The Rockies announced Wednesday that they’ve reinstated right-hander Jon Gray from the 10-day injured list and called up infielder Colton Welker for his Major League debut. Righty Antonio Santos was also recalled to the MLB roster. In a trio of corresponding moves, the Rox put right-hander Chi Chi Gonzalez on the 10-day injured list with a strained oblique, placed righty Robert Stephenson on the paternity list and optioned infielder Joshua Fuentes to Triple-A Albuquerque.
Gray returns to the club after a minimal stay on the injured list due to inflammation in his right forearm. It was a somewhat ominous diagnosis at the time, given the pronounced struggles Gray endured in the month of August, but a swift return is good news both for the club and for Gray as he nears his first foray into the free-agent market.
To this point in the season, Gray has posted a 4.13 ERA with a 23.1 percent strikeout rate, a 9.8 percent walk rate and a 49.9 percent ground-ball rate in 126 1/3 innings of work. Those solid numbers come in spite of a disastrous month of August, wherein Gray yielded a 6.55 ERA in 22 innings and lasted fewer than five innings in three of his five appearances.
Both Gray and the Rockies have made their mutual interest in some kind of extension known, though the recent injury hiccup could have some impact on the potential for a deal. At the very least, the Rockies likely want to see how Gray responds to 10 days of downtime before determining how to proceed. They reportedly intend to issue a qualifying offer to Gray, but it’s also possible the two sides work out a mutli-year deal at a lesser rate. Gray, of course, could also see what the market has to bear from other clubs upon receiving a QO from the Rockies. Players have 10 days to accept or reject their QOs, and they’re free to talk to other clubs during that time.
Turning to Welker, the 2016 fourth-rounder is getting his first look at the big league level. He’s long been ranked among the better prospects in a generally thin Rockies system, currently sitting eighth among their farmhands at FanGraphs, 20th at MLB.com and 23rd at Baseball America.
Welker has been limited to just 23 games and 93 plate appearances at the Triple-A level in 2021. He’s spent much of the year on the restricted list due to an 80-game suspension issued in May upon testing positive for a banned substance (dehydrochlormethyltestosterone). He’s one of several players to have pushed back against suspensions for trace amounts of the DHCMT long-term metabolite — picograms, in most cases — though to this point all suspensions under such circumstances have seemingly been upheld. (The Wall Street Journal’s Jared Diamond took an in-depth look at the situation last August.)
In his limited sample of work this season, Welker has been productive. He’s slashed .286/.378/.476 with three homers, five doubles, a triple and a 12.4 percent walk rate against a 20.7 percent strikeout rate. He’s spent all of his time at third base, though some scouting reports on Welker feel his range (or lack thereof) will eventually push him to first base. The Rockies don’t currently have a clear long-term answer at either corner infield position, so Welker seems likely to get a chance to prove he’s capable of seizing one of those two spots.
They saw the Rays make 3 similar moves and thought “man I have to jump on that train.” Lol.
still cant believe this “I only was a little juiced” argument…
It helps to note that a picogram is 10^-12 of a gram (or a billionth of a gram). Lab values are often (though I’m not aware of the volume in this case) given in a unit (mg, mcg, or even pg) per deciLiter (1/10) of a Liter.
Pardon my foray into the weeds on measurements and the metric system, but it seemed your “only a little juiced” needed some granulation.
To make measuring picograms in a deciliter solution more practical, it would be like one grain of sand found in 100 million grains of sand. To me, it seems pretty reasonable for someone to have an issue with the picogram unit when it comes to testing for potential PEDs.
Let them dope themselves, as they should know the risks. Take them and maybe perform or recover better and faster. Put an asterisk next to any records they achieve..
The longtime PED users will often die young of a liver disease. It’s the long-term answer to “cheaters never prosper”(except white collar crimes).
In 10* million grains of sand (1cc=1g=1mL)
My question would be: does a picogram have any impact on performance or recovery?
If the amount in the bloodstream is too small to have any impact, then the guy isn’t juicing. The opposite is true as well.
It’s inconsequential. There’s a lot of supplements, protein powders what ha e you that can have trace amounts of PEDs or steroids in them, a lot of stuff has. Accidentally ingestion can happen, and due to such a small unit of measurement errors can also happen.
It’s akin to putting the smallest dab of mustard, like a gram, on a 50 pound hamburger and asking if it’ll change the taste. Like the mustard is there, but it won’t effect the entire burger.
It is lame, and should be looked at. Welker’s situation looks like it could be a form of accidental ingestion he didn’t know about.
Again, I don’t think you realize how small and inconsequential a picogram is. There’s literally zero reason to use a performance enhancing drug if that’s to the level you’re using. It’s something like one-millionth of a grain of sand.
Rockies can’t lose today on the day they induct the first ever player into their team hall of fame can they ?
They absolutely can, since they let Gray face the lineup a third time (a bunch of lefties) after also running the bases in a lengthy bottom of the 5th.
gray didn’t lose the game for them – that happened later
Mercy, Welker’s been a prospect for so long, I thought he had played and retired.
And ya, claiming “I was only a little juiced” is a bit like saying “I’m a little bit pregnant”.
What if she got pregnant from someone with dwarfism? Couldn’t THAT count as a little bit pregnant? =D
In fairness, different compounds very much do different things, and dosage can have its own set of differences. It’s not a blanket statement that most normal people have that identify all users as equivalent. Couldn’t be further from the case. Most people really shouldn’t even give their opinion on players who “juice” because they’re clueless themselves.
I don’t know his specific case so I won’t comment on if he juiced a little or a lot, but there are absolutely differences.
Comparing it to pregnancy and being “a little bit pregnant” shows just how lost you are on the topic.
Congratulations to Steve Adams for typing a word longer than “antidisestablishmentarianism”.