- Carlos Gonzalez was removed from the second inning of tonight’s game due to left ankle inflammation, as noted by several reporters (including MLB.com’s Thomas Harding). The Rockies star sprained that same ankle last Wednesday and has missed two of Colorado’s four games in the interim. It’s a situation worth monitoring given Gonzalez’s checkered injury history, not to mention the Rockies’ attempt to stay afloat in the NL wild card race. Losing Gonzalez for any extended amount of time is an obvious blow for the Rox, naturally, though the club did get some outfield reinforcements when Gerardo Parra was activated off the DL today.
Rockies Rumors
Dahl's Emergence Leaves Rockies' With Outfield Logjam
- The return of Gerardo Parra from the disabled list gives the Rockies four left-handed-hitting outfielders for three spots now that rookie David Dahl has cemented his place in the lineup, writes the Denver Post’s Nick Kosmider. “I’m not sure how it’s going to work out,” said manager Walt Weiss of the moderate logjam with which he is now faced. “I’ve got four really good outfielders, and they are all major league-quality outfielders. I’ve got to keep them all involved. … We can play matchups, those kinds of things. I can’t look into the future and say exactly how it’s going to go. … Parra’s a big part of this moving forward, as are the other three guys. It’s a nice issue to have.” While it seems unlikely that any of the four would be moved in the month of August, the presence of all four outfielders on the Rockies’ roster figures to lead to further speculation surrounding a possible trade of Carlos Gonzalez, Charlie Blackmon or Parra this offseason.
Trevor Story Likely Out For Season With Torn Thumb Ligament
4:57pm: Story says that he will have surgery and expects to miss the rest of the season, as MLB.com’s Thomas Harding tweets.
4:06pm: The Rockies have placed shortstop Trevor Story on the 15-day DL with a torn UCL in his left thumb, the club announced. It’s a major blow to the outside chances the team had of making a run to the postseason in 2016.
Rafael Ynoa has been recalled to take Story’s place on the roster, but there’s little chance he’ll replicate the 23-year-old’s production. Colorado has received top-level production from Story, who was a well-regarded but (it now seems) under-hyped prospect before making his major league debut this year.
[Related: Updated Rockies Depth Chart]
Story had an amazing start to the year and really hasn’t looked back. All told, he owns a .272/.341/.567 batting line with a league-leading 27 long balls over 415 plate appearances. Even after adjusting for the effects of Coors Field, that’s about twenty percent better than league average in total offensive productivity.
Though he has racked up 130 strikeouts, that’s plenty forgivable given the quality of the contact Story is delivering when he does make contact. (Let’s just say he keeps good company in that regard.) And the well-struck balls also give hope that he can maintain something near his current .343 BABIP. Defensive metrics are split as to whether Story is slightly above-average (DRS) or below-average (UZR) with the glove, but combined view him generally as a mid-range defender at short.
This particular injury isn’t uncommon, and hasn’t generally seemed to pose major future obstacles to the players that have it. But it may well keep Story out for the rest of the year. Andrelton Simmons recently missed two months after having surgery for his own thumb UCL tear, and that kind of timeline would push right up against the end of the regular season.
Going without Story for most (if not all) of the rest of the season is going to put a big dent in Colorado’s chances of sticking in the NL West and Wild Card race. The club just held tight at the trade deadline, forgoing chances to sell veteran assets after a recent run of quality play had moved the team to within a game of .500. But even as their division and Wild Card rivals all made important additions in recent days, the Rockies will now go without one of their most productive players.
Relief Pitching Deadline Day Rumors
The market for relievers is always moving on deadline day, as teams look to add pen pieces that will bolster their depth down the stretch. Fernando Abad is off the board, having been traded to the Red Sox today. We’ll keep tabs on the remaining relievers here:
- The Orioles and Marlins are shopping for a low-end left-handed reliever, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Sherman feels the Braves’ Hunter Cervenka could be one such candidate, while ESPN’s Jayson Stark names Cervenka as a last-minute target for the Fish.
- Sherman also notes that the Rangers are among the teams looking at Braves righty Jim Johnson. The Braves have kicked around Johnson as well, tweets Marc Carig of Newsday, but nothing appears close.
- While they are also pursuing larger targets, the Giants have perused the second tier of the relief market, per ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick (Twitter link). While the top targets have perhaps mostly already been traded, San Francisco has scouted the Brewers’ strong group of relievers as well as increasingly valuable Rockies southpaw Boone Logan — though last we heard he may not be traded. Jeanmar Gomez of the Phillies is another name the Giants have checked, though he too isn’t sure to be dealt. And even as the Giants talk with the Rays on starter Matt Moore, the club has also watched right-handed swingman Erasmo Ramirez, per Crasnick.
