The Injury Bug hits Colorado
June 1st, 2014
W - 22 / L - 27 / GB - 9
The Rockies showed they are intent on not letting their playoff appearance last season go to waste as they made 3 surprise trades this month to shore up their pitching.
May 1st Trade - The Rockies made 2 trades to start the month, the first was a blockbuster trade that sent 24 year old minor league
SP Taylor Jungmann (1-1 3.71 ERA in AAA) #99 overall prospect 21 year old minor league
SS Trevor Story (.302 avg in AAA) and 27 year old
SP Juan Nicasio (0-2 15.32 ERA this season) to the Miami Marlins. In return the Rockies received one of the top young arms in the majors in
SP Jose Fernandez. Fernandez at the time of the trade was 2-0 with a 2.10 ERA for the Marlins, he has not been quite as good in Colorado but may just need to adjust to Coors. Fernandez will not be arbitration eligible until possibly next season and is paid the league minimum until then.
May 1st trade #2 - The second trade made that same day sent 33 year old
RP Matt Belisle (8.1 IP 5.40 ERA) to the San Francisco Giants. The Rockies received 25 year old minor league
RP Heath Hembree. Hembree was immediately moved to the major league team and has pitched 11.1 innings so far with a 3.18 ERA.
May 14th trade - The third trade made in May for the Rockies was once again for pitching. Colorado sent 17 year old international prospect
C German Carmona and 26 year old
SP Jhoulys Chacin to the Atlanta Braves. Chacin has struggled this season going 0-3 in 7 starts with a 6.87 ERA. In return the Rockies received another good young pitcher in 27 year old
SP Brandon Beachy who was 5-2 in Atlanta with a 2.12 ERA and has been even better in Colorado going 2-1 so far with a 1.35 ERA. Beachy is scheduled to make $32,500,000 over the next 4 seasons.
It was a good start to May for the Rockies as they won 7 in a row against division rivals Arizona and San Francisco before injuries started to hit them hard. They lost RF Michael Cuddyer (4 Weeks), 2B Kolten Wong (6 weeks) and LF Carlos Gonzalez (5 weeks). Kyle Parker and Tim Wheeler were promoted to help fill in the outfield and 2B Matt Wessinger filled in the backup role at 2B while Reid Brignac got the starting nod.
Top Team Performances
MLB Hitter - SS Troy Tulowitzki - .294/.373/.441 3 HR 17 RBI
MLB Pitcher - RP Sean Burnett - 12.2 IP 0.71 ERA 1.11 WHIP
AAA Hitter - 1B Ben Paulsen - .337/.389/.663 10 HR 23 RBI
AAA Pitcher - RP Mike McClendon - 16.0 IP 2.25 ERA 1.19 WHIP
AA Hitter - RF Julian Yan - .300/.359/.667 12 HR 33 RBI
AA Pitcher - SP Christian Bergman - 3-1 2.11 ERA 0.96 WHIP