Rockies Outright Ty Blach
Rockies left-hander Ty Blach has gone unclaimed on waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Albuquerque, tweets Danielle Allentuck of the Denver Gazette. As a player who has previously been outrighted in his career, he’ll have the right to decline the assignment in favor of minor league free agency.
Blach spent the 2022 campaign in Colorado. The Denver native first signed with his hometown franchise going into last year and made the MLB roster in the season’s first week. He bounced between the majors and Triple-A, working 44 1/3 innings of 5.89 ERA ball at the highest level. At year’s end, Colorado outrighted him and sent him to free agency. Blach returned on a minor league pact a couple months into the offseason and earned another MLB job out of Spring Training.
The 32-year-old southpaw appeared in six games through the season’s first month. He tossed 11 innings, allowing 13 runs (10 earned) with four strikeouts and two walks. While Blach has never been one to miss many bats, this year’s 4.6% swinging strike percentage was the lowest of his career. Colorado took him off the roster over the weekend when Randal Grichuk returned from the injured list.
Blach has now appeared in parts of six big league campaigns. Between the Giants, Orioles and Rockies, he carries a 5.19 ERA in 381 2/3 innings. Most of his early-career work was out of the rotation but he’s pitched primarily in shorter stints since undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2020.
Rockies Place Noah Davis On 15-Day IL, Recall Nick Mears
Per a team announcement, the Rockies have placed right-hander Noah Davis on the 15-day injured list with right elbow inflammation. In a corresponding move, the club has recalled right-hander Nick Mears from Triple-A Albuquerque.
The loss of Davis is yet another blow to a Rockies rotation that has already lost German Marquez and has been without Antonio Senzatela since the end of last season. That leaves Colorado with just three healthy starters at the moment: Kyle Freeland, Austin Gomber, and Ryan Feltner. As noted by Danielle Allentuck of The Denver Gazette, however, Senzatela could be ready to return to big league action for the next turn through the rotation if his rehab start today goes well.
The 26-year-old Davis has made three starts for the Rockies to mixed results so far this season. While he’s allowed a concerning nine runs (eight earned) over 11 2/3 innings, he’s posted a strong 64.9% groundball rate and dealt with some bad luck as indicated by his allowed BABIP of .417, leaving his FIP at a much more palatable 3.96. With Davis unavailable and Senzatela unlikely to be ready before at the earliest, right-hander Peter Lambert or lefty Logan Allen seem like the most likely options to start Wednesday’s game against the Brewers, when the Rockies will next need another start outside of Gomber, Freeland, and Feltner.
In Davis’s place, the Rockies will turn to the 26-year-old Mears. Mears debuted with the Pirates during the shortened 2020 season and sports a career 4.75 ERA in 30 1/3 innings of work. Mears was claimed on waivers twice over the course of last offseason, first from the Pirates by the Rangers in December, then by the Rockies from the Rangers in January.
Rockies Reinstate Randal Grichuk From 10-Day IL, DFA Ty Blach
The Rockies announced that outfielder Randal Grichuk has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list. To create room on the active roster, Colorado designated left-hander Ty Blach for assignment.
Grichuk underwent surgery in early February to correct a bilateral sports hernia, and the outfielder’s recovery sidelined him through all of Spring Training. As a result, Grichuk spent the first month of the season in extended spring camp and then an eight-game minor league rehab assignment at Triple-A Albuquerque. Though Grichuk has struggled to a meager .288 OPS over 36 Triple-A plate appearances, he is apparently healthy and the Rockies feel he’s ready to return to the big league lineup.
Acquired in a trade with the Blue Jays in March 2022, Grichuk hit .259/.299/.425 with 19 homers over 538 PA with Colorado last season. Between the lack of offense (88 wRC+) and mixed reviews on his defense in right and center field, Grichuk was below the replacement-level line in 2022, with -0.2 fWAR.