- The Astros are kicking around some left-handed reliever options, ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick reports (Twitter links). That’s arguably the team’s biggest area of need. Some of the names mentioned include Logan and Jake McGee of the Rockies and the Brewers’ Will Smith — all of whom are at or near the remaining market for relief southpaws. It’s not immediately clear whether any are real options at this stage, as Crasnick notes that nothing has “materialized” to this point.
Could Rockies Keep Boone Logan?
- With the Rockies’ recent run of success moving the club to the fringes of the NL Wild Card race, the team seems to have taken its best trade assets off of the market. Colorado is still willing to entertain offers on lefty Boone Logan, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports on Twitter, but at this point it’s not even clear if he’ll be dealt. As we explained in our breakdown of the market for relief pitching, Logan could be one of the best rental relievers available — he carries an outstanding 17.1% swinging strike rate and finally has the results (2.40 ERA) to go along with the swing-and-miss stuff that he has displayed over his three years in Colorado. As the Rockies depth chart shows, the team does still carry two other southpaws in Jake McGee and Chris Rusin, but the former has fallen far shy of expectations in 2016 while the latter is more of a swingman or long reliever than any kind of shutdown pen lefty.
Rockies Won't Trade CarGo, Blackmon
The Rockies aren’t planning on moving Carlos Gonzalez or Charlie Blackmon, reports FanRag’s Jon Heyman. While CarGo is a perennial trade candidate, the Rockies’ excellent play since the All-Star break has the team back at .500 and within a stone’s throw of a Wild Card playoff berth. Whether the Rockies will actually remain in the hunt remains to be seen, especially as other clubs in the race move to fortify their rosters, but Colorado has looked impressive as of late and could always extract value in trades of Gonzalez and/or Blackmon in the offseason if the club falls shy this season and wishes to add more pitching to its minor league ranks over the winter.
Boone Logan Drawing Interest From Multiple Teams, Including Blue Jays
Multiple organizations have put in calls to the Rockies on southpaw Boone Logan, according to Jon Morosi of MLB.com (links to Twitter). The Blue Jays are among the clubs to have inquired, according to the report.
Logan has had quite an impressive campaign, though he’s best deployed as a pure LOOGY. After two straight season of subpar results in Colorado, Logan has posted a strong 2.48 ERA with 10.6 K/9 against 3.1 BB/9. He has, though, issued quite a few free passes to right-handed hitters in limited exposure.
Still, a premium left-on-left matchup arm would be of great interest around the league. The veteran has always generated whiffs, but he has taken a step forward this year with a 17.0% swinging strike rate that ranks eighth in all of baseball (minimum 20 innings). That’s quite a nice pairing with a 53.8% groundball rate. And Logan has bumped up his fastball velocity a bit over recent years, too, and is sitting right at a 93 mph average.
Notably, Logan is a pure rental, as his three-year deal wraps up this year with a $6.25MM salary. While Colorado has moved up in the standings of late, the club is still looking a long ways up at the two NL West stalwarts — not to mention a tough crop of Wild Card contenders.
As for the Jays’ interest, it’s important to note that the team is surely looking elsewhere as well. Indeed, it appears to be focused on the southpaw side of its pen while also angling to bolster its rotation. Per Morosi, Toronto has had a “high volume” of chatter on lefty relievers. The club’s current depth chart features a struggling Brett Cecil and the just-activated Franklin Morales as southpaw options.
There figure to be many other teams eyeing southpaw relievers — who are always popular this time of year. And there are other pieces that could join Logan on the market. Among those who rated among MLBTR’s top fifty trade candidates are Will Smith of the Brewers, Fernando Abad of the Twins, Zach Duke of the White Sox, and Logan’s teammate Jake McGee. Notably, of those names, only Logan is a pending free agent.
Five Teams Interested In Cuban Third Baseman Yanio Perez
- Cuban third baseman Yanio Perez has drawn interest from the Astros, Padres, Rangers, Reds and Rockies, as per a report from MLB Pipeline (Twitter link). The 20-year-old was ranked by Pipeline as the 10th-best player available in this year’s July 2 international market, and he is known to have impressive raw power, makeup and above-average speed. Perez is subject to international bonus pool guidelines.
Rockies To Promote David Dahl
The Rockies will call top outfield prospect David Dahl up to the majors tomorrow for the beginning of the team’s series with the Orioles, Nick Groke of the Denver Post reports. In a corresponding move, outfielder Brandon Barnes will be designated for assignment to create a roster spot.
