March 30: Bernabel went unclaimed on waivers and has been assigned outright to Double-A Hartford, per the Rockies’ transaction log at MLB.com. He’ll remain with the organization.
March 28: The Rockies announced Thursday that they’ve selected the contract of utilityman Alan Trejo and opened a spot on the roster by designating third base prospect Warming Bernabel for assignment. Colorado also placed relievers Daniel Bard and Lucas Gilbreath on the 15-day IL, as expected. The former is recovering from spring knee surgery and the latter from 2023 Tommy John surgery.
Bernabel, 21, ranked seventh among Rockies prospects at Baseball America this time last year but has seen his stock drop considerably after a rough 2023 season. After a standout 2021 campaign in which he slashed .313/.370/.499 between Low-A and High-A, Bernabel batted only .225/.282/.367 in 83 Double-A games. A back injury cost him more than a month of the season and quite possibly impacted his performance at the plate as well. BA dropped Bernabel to 27th in a poorly ranked Rockies farm system for the 2024 campaign, noting concerns about his below-average raw power and poor exit velocities.
Bernabel has played third base in all but one game of his pro career, when he logged a brief two-inning stint at second base. Scouting reports credit him with an average arm and enough range to handle the hot corner, but he’s not regarded as a plus defender at this time. He only spent one season on the Rockies’ 40-man roster before being designated for assignment, meaning he has two minor league option years remaining. That, paired with his youth and pre-2023 reputation could create interest from other clubs.
The Rockies will have a week to trade Bernabel or attempt to pass him through outright waivers. He doesn’t have the prior outright assignment or service time needed to reject an outright assignment, so if he goes unclaimed, Colorado can retain him and send him back to the minors (presumably, a second stint at Double-A) without needing to dedicate a 40-man roster spot to him.
Not a big fan of this guy, but more horrid roster management from COL it would seem.
No one will claim him. It’s actually quite good roster management.
That is true. He would have been claimed and DFA’d by a new team hoping to outright him if this was done earlier in the offseason. The roster crunch facing all teams right now means he will probably safely pass thru. Whether or not that is a good thing is a different story.
That being said, the Rockies often waste 2-3 40 man spots on guys that are at least 2 years away from the majors just to keep them out of the Rule 5 draft. Most of the time, those guys don’t even make it. I understand protecting the top 100 guys like Amador or Fernandez, but guys like Angel Chivili or Juan Mejia are more questionable. I’d rather Colorado use those spots on veteran relievers or bench guys as competition. The worst that could happen would be DFA’ing those vets at the end of spring anyway.
Every team needs to make 40 man decisions based on the rule 5 draft, teams don’t like to lose assets for nothing if they don’t have to
The Rule 5 draft is overrated. These 21 year old A ball players might get selected, but most of them get returned by the end of spring anyway. Especially if they are not top 100 types. You have to plan for the future, but you also have to allocate resources for the present as well. Especially a team like the Rockies that go through so many reliever innings per year. Those extra 2 40 man spots could be used on AAAA relievers that could spell the team and possibly save some games in July and August when the rest of the pen is just exhausted. I’d rather lose a potential asset for three years from now over 3-4 ball games right now.
Ask the Dodgers about Roberts Clemente.
OK. I will ask about that transaction from 70 years ago. I’m betting it happened before most of them were born.
Anthony Santander, Trevor Stephan, Mark Canha.
Yeah, yeah. Johan Santana, Dan Uggla, Kelly Gruber, George Bell. I know the list. You are talking about maybe 1% of all Rule 5 picks. It’s a lottery. It is not worth wasting 2 spots on your 40 man roster for 2 lottery tickets.
Actually a much larger percentage of rule 5 players play with their team. Why not take a flier on a player once in a while.
Roberto Clemente would have given the Dodgers a few more pennants. Santana surely would have helped.
Glad you’re not a GM.
You might say he was Warming a spot for someone else.
Bummer…I was just warming up to the idea of him making the ballclub.
He just couldn’t get hot enough to stick around
Chris Berman’s face is absolutely flush with the anticipation of his first home run.
I saw Bernabel with the Yard Goats, his inability to hold his swing on balls outside of the strike zone was constant last year.
I guess you could say it was a Warming trend.
It was his heat zone.
Warming Bernable sounds like something you’d use in the 1800’s to keep your clothes dry on cold Rocky Mountain nights
My great great great grandmother had one.
Warming got burned in this move.
That’s cold!
Not that it matters, but for the record this description of Bernabel is pretty far off base. His strength is his pop. He has tons of raw power, just hasn’t gotten to it in AA because his plate discipline is awful. One of those guys who starts swinging in the on-base circle and never stops. Works great in A-ball. Also a mediocre defender. He’ll pass through waivers no problem.
I just read that Bernabel was actually shot multiple times in the back this winter during a robbery in the DR. Miraculously, the spinal cord and all organs were missed completely, so he is really lucky to even be alive right now. But I would imagine those injuries would at least affect the swing somewhat. You have to wonder if he will ever be able to overcome I do know that I am rooting for him more so than before though.
That is a heart warming recovery story
By his life being preserved he avoided being possibly in a very warm place.
Shouldn’t this guy be a relief pitcher?
His parents should be berned at the stake. Ahahaha!
Oh yeah, and Padres getting pounded by the Giants…a team that spent in the offseason.
Where are mynPost Peter Seidler ownership apologists at?
Oh, wait, it’s early, right?
Wasn’t that the reason last year?
Take away a
Generational talent
Cy Young award winning pitcher(pitching for a division rival)
All star closer
Two sub 4 to mid 3 era starters
Long relief depth in Martinez
And tell me you’re going to be better
Lunacy.
Silence, not a peep.
Where are you guys?
Fishook and longwhinecoming where are you?
Not as cool of a name as one of my favourite relievers, the recently retired Joe Smith, but an interesting one nonetheless.
They just weren’t Warming up to him.
Too bad this isn’t Global news.
He wasn’t Warming up quite yet. Also how bizarre is it to see a 21 year old “prospect”, I say that looseley here, brought up and then waived, just so weird.
Should be named Change.
I wonder how many times he heard “Warming up in the bullpen” and he thought they were talking about him.
I could drunkenly run the Rockies organization better than any of the clowns they have going
First round of upslope lager is on me. If you haven’t had it. I highly recommend it. Brewed in Colorado so you’ll have to go there to get it. I wish they sold it at coors field unfortunately they don’t.