Assuming everyone stays healthy, Grichuk likely won’t be getting regular at-bats this season. Kris Bryant and Jurickson Profar have gotten most of the corner outfield work, and the Rockies are giving Charlie Blackmon the occasional start in the corners when he isn’t a DH. Yonathan Daza is currently dealing with a hand injury, so center field might be an avenue for Grichuk to garner some playing time until Daza is better.
Just like in 2022, Blach signed a minor league deal with the Rockies in the offseason and then earned a spot on the Opening Day roster. While Blach didn’t fare too well (5.89 ERA in 44 1/3 innings) in a long relief role last season, things have been even rougher this year, as Blach has allowed at least one run in five of his six outings en route to an 8.18 ERA over 11 innings.
If Blach clears waivers and is outrighted off Colorado’s 40-man roster, he has the ability to reject that assignment and become a free agent. Should he not want to test the open market again, Blach could accept the outright assignment and remain at Triple-A as bullpen depth.
Rockies Place Germán Márquez On IL With Elbow Inflammation
3:50pm: Márquez spoke to reporters about his situation today, including Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. He says that he thinks he will be out up to six weeks, though that seems to still be up in the air. Tommy John surgery is ruled out for now but he says he’s worried he’ll need it eventually. Further testing is still to come as he’ll see another doctor on Monday.
2:20pm: The Rockies announced that right-hander Germán Márquez has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to April 27, due to right elbow inflammation. Fellow righty Connor Seabold has been recalled in a corresponding move.
It’s been a frustrating season for Marquez, who made three starts before going on the injured list with a forearm strain. It seemed as though he avoided a significant absence when he returned this week and took the ball for Wednesday’s game. Unfortunately, he was removed after calling the trainers to the mound and revealed after the game that he had soreness in his triceps. He was set to get an MRI in Denver yesterday and it seems there’s enough concern to put him on the shelf for at least a couple weeks.
It’s still not known exactly how much time he’s expected to miss, but it’s a blow to the Colorado rotation nonetheless. Márquez is the club’s best starting pitcher, having a 4.41 ERA through 176 appearances. Since he plays his home games at Coors Field, ERA estimators tend to agree that he deserves better, with his career FIP at 4.02 and his SIERA at 3.96. He has a 22.9% strikeout rate, 7% walk rate and 48.5% ground ball rate.
Any club would prefer to avoid losing its best starter, of course, but the Rockies will be especially challenged since their rotation hasn’t been a strong suit for them. Kyle Freeland, Noah Davis, Austin Gomber and Ryan Feltner are the remaining four in the club’s rotation, with Seabold now potentially joining them or perhaps serving a long relief role of the bullpen. He has 12 major league appearances under his belt but with an 8.81 ERA thus far.
Márquez is in the final guaranteed season of the extension he signed with the Rockies back in 2019. The club will have a $13.5MM decision to make on him at the end of the campaign, as they can trigger a $16MM option for 2024 or take a $2.5MM buyout. If his injury ends up being minor, then it should be a pretty easy call to keep him around for one more year at that price, but a more significant ailment could perhaps make it a bit trickier.
Rockies Release Jose Urena
The Rockies have released starter José Ureña, according to the transactions log at MLB.com. That was the anticipated outcome when Colorado designated the right-hander for assignment on Tuesday.
Ureña had been off to a very rough start to the season. Through five outings, he’d tossed 18 1/3 innings of 22-run ball. He walked 14 while recording just nine strikeouts and generating swinging strikes at a career-worst 7.2% clip. He and Ken Waldichuk are tied for the major league lead with nine home runs allowed.
That’s obviously not the caliber of production the Colorado front office had in mind when signing Ureña to a $3.5MM free agent deal last winter. It was a return to Coors Field for the sinkerballer, who spent the final four months of last season in Denver. Ureña posted a 5.14 ERA through 89 1/3 innings last season. While not overwhelming production, it was serviceable enough for a Rockies team that’s light on rotation depth. Ureña hadn’t come close to replicating those numbers through this season’s first month and Colorado moved on rather quickly.
