Colorado Rockies: What could the lineup look like without Nolan Arenado and Raimel Tapia?

The Colorado Rockies may have two injuries that could cost them dearly if they are serious enough.

The Colorado Rockies have two weeks to play in the regular season and they are only 1.5 games behind the San Francisco Giants for the  8th and final spot in the National League playoffs. However, the way that the Rockies have been playing lately (they are 10-22 in their last 32 games), that 1.5 game lead seems like it is much more.

As a result, they have also seen their percentage chance at making the playoffs nosedive from 74.7 percent to just 16 percent, according to FanGraphs.

One of the biggest reasons why the Rockies have played so poorly is their situational hitting and, frankly, their offense, in general. In that 10-22 span, the Rockies have a team wRC+ of 74, which is the worst in the National League and second-worst in baseball in that span.

But in that span, two of the more consistent bats in the Rockies lineup have been Nolan Arenado and Raimel Tapia and now, the Rockies may be facing the possibility of having neither in the lineup.

Arenado struggled mightily to start the season but through the early part of last week, he had become one of the Rockies most consistent bats at the plate, even though he still wasn’t producing the typical numbers that we see from him. He has been struggling, though, in his last few games and

Rockies manager Bud Black revealed on Sunday to the media, including Rox Pile, that it was because Arenado has been dealing with a sore AC joint in his left shoulder. That is also why he was not in the lineup on Sunday against the Angels.

From August 10 (the Rockies’ second game of the 10-22 span but Arenado’s first game playing in that) through Wednesday, Arenado was hitting .314/.354/.549 with a wRC+ of 113.

Tapia also started the season off slow but from August 11 through Saturday, he was hitting .324/.398/.417 with a wRC+ of 109. He was removed from Sunday’s game in the 3rd inning because, according to Bud Black after the game, Tapia was “under the weather” and was a bit dizzy after diving for a ball in the 3rd inning.

For both Arenado and Tapia, it remains to be seen how either one of them will be on Tuesday when the team resumes play and faces the AL West-leading Oakland A’s at Coors Field but if the Rockies don’t have either one of Tapia or Arenado in the lineup, it could spell even more problems for the Rockies offensive woes.

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Depending on whether the A’s use a left-handed or right-handed starter on Tuesday (they have not announced their starter as of Sunday night), here’s what the Rockies lineup could look like without either Arenado or Tapia in it.

1. Garrett Hampson, 2B
2. Trevor Story, SS
3. Kevin Pillar, CF
4. Charlie Blackmon, RF
5. Matt Kemp, DH
6. Josh Fuentes, 1B
7. David Dahl, LF
8. Ryan McMahon, 3B
9. Tony Wolters, C

The Rockies could change the defensive positions for Hampson (likely center field if he wasn’t at second base), Fuentes, and McMahon. They could also decide to put in Sam Hilliard in for Dahl or Kemp or Daniel Murphy in for Kemp instead.

Any way you slice it, it doesn’t look a lineup card that you want to send to Cooperstown any time soon. Fuentes and Story are the two hottest bats and, really, the rest of the lineup has struggled for a while now, if not for the whole season.

For example, Charlie Blackmon started out the season .500/.527/.721 in his first 17 games but he was hitting .212/.298/.353 with a wRC+ of 51 in 27 games since (through Saturday).

Hopefully, Rockies fans will receive good news on Tuesday about Arenado and Tapia because if they do not, the Rockies season will all but be over.