Rockies reliever Jason Motte is dealing with a shoulder strain that will likely cause him to miss the start of the season, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post reports on Twitter. That seems to line up lefty Jake McGee to take the closing duties to start the year.
Any significant time missed by Motte would represent a big blow to the Rockies. He signed a two-year, $10MM deal over the winter to provide a stabilizing late-inning presence. And the club’s staff is already dealing with an injury to Jon Gray, which has pushed Christian Bergman from the pen to the rotation.
While McGee is more than capable — preferable, really — in the ninth inning, the overall pen situation obviously will suffer without Motte. Presumably, Justin Miller and Chad Qualls will function as the two late-inning righties.
Then, there’s the question of the long-term effects of fighting through a shoulder injury. Motte was coming off of a somewhat less-than-stellar 2015 — though he did bring his velocity up to a 95 mph average fastball. And he gave up six earned runs in 5 2/3 spring innings — though that was largely due to two well-timed home runs, as Motte struck out four without surrendering a walk.
Nice to see some things never change.
Out with the Old…… In with the Old……
2015 Colorado closer- LaTroy Hawkins
2016 Colorado closer= Jason Motte
Still cant figure out why they were willing to go 2/10MM for Motte. He should be middle inning fodder, regardless of fastball speed. Effectiveness should be the determining factor. To even consider him over McGee, who you just gave up quality for, makes no sense.
They don’t want McGee getting expensive too fast, especially when they’re taking/not contending.
I don’t think so. McGee’s already arbitration-eligible, and he’s a free agent after 2017 I believe. If they were truly afraid of him earning a hefty sum in arbitration, they likely would’ve just kept the minimum-salary Dickerson. I didn’t understand that trade when I thought McGee would close, but if he’s only a middle relief or setup guy, that just makes it a little bit worse, but their moves suggest that they’re not tanking. They want to, and believe they can, compete it seems. I don’t believe it’s possible with their starting pitching, which is why I hated the Dickerson trade, but maybe they love German Marquez?
I really don’t need to know how the Rockies FO works from one of its fans…. But I am curious as to how the person who came up with this concept really thinks it makes much sense. Paying an older closer 5MM a year from the free market to be your closer for a team that is not expecting to win makes absolutely no sense. There are contending clubs that have a 5MM bullpen in total. You simply don’t pay a closer 5MM when you are not contending, especially an aging guy coming off of an injury.
Better options:
*Pick up a cheap(pre-arb) pitcher through a waiver claim with a live arm and mold him
*Go get a Rule V flamethrower and mold him into your closer of the future(A-La the Cubs & Braves)
*Mold one of your homegrown flamethrowers into a closer
*Promote one of your own into the closers role
There are so many other ways to go than to throw $10MM on a question mark who was waived mid-way through the season last year after making the team on a minor lg pact.
Just my thoughts….