Ureña is still due around $2.5MM in salary through season’s end, plus a $500K buyout on a 2024 club option. No team is going to take that off Colorado’s hands, so it’s a near certainty he’ll go unclaimed on release waivers. At that point, the 31-year-old hurler will be free to explore other opportunities. Any team that carries Ureña on its MLB roster would only owe him the prorated portion of the $720K minimum salary, which would be subtracted from Colorado’s obligations. Given the extent of his early-season struggles, he seems likely to be limited to minor league offers.
There should be some interest around the league in adding him to a Triple-A rotation. Ureña has never posted impressive strikeout or walk rates but he’s consistently kept the ball on the ground at a higher than average clip. He has 813 big league innings over parts of nine seasons, carrying a career 4.92 ERA.
Germán Márquez To Get MRI For Triceps Injury
3:10pm: Márquez provided reporters with updates after the game, as relayed by Harding and Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. He says his pain is in his triceps, not in the forearm like the previous issue that sent him to the injured list. Initial testing didn’t show significant damage but he’ll get an MRI in Denver tomorrow.
2:10pm: Rockies’ right-hander Germán Márquez departed today’s game, with Thomas Harding of MLB.com among those to relay the details. Márquez was visibly distraught on the mound, leading to a visit from the training staff and Márquez departing without hesitation after having thrown 58 pitches.
A pitcher leaving a game as a precautionary measure is quite common, but this instance is noteworthy on a few fronts. For one thing, Márquez just came off the injured list today, having spent the past 15 days there for forearm discomfort. It appeared he avoided significant injury based on his minimal absence, but it now seems possible the injury has been re-aggravated or was perhaps more serious than previously thought.
This is all still speculative at this point, but it would be a blow to the Rockies if Márquez ends up needing to miss more time as he’s been their best starting pitcher for the past few years. In just over 1,000 career innings coming into today, he had a 4.40 career ERA, no small feat for a pitcher who throws half of his innings at Coors Field. He’s struck out 22.9% of batters faced, walked just 7% and kept the ball on the ground at a 48.6% clip.
No team wants to lose its best starter for any amount of time but that’s especially true for a Colorado club that hasn’t had strong rotations in recent years. Right now, Kyle Freeland has a serviceable 4.28 ERA but with his strikeout rate down at 15.9%, a few ticks below his career norm. Austin Gomber has a 9.28 ERA on the campaign. Ryan Feltner has a 4.68 ERA despite a 12.7% walk rate. Noah Davis has a tiny 0.93 ERA this year but in just two starts and only one inning of prior major league experience. José Ureña was sitting on 9.82 before he was designated for assignment to make room on the roster for the return of Marquez.
If Márquez needs to miss some time, they have Connor Seabold and Peter Lambert on the 40-man roster, both of whom have career ERAs north of 7.00 in the big leagues and are currently above 5.00 in Triple-A this year. Antonio Senzatela will be an option eventually but is still working his way back from last year’s torn ACL. He recently pitched in extended Spring Training but is likely still a few weeks away at least.
For Márquez personally, he’s in the final guaranteed season of the $43MM extension he signed with the club in April of 2019, making $15MM this year. The club has a $16MM option for 2024 that comes with a $2.5MM buyout, making it a net $13.5MM decision. It would be a fairly easy decision for them to trigger that and keep Márquez around for his age-29 season if he were healthy, though that calculus could change if he needed to miss significant time.
The Rockies are currently 8-17 and generally aren’t expected to be in contention this summer. That would theoretically make Márquez a trade candidate, given the looming end of his contract. However, the Rockies have often been surprisingly unwilling to part with their players in deadline deals, even when it makes speculative sense. Recent years have seen them cling to players like Trevor Story, Jon Gray and Daniel Bard even when outside observers thought a trade could be on the table.
Rockies Designate Jose Urena For Assignment
The Rockies have designated starter José Ureña for assignment, tweets Suzie Hunter of DNVR Sports. The move creates a spot on the active roster for the expected reinstatement of Germán Márquez from the 15-day injured list tomorrow. Colorado’s 40-man roster tally dips to 39.