Dahl was the 10th overall pick of the 2012 draft, but his path to the big leagues was slowed by a very serious injury in May 2015. A collision with a teammate in the outfield left Dahl with a concussion and lacerated spleen, and Dahl underwent a splenectomy to remove the damaged body part entirely so he could return to action in 2015, rather than undergo surgery to repair his spleen and face a longer layoff. It appears as though Dahl emerged from that scare relatively unscathed, as he has torn up Double-A and Triple-A pitching to the tune of a combined .314/.394/.569 line and 18 homers over a combined 400 plate appearances.
Entering the season, the 22-year-old Dahl scored impressive rankings on top-100 prospect rankings from Baseball Prospectus (who ranked Dahl 31st), Baseball America (39th), MLB.com (46th) and ESPN.com’s Keith Law (58th). The 2016 BA Prospect Handbook ranked Dahl as the second-best prospect in Colorado’s system, describing him as having “the potential to be a five-tool center fielder.” Dahl already possesses speed, a strong throwing arm and defensive ability in center, and he has quick hands and gap power at the plate, with some scouts believing he has the ability to hit 20-25 homers.
With the Rockies falling well behind in the NL West, it makes sense that Dahl would get an extended look. The timing of the promotion means that Dahl wouldn’t be able to earn enough service time to gain Super Two status if he stays on the MLB roster for the rest of the season, so if he isn’t demoted, the Rockies are on track to control Dahl through the 2022 season. As Groke notes, now that Dahl is in the mix for playing time, it will only intensify rumors that Colorado could create room in the outfield by trading Carlos Gonzalez or Charlie Blackmon. For now, Dahl looks to take over in left field while Gerardo Parra is still on the DL. As Jason Martinez recently wrote in his “Knocking Down The Door” feature for MLBTR, Dahl’s importance to the Rockies’ future means that Parra should probably “be a very expensive fourth outfielder” unless a trade happens.
Barnes, 30, came to Colorado as part of the Dexter Fowler trade package from Houston in December 2013. Barnes has hit .249/.295/.376 over 703 PA with the Rockies while getting extensive time at all three outfield positions.
Rizzo Denies That Nationals Have Interest In Charlie Blackmon
TODAY: The report on Blackmon “is not accurate,” Nationals GM Mike Rizzo said this morning in an interview with 106.7’s The Sports Junkies (via 106.7’s Pete Medhurst, on Twitter).
YESTERDAY: The Nationals are showing interest in Rockies outfielder Charlie Blackmon, according to Jon Morosi of MLB.com (via Twitter). While it’s not yet clear whether Colorado will deal the center fielder, we heard recently that the club was open to fielding interest on players such as Blackmon and Carlos Gonzalez.
It’s not difficult to see the connection here, as Washington has received marginal production out of center fielders Ben Revere and Michael Taylor. Both are controllable for 2017 — Taylor for much longer — but neither have performed to expectations, leaving the Nats with a unit that is playing at replacement level on the year.
The Nationals recently gave top shortstop prospect Trea Turner some time at center at the Triple-A level, and he is currently on the big league roster, but it doesn’t seem that he’s the first choice at present. Otherwise, the organization seems mostly set in terms of its lineup, with the bullpen representing another key area of need.
Blackmon, who just turned 30, is performing at career-best levels. Even after adjusting for the effects of altitude, his .305/.368/.481 batting line checks in at a 110 wRC+. While his glove has never rated particularly well up the middle, that could be due in part to playing at Coors. Plus, strong baserunning helps to make up any lost value in the field.
As a controllable asset, Blackmon won’t come cheap. He’s playing on a $3.5MM deal this year and is eligible for arbitration for two more seasons to come. Though a hefty raise is surely in the cards, Blackmon will no doubt remain quite affordable for a solid, everyday player.
If it’s easy to see why the Nationals would open talks on Blackmon, it also isn’t tough to guess at what the Rockies might target in return. Colorado has been stockpiling young arms, and could certainly look to further bolster the pitching ranks. Baseball America’s just-released, updated prospect ranking for the Nats includes several notable hurlers. Lucas Giolito is surely unavailable; it’s less clear whether that’s the case with regard to high-upside youngster Reynaldo Lopez, though he is now set to make his big league debut as well. Other names that could hold appeal include Erick Fedde, A.J. Cole, and Austin Voth. It seems fair to note, too, that the addition of a new center fielder could make Taylor expendable; other organizations might like a crack at refining his obvious talent.
