Colorado Rockies: Another roster crunch could be coming soon for the Rockies

Before Tuesday’s series opener against the Miami Marlins, the Colorado Rockies are likely going to activate shortstop Trevor Story (elbow inflammation) off the 10-day injured list and if not on Tuesday, likely sometime during the series.

As a result of him being activated as well a couple of other players that could be activated off the injured list in the next two weeks or so (Jon Gray and Chris Owings), the Rockies could have a roster crunch here soon.

As of Tuesday morning, the Rockies have a 14-man pitching staff and 12 position players but that could change.

Do the Rockies need nine relievers?

Quite frankly, the Rockies do not need nine relievers. They have had nine relievers all season long and some of their relievers have not had consistent work.

As Danielle Allentuck of The Gazette noted on Twitter, long reliever Jhoulys Chacin, who has been healthy all month, made three appearances.

It should be noted too that one of the appearances was a spot start because the Rockies were playing in a doubleheader and wanted to keep all of their other starters on regular rest.

Before Jon Gray went on the IL, the Rockies had two long relievers in Chacin and Chi Chi Gonzalez, which is, frankly, unnecessary whereas a five-man bench can be easily used, particularly in the National League. In fact, the Rockies have run out of position players on the bench numerous times this year.

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If the Rockies activate Story and decide to go with 13 position players and 13 pitchers, the Rockies will likely send down one of their rookie left-handed relievers: Ben Bowden and Lucas Gilbreath back down to the minors, since they can be sent back to the minors and most of the other relievers can’t.

However, Yency Almonte has struggled throughout all of 2021 so the Rockies could decide to designate him for assignment as well.

Of the position players, infielder Alan Trejo is most likely to be sent back to Triple-A Albuquerque since manager Bud Black has indicated that he wants Trejo to get more consistent playing time. The only position players that aren’t everyday players that have minor league options are Trejo and Garrett Hampson and Hampson isn’t going to be sent down.

The only other player that could be cut is Matt Adams, who is only hitting .172/.273/.207. But, as you probably know by now, the Rockies love their veterans and with Adams being the only left-handed bat on the bench, he will likely be given ample opportunities to stay in the majors, unless the Rockies decide to call up fellow veteran left-handed hitting first baseman, Greg Bird.

However, Bird does not have experience playing the outfield like Adams and he would also a 40-man roster spot, meaning that someone would have to go to the 60-day IL (which could happen with Jordan Sheffield) or someone else has to be DFA’d, as the Rockies have a full 40-man roster.

Unless other injuries happen to the Rockies MLB roster or they pull off some trades, they will likely have a roster crunch coming soon so you may see some faces on their way out.