Ureña has spent parts of two seasons in Colorado. He first signed a minor league contract with the Rox last May. The club added him to the major league roster in early July. The sinkerballer started 17 big league games last season, pitching to a 5.14 ERA across 89 1/3 innings. While Ureña only punched out 15.2% of opposing hitters, he kept the ball on the ground on over half the batted balls he surrendered.
It wasn’t a resoundingly successful effort, though the 31-year-old showed enough for the Colorado front office. The Rockies re-signed him on a one-year, $3.5MM free agent contract at the start of the offseason. That deal, which also included a team option for the ’24 campaign, ensured he’d get another crack in the season-opening rotation.
Things haven’t played out the way the organization would have hoped. Ureña has been tagged 22 runs over 18 1/3 frames through his first five starts. He has a ghastly 9:14 strikeout-to-walk ratio and is inducing swinging strikes on a career-worst 7.2% of his offerings. This year’s 44.3% grounder rate is also down a few points from his typical level. He hasn’t made it past five innings in any of his five outings, all of which Colorado has lost.
The struggles were pronounced enough for the Rockies to move on from Ureña just a few weeks into the season. He has more than enough service time to refuse an optional assignment to the minor leagues. The only way to take him off the MLB roster was a DFA, which’ll almost certainly involve eating the remainder of the contract.
Other clubs are unlikely to trade for or claim Ureña and assume the roughly $3MM remaining on his deal. He’s a virtual lock to hit free agency — either by release or rejection of an outright assignment — within the next week. In all likelihood, he’ll be looking at minor league offers at that point.
The Rox will welcome Márquez back to front a rotation that also includes Kyle Freeland, Austin Gomber and Ryan Feltner. Righty Noah Davis has filled in for Márquez while he’s been on the shelf with a minor forearm strain. Antonio Senzatela, who has been out since last summer with an ACL tear, began a rehab stint with Triple-A Albuquerque this evening and should be back in the majors within the next couple weeks.
Rockies Option Elehuris Montero
The Rockies announced today that they have recalled outfielder Brenton Doyle, a promotion that was reported yesterday to be imminent. The corresponding move is that infielder Elehuris Montero has been optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque.
Doyle was called up as a couple of Colorado outfielders are dealing with some day-to-day injuries. Kris Bryant is experiencing pain in the sacroiliac joint and glute on his left side, while Yonathan Daza was hit by a pitch on his hand yesterday. It had been speculated that perhaps one of them would be headed to the injured list, but the club has instead demoted a player who was their regular third baseman until recently.
Montero, 24, was one of five players that came over to the Rockies in the Nolan Arenado trade, which continues to look like a major misstep for the organization. Montero and left-hander Austin Gomber were the two most notable players coming the other way and neither has provided much value to the Rockies thus far. Gomber has an even 5.00 ERA through 360 1/3 innings and recently got candid about how the pressure of trying to live up to that trade was affecting him.
As for Montero, his prospect hype was at its peak going into 2019, when Baseball America ranked him the #81 prospect in the entire league. His stock faded a bit over the next two years, but the Rockies still liked him enough to make him a key piece of their return for Arenado. He has continued to play well since the trade, but only in the minors. He spent 2021 between Double-A and Triple-A, hitting .278/.360/.529 for a wRC+ of 132. He continued hitting well in the minors last year, getting called up to make his major league debut. But in 69 major league games thus far, he’s hit just .238/.276/.419 for a wRC+ of 77. He’s struck out in 33.9% of his plate appearances while walking in just 4.2% of them.
Montero is primarily a third baseman but has been blocked there by Ryan McMahon. This spring, second baseman Brendan Rodgers dislocated his shoulder and required surgery that could be season-ending. The club decided to deal with that issue by moving McMahon to second and giving Montero a crack at the third base job. Unfortunately, that plan didn’t work out, as Montero has continued struggling at the plate and also in the field. All three of Defensive Runs Saved, Outs Above Average and Ultimate Zone Rating have given him negative reviews for his glovework in the early going this year.
