason: pitch repertoire.

“As a starter, he was a fastball, changeup, slider, [and he’d] mix in that curveball,” said Iannetta. “Coming out of the ‘pen, it’s more of a fastball, slider, change approach.”

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From another perspective, Chad Bettis, who played with De La Rosa from 2013 through 2016, is elated to have De La Rosa back.

“It’s really exciting,” said Bettis. “I came up with him [on the Rockies at the time] and I learned a lot from him and he was really successful here so I think the fact that he’s back in our organization is really good for us. I think that we [as a pitching staff] can learn a lot from him. He brings [another whole] level of experience [with him] so it’s exciting news.”

The Rockies lost a lot of veterans via free agency this past offseason (e.g. Carlos Gonzalez, DJ LeMahieu, Adam Ottavino) so Bettis thinks that “it’s a big thing” to bring De La Rosa back.

De La Rosa will report to extended spring training and try to return to the majors. Bettis, himself, had to return to the major leagues after a long hiatus when he had his cancer at the end of 2016 and into 2017 so he spoke to Shapiro about how it is coming back to the majors.

“It’s just different,” Bettis said. “I felt like I was playing catchup for a while and now, finally, feel like where I need to be mentally [and] physically…so I have a lot of respect for him [trying to make a comeback]. I knew he still wanted to play so it’s good to have him back.”

Considering that De La Rosa did not have a spring training, it will take him a while to make a return but he very well could be a low risk, high reward signing that will, essentially, be like an acquisition at the trade deadline (which is the only trade deadline starting this year) like the club did with Matt Holliday last year.

The Rockies front office and the fans can only hope that the De La Rosa will as successful as Holliday was.