Colorado Rockies: 3 questions we had answered on Monday
Thanks to a conference call with Colorado Rockies general manager Jeff Bridich and manager Bud Black on Monday, we heard the answers to three pressing questions.
Certainly, there is still a lot up in the air when it comes to the 2020 season for the Colorado Rockies and the rest of Major League Baseball. There are plenty of questions about the season and how Colorado plans to attack it. Luckily, we had three of those questions answered on Monday morning when Bridich and Black met with the media (including Rox Pile) for an hour-long discussion.
The first question was about Ubaldo Jimenez and why he was not included on Colorado’s initial player pool roster. The veteran pitcher, who has a track record with the Rockies and holds the franchise’s only no-hitter, was in spring camp attempting a comeback. While the nostalgia of seeing Jimenez in a Rockies uniform was there, the 36-year-old pitcher struggled mightily in his last spring training outing.
In all, Jimenez threw 5.1 innings and gave up nine runs on nine hits, finishing spring training in Arizona with an 8.44 ERA.
Those struggles are part of the reason, according to Bridich, why Jimenez is not only not a part of Colorado’s player pool, but also the franchise’s future plans as well. Colorado’s general manager called it a “tough decision” and said the decision was his rather than the player’s.
Will this be the end of Jiminez’s career? We’ll have to wait and see.
So where will the Colorado Rockies house their taxi squad?
If you don’t remember the 2020 rules, the Rockies will have additional players who are not on the active roster as part of a “taxi squad” that can be called upon in the event of an injury, positive COVID-19 test, or any other reason why someone on the active squad would need to be replaced.
Until today, we weren’t sure where that taxi squad would be based. We know now that Colorado’s taxi squad will have Albuquerque, site of Colorado’s Triple-A franchise, serve as its home base.
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While it is a six-hour drive between Albuquerque and Denver, Bridich didn’t seem to think that would be a problem. He also mentioned the team had undergone a vetting procedure for other potential sites, including the field where Colorado’s Triple-A team used to play in Colorado Springs (that is now the home of Milwaukee’s Rookie League team). However, with Colorado’s familiarity with Albuquerque and the setup at Isotopes Park, it made sense.
Bridich also said that the Rockies would likely be using the baseball facilities at Metropolitan State University in Denver during the spring training reboot.
“Our plan is to have Metro State be a potential part of the three weeks of spring training 2.0,” Bridich said. “It will not serve as our taxi site but more as a second field that we can use to whatever degree per week that Buddy and our coaches feel it’s necessary.”
Will there be more additions to the Colorado Rockies 60-man roster released on Sunday?
With just 52 names on the 60-man roster, the Rockies were leaving some space to add players as we edged closer to Opening Day.
While many of us hypothesized that the Rockies would continue to add to the roster, we didn’t know who or when. On Monday, we learned two more names.
“We have already told two gentlemen that they will join us in Albuquerque,” Bridich said “Those two guys are Wes Parsons and Tommy Doyle, and our plan is to, at this point right now, is to add a handful more. The plan is to have more guys join us in Albuquerque and we’re going to finalize those decisions soon.”
Parsons, a 27-year-old right-handed reliever, pitched in 32 games for the Rockies last season (totaling a 5.45 ERA) after being picked up from the Atlanta Braves on waivers in August. He elected free agency in December, but was quickly signed by the Rockies to a minor league deal and assigned to Albuquerque.
Parsons made two spring appearances, throwing 3.2 frames and allowing five hits and four runs.
Doyle was taken 70th overall by the Rockies in the 2017 MLB draft. The 24-year-old right-handed reliever had a 3.25 ERA and 19 saves in 23 save opportunities for Class A Lancaster last season. He picked up 18 saves the year before that in Class A Asheville.
He made four spring appearances for the Rockies, allowing just one hit and one run in four innings of work. He struck out three of the 15 batters he faced.