Montero is just 24 and certainly could still take steps forward at the plate and in the field, but there may be an inflection point not too far over the horizon as he has just one option year remaining. Once he spends 20 days in the minors, 2023 will officially burn that final option. Unless he’s quickly recalled in the next couple of weeks and stays in the majors the rest of the way, he will be out of options next year. McMahon is under contract through 2027, which perhaps means Montero should spent more time at first base, where he’s also seen some action. C.J. Cron is an impending free agent, perhaps opening up that spot next year, though Montero would have competition from Michael Toglia. For now, Montero will continue his development in Albuquerque and try to work his way back up to the big leagues.
Rockies To Promote Brenton Doyle
The Rockies are expected to call up outfielder Brenton Doyle from Triple-A Albuquerque prior to Monday’s game with the Guardians, according to Blake Street Banter (Twitter link). Doyle is already on Colorado’s 40-man roster, so the Rockies will have to just make one corresponding move tomorrow to create space for Doyle on the 26-man active roster.
This will be the first trip to the big leagues for the 24-year-old Doyle, who was a fourth-round selection for the Rockies in the 2019 draft. The Rox added him to their 40-man roster in advance of last winter’s Rule 5 Draft, wanting to protect the outfielder in the wake of a solid 2022 season that saw him hit .256/.300/.473 with 26 home runs and 23 steals (in 26 chances) over 548 combined plate appearances at Double-A and Triple-A. Only 41 of those PA came at the Triple-A level in 2022, but Doyle has looked great in a slightly longer audition in Albuquerque this year, as he has mashed his way to a .306/.404/.633 slash line over 57 PA.
MLB Pipeline ranks Doyle as the 16th-best prospect in Colorado’s minor league system, while Baseball America ranks him 21st amongst Rockies farmhands. Given plus grades for his defense and throwing arm, Doyle is already big league-capable from a glovework standpoint, able to play center field or (owing to his strong arm) right field. He also has plus speed, which has translated to success on the basepaths, and some raw power that has led to his power numbers.
Plate discipline is an ongoing question, as Doyle’s strikeout rates have been higher than 30% at each level beyond rookie ball. Pipeline’s scouting report did note that Doyle made a bit more contact after making some adjustments last season, indicating that Doyle might still be able to reach another level as a hitter.
The Rockies will see if Doyle can unlock some of that potential in the majors, but the fact that the Rox are calling up an outfielder might related to a pair of injury concerns. Kris Bryant left Saturday’s game after feeling pain in his sacroiliac joint, while Yonathan Daza left today’s game after being hit in the hand by a Zack Wheeler fastball. X-rays were negative on Daza and other players are day-to-day for now, but either a 10-day injured list placement could be coming Monday or Colorado might just be adding Doyle as outfield depth since neither Bryant or Daza may be available to face the Guardians.
Kris Bryant Leaves Game Due To SI Joint/Glute Injury
5:34PM: Rockies manager Bud Black told reporters (including ESPN) that Bryant is day-to-day. The injury isn’t specifically to Bryant’s back, but rather to the sacroiliac joint and glute on the left side of Bryant’s body. “When he put his foot down and landed, there was a little bit of pain,” Black said.
3:21PM: Bryant left the game due to tightness in his lower back, according to Danielle Allentuck of the Denver Post (Twitter link).
2:49PM: The Rockies have removed Kris Bryant in the third inning of their match against the Phillies. Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post reports that “it appeared” Bryant rolled his ankle on a first inning strikeout.
Although it’s not yet known the severity of any injury here, Bryant has struggled in that department since joining the Rockies on a seven-year, $182MM deal last year, landing on the IL on three separate occasions in 2022 and appearing in just 42 games.
The 42 games he did play were hugely valuable to the Rockies, as Bryant slashed .306/.376/.475 with five home runs. He’s off to a similarly strong start to the year in 2023, putting up a .291/.364/.456 line with three home runs through his first 88 plate appearances entering play today.
The Rockies are off to a disappointing start, sitting at 6-15 in the NL West, and any missed time for Bryant would be a significant blow to the team moving forward.