The Rockies reshuffled their infield during Spring Training. After losing Gold Glove second baseman Brendan Rodgers to a potential season-ending shoulder injury, Colorado announced plans to kick Ryan McMahon over from third to second base. McMahon’s versatility freed the hot corner for Elehuris Montero, but the Rox are considering pulling the plug on that experiment after a rough first few weeks.
Manager Bud Black announced yesterday that Colorado was “going to take a step back and take a look at our situation at third” (link via Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post). McMahon has gotten the nod there in each of the last two games after starting his first 16 contests at the keystone. That has pushed utilityman Alan Trejo into the lineup at second base and relegated Montero to the bench.
The moves come in response to defensive struggles for the 24-year-old Montero. He’s been charged with three errors while recording only 13 assists in 88 innings at the hot corner. Statcast has pegged his glove as two plays below average in that limited sample. Defense has long been a question mark for Montero, who developed a reputation as a bat-first corner infielder as a prospect. Saunders writes that Colorado could consider optioning him back to Triple-A Albuquerque to get more consistent work on defense.
McMahon is one of the sport’s best defensive third basemen. There’s no question he’s a sizable upgrade with the glove over Montero. The move subtracts one of Colorado’s more interesting young hitters from the lineup, though. Trejo, who could stand to receive the biggest uptick in playing time, is a stable glove-first infielder but doesn’t bring much to the table offensively.
Montero initially joined the organization a little over two years ago in the Nolan Arenado trade. He and left-hander Austin Gomber were the top talents in a return that was widely panned from Colorado’s perspective. While Arenado has performed at an MVP level in St. Louis, the Rockies haven’t yet gotten much big league production from Montero.
Gomber at least provided the Rox with back-of-the-rotation innings in 2021. He worked to a 4.53 ERA — a respectable figure for a pitcher calling Coors Field home — through 115 1/3 innings during his first season with the club. He had a harder time last year, struggling to a 5.56 ERA while getting kicked to the bullpen midseason. The former fourth round pick has returned to the starting five this year but gotten off to a very tough start..
After giving up nine runs in a loss to the Pirates this afternoon, Gomber owns a 12.12 ERA through four outings. He’s allowed five home runs in 16 1/3 innings of work. The 6’5″ hurler candidly acknowledged after today’s appearance he’s having a hard time maintaining confidence through these struggles (link via Danielle Allentuck of the Denver Gazette).
Gomber took responsibility for his disappointing performance and pointed to his subpar command in the early going, but he also noted he’s felt some pressure given the monumental trade in which he was acquired. “I’m not trying to be (Arenado),” Gomber said. “I’m just trying to be myself, but I feel like I’m having a hard time staying in that lane right now.”
It’d obviously be unreasonable to expect Gomber (or any player in that deal) to offer the kind of value Arenado brings to the table. Yet the Rockies are certainly expecting more than the southpaw has shown so far. They’ve been desperate for reliable rotation work. Rockies starters entered play Wednesday 28th in the majors with a 5.40 ERA; they’ll end the night with the league’s second-worst mark.
While the rotation figures to be problematic all season, Colorado should at least get a boost whenever Antonio Senzatela gets back on the mound. The righty has been targeting a May return from last summer’s ACL tear. According to the MLB.com injury tracker, he’s expected to begin a minor league rehab stint with Double-A Hartford on Sunday.
IM RYAN MCMAHON, DAMNIT! YOOOOURE FAAAAAAHHHHRED!
I have to admit when I read the headline my first thought was ” awesome Vince McMahon bought a mlb team”
Does it really matter what the Rox do? They’re going to finish last in their division unless the Giants decide to blow it up at the deadline. Too bad the Rockies don’t focus more $ on scouting and development.
With the Giants on pace to lose 100+ games so far, unless they turn it around dramatically, they’ll be blowing it up. One would hope anyway.
I mean, COL is 5-13. Might as well let the kid take his lumps.
That is a defeatist attitude. Taking lumps is what the minors are for. When you get to the majors, you should know how to field your position at a major league level. Montero has looked awful. Now if they could get anything for Cron, who looks like he is just going through the motions after winning Player of the Week, then maybe Montero could play first.
I’d imagine Montero is better suited for 1B, but if the only option that isn’t 3B is not starting him then quite frankly your options are poor (though, I think Nolan Jones should at least ne competing for 3B action with Montero at the moment, maybe it’s just best they swap the two for now).
I am still trying to figure out why Jones was brought up for 3 days, not used and then sent back down. He was raking in AAA. As much as I like the idea of Moose as a leader in the clubhouse, I don’t see any real reason why he is on this team and Nolan Jones is not.
Moustakas a leader in the clubhouse ok pal
His more like a 6-liter in the clubhouse.
No offense buddy, but maybe you should try history lectures or magic because comedy is not your thing.
Oh pooh,flew.
Musical mollification is what you need.
Here’s a a nice Diana Ross song.
Follow me,
“Reach out and touch,
Somebody’s hand,
Make this world a better place,
If you can!”
Feel better, Punkin’?
Taking lumps is what the minors are for.
=======================
That’s one of my biggest gripes about some GMs. They insist on promoting guys that aren’t fully developed. If you’re in a pennant race, and need someone, you can’t do anything about it. But for the rest of BB, I’d keep guys in the minors until they pounded down the door.
Gomber for Clarke Schmidt
At this point, I would be thrilled to take back any big league arm for Gomber. The Arenado deal is always going to be bad. Keeping Gomber and Montero longer than needed just makes it worse.
When Grichuck comes back maybe they’ll move Bryant back to 3B
cbssports.com/mlb/news/rockies-owner-dick-monfort-…
Until this year, IMO, it was a toss p between the Rox and the Angels for worst run MLB franchise. Now? It’s clearly the Rox.
Their home field aside, they’ve never been able to develop SP. And FA pitchers shun them because of that home park unless they’re Mike Hampton who took big cheese to go there because of the quality schools!
At times, their hitters look like all-stars at home, but quickly dwarf into a collection of Steve Jeltz types on the road.
There’s no easy fix. Yeah, they could trade Cron, and maybe Bard if he gets on track, but given the returns for others they’ve traded, the suits eating the most expensive lunches in the executive dining room don’t appear to have a clue when it comes to talent evaluation.
Gonna be a long summer in the Rockies. But I hear Aspen is great in the summertime, so there’s that.
I’ll trade ya Escobar for a viable arm…
The Rox sealed their fate and the demise of their team by giving away Arenado and letting Story walk.
Bryant back to LF, Profar back to 2nd, and McMahon back to 3rd?
Nolan Jones should be up and playing regularly somewhere. The Rox are going nowhere and Jones has nothing left to prove at AAA.
Trejo is a utility player. They should call up Coco Montes and play him at 2B and see what he does. Montes bat is smoking at AAA…