Colorado Rockies: Projecting the Opening Day lineup 2.0

The Colorado Rockies lineup is still a bit up in the air with less than two weeks before Opening Day but with recent roster moves, things seem to be a bit clearer, at least with the names that will be in the lineup.

Earlier this week, Rox Pile’s Kevin Henry looked at what the Rockies Opening Day lineup could be but since then, things have changed.

This week, the Colorado Rockies traded for Randal Grichuk from the Toronto Blue Jays. He has played a lot of center field in recent years but could also play right field.

These are the two main things the Rockies have to figure out for their lineup:

• Who will be the primary DH?
• How many platoons will they have?

To answer the first question, we know it will be a merry-go-round of a lot of outfielders and first basemen. The players most likely to spend the most time here are Charlie Blackmon, Sam Hilliard, Grichuk, Connor Joe, and C.J. Cron with occasional appearances by Kris Bryant and the team’s infielders. This will be a very versatile team so the Rockies will be shuffling their roster for most of the season defensively.

For the second question, we’ll dive into that a little bit later in the lineup.

But let’s look at what the lineup could be on Opening Day at the top of the lineup.

1) Colorado Rockies right fielder Charlie Blackmon

Charlie Blackmon hates to DH so we’re going to go out on a limb and say that manager Bud Black will put him in right field on Opening Day.

Blackmon has seen his power numbers go down recently and Black has utilized Blackmon in the leadoff spot in recent spring training games so he will likely be their new leadoff man.