The Colorado Rockies are bringing right-hander Chi Chi Gonzalez back on a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training, writes MLB.com’s Thomas Harding.
Gonzalez will be 29 years old next season coming off a 0.1 bWAR effort in 2020 that spanned six appearances (four of which were starts). The right-hander was tagged with a 6.86 ERA/5.54 FIP in 19 2/3 innings with 7.3 K/9 to 4.6 BB/9. He was non-tendered last week, but returns now with a chance to make the 2021 team. He has an option remaining, which should help him stick with the organization through the 2021 season. The Rockies need as much pitching depth as they can muster.
Gonzalez was a first round draft pick of the Rangers, but an elbow injury sidelined his career. He made it back to the bigs in 2019, making 11 starts for the Rockies with a 5.29 ERA/5.64 FIP. He throws a five-pitch mix on the backbone of a high-spin, 92 mph four-seam fastball.
Chi chi do you love me
Screw off, I was writing that lmao.
Good for ChiChi.
Chi Chi, do you love me, are you writing, are you never gonna leave from beside me, caus…
Anyways… It feels weird to think that we could’ve traded all of our bust prospects for superstars when they were at the top of prospect boards then, before they all fell from grace.
Easy to say that in retrospect…every team can. Just imagine if they did that and one turned into the next Gerit Cole or Mookie Betts. That’s the other side of the coin. MLB prospects are nothing but a huge gamble.
Yep. Of course that’s the case, but it’s weird to think of how much they could’ve been traded for. Like, right now, I wouldn’t ever want to trade Jung or Huff because I think they’re a huge part of our future, but they could easily be busts. It all just depends on what happens.
Did the Rangers in particular have more busts they could’ve traded than other teams?
Then again, I am a Giants fan, so maybe I have blinders on, since we have a number of trades in the past where the prospects never took off:
– Tim Alderson for Freddie Sanchez (I was SO MAD when this trade was made, and it ended up being a huge win)
– Armando Rios for Jason Schmidt
– Charlie Culbertson for Marco Scutari
– Lucius Fox/Matt Duffy for Matt Moore
– Nate Schierholtz for Hunter Pence
– Christian Arroyo for Evan Longoria
– Jonathan Sanchez for Melky Cabrera (the Yanks said they would’ve offered super propect Jesus Montero straight up for Sanchez, who also ended up being a bust)
Some of those trades worked out better than others for the Giants, but none of those players went on to do anything.
Pretty much no trade in the past decade is worth dwelling upon from the standpoint of putting the team in its current predicament. There’s a long list of much hyped future all stars from the system which did nothing or barely spent time in the majors elsewhere. The team unfortunately hasn’t had a great track record in the draft to have seen the ones shipped off really blossom either. Almost all of what is filling the roster right now won’t even be here when the Rangers make it to the playoffs again.
I tend to agree, I was more commenting on reference to the OP’s comment that the Rangers had a bunch of busts that they wish the team would’ve traded.
Profar was the #1 recruit in baseball. Supposedly we could have got an absolute haul for him but injuries derailed his career. Martin Perez was a Top 10 prospect in baseball who started hot and then truly fizzled out. Mazara was a huge prospect name who never panned out. Mike Olt was supposed to be our franchise third baseman but he ultimately found out he had issues with his vision. There are several guys like Chi Chi who our team thought were rotation staples that never quite made it.
I still think Gallo is a superstar but there’s obvious reasons for concern. Calhoun might never be more then a glorified DH. Add to all of that, we made two huge trades this decade to try and win it all. One for Lucroy who played his worst baseball with us. Another for Fielder whose career ended prematurely with us and we had to pay him 20+ mill for several years.
It’s been rough for us.
Mike Olt turned into Matt Garza, who was just okay but a pretty good return for Olt. And Lucroy was impressive when the Rangers first acquired him. Not to mention, they flipped Brinson for Lucroy, and Brinson hasn’t done anything yet. Even though Lucroy tanked in the first half of his second season, I feel like both those trades turned out pretty good for the Rangers.
But ouch… the rest of those are pretty darn rough though.
Rangers only owe prince $9 mil per year after insurance and what Detroit kicks in.
The move that will put the ROX into the playoffs!!
Professional sports need more guys named Chi Chi.
Dude must be a glutton for punishment where his prize for pitching well is being promoted to pitch in Coors. I respect that though, I hope he puts it together and has a great year.
Would love Les Nesman’s pronounciation of his name. (YouTube “WKRP Chi Chi Rodriguez “)
LOL!! Had the thoughts Dr. Johnny Fever would be rolling his eyes again!
dumb
Chia Chia is Les Nesman’s pronunciation as Loni Anderson wals by.
I hope for his sake he can make some sort of comeback. I feel bad for guys who are successful in the minors and then have a strong rookie season before falling off the map. This guy put up really solid minor league numbers, then pitched solidly with the Rangers in his rookie year — then it was just all downhill from there. Hopefully he can rediscover some of what made him effective and put together a solid year or two — you have to imagine how much work he’s put in his entire life into baseball… And to really only have 1 good season after making it as far as he did must just suck. Best of luck to him going forward.
Future KBO/NPB ace.
I loved his fried ice cream!