Once again, the Colorado Rockies (24-25) lose another series to an NL West rival — this time to the Arizona Diamondbacks (26-24), who have beaten the Rockies an inexcusable six out of eight meetings this season. This latest loss now shoves Colorado three games back in the division. After suffering another crushing, tough-to-watch loss against an NL West team, roster moves have been made to try and ignite the listless ship that is the Colorado Rockies.
Second basemen Jose Lopez, who was acquired in the off-season to compete as the full-time second baseman, has been designated for assignment by the team, the Denver Post reported. His lack of production (.208 BA) and fielding (four errors) had him bouncing between second and third base throughout the season. He couldn’t beat out Jonathan Herrera as the second base regular and has been in at third base, rotating with Ty Wigginton and Ian Stewart.
The Rockies are still on the hook for his $3.6 million salary if he is not picked up by another team. In the mean time, the Denver Post’s Patrick Saunders is reporting that the club will most likely bring up Eric Young, Jr. from the Colorado Springs Sky Sox to play third base.
EYJ (as he is known here in Denver) has been doing nice for himself down in triple-A. He has a .364 batting average with 13 doubles and four triples to go with 17 RBIs. His triple-A stat line won’t be the same in the Rockies clubhouse, but I imagine he is going to lead off since center fielder Dexter Fowler has been demoted to the eight hole due to lack of production as the regular lead-off man.
The Rockies made a move this week that I am actually happy with, and, apparently, they are thinking the same way I am: Make some moves and cut some ties. They already demoted Stewart and Felipe Paulino to Colorado Springs, and now have designated Lopez for assignment. Aaron Cook will return to the pitching rotation after his last rehab start this weekend. Hopefully, these roster changes will give the Rockies some much-needed direction. It was a month like this that got former manager Clint Hurdle fired and gave incumbent manager, Jim Tracy, the reigns. … Just saying.