The Rockies announced a series of roster moves Friday — unrelated to their reported trade of Ryan McMahon to the Yankees — most notably designating outfielder Sean Bouchard for assignment in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster for veteran reliever Nick Anderson, whose previously reported promotion from Triple-A is now official. Colorado also optioned infielder Adael Amador to Triple-A, reinstated infielder Thairo Estrada from the injured list and placed righty Victor Vodnik on the paternity list.
Bouchard, 29, has seen action in each of the past four seasons for the Rockies but has battled frequent injuries — most notably missing nearly the entire 2023 season due to a torn biceps. He showed plenty of promise early in his career despite lofty strikeout rates, slashing .304/.429/.563 in 140 plate appearances from 2022-23.
Bouchard struggled considerably since returning from that biceps injury, however, hitting only .178/.272/.274 in 181 big league plate appearances. His previously strong numbers in Triple-A have dropped off this season, too, as his minor league strikeout rate has spiked to 33.2% (and his big league strikeout rate, in 73 plate appearances, jumped to 37%).
At his best, Bouchard looked the part of a potential power-hitting right fielder with average speed and solid defense. He’s now 29 years old, however, and struggling for a second straight season after incurring a major injury during his age-27 season. This is his final minor league option year as well, and with the Rockies breaking in several young outfielders (most notably Jordan Beck), Bouchard’s opportunities have dried up.
The Rox will have five days to trade Bouchard or place him on outright waivers. He hasn’t been outrighted in the past and doesn’t have three years of major league service time, so if he passes through waivers unclaimed, he’d stick in the organization as a non-roster depth piece in Triple-A for at least the remainder of the current season.
Makes sense, Amador was actually hitting and playing good defense.
Still time for him to be brought back if Estrada/Farmer/Arcia is dealt. If they aren’t dealt, I expect Arcia and maybe Farmer to be DFA’d in August. The Rockies have made a habit in the past few years of cutting non-traded vets in August. They did it with Jurickson Profar a couple years ago and Elias Diaz last year. The Padres picked up both of them coincidentally.
Strange that they would not have at least waited one day to option Amador, since they are playing today’s game short one bench player after the trade of McMahon. Then they could decide whether they wanted to keep Amador up or replace McMahon on the roster with someone else from AAA like Aaron Schunk.
They actually optioned Amador on Thursday before the trade happened. It showed up on the Rockies transaction page yesterday. I’m sure in hindsight they would have held off if they knew the Mac deal was for sure going to happen today.
Congrats to Victor!
Amador looked great in the STL series, seemed like something was finally clicking for him.
Giants pickup no doubt
There shouldn’t be a comma before “too.”