His statistics aching, his shoulder tightening, Rockies pitcher Jeff Francis reached a crossroads Wednesday in a season going nowhere.
After consulting with trainer Keith Dugger, Francis landed on the disabled list for the first time in his career after an MRI revealed inflammation in his left shoulder. The injury helps explain, at least in part, Francis’ disappointing season. The plan is for him to miss two starts, rejoining the rotation after the all-star break.
“If I was 9-4 instead of 3-7, I don’t know if we would even be having this conversation,” Francis admitted. “I know I could pitch (today), but as I have shown the last three months, the effectiveness might not be there.”
As an ace with a track record of success — he tied the franchise record with 17 wins last season — a Francis U-turn was considered critical if the Rockies were to dig out of their first-half crevice. His absence only underscores the difficulty they will have climbing back into contention. Mark Redman, who was demoted to Triple-A in the first week of May, will replace Francis in the rotation tonight against the Marlins.
“I think Jeff’s probably been hurt for a while. We need to get him healthy. Obviously, we are in a tough position, but there is still time,” first baseman Todd Helton said. “We have our work cut out for us and have to play a lot better.”
Francis has struggled with mechanical problems since the rained-out opening day in St. Louis. His velocity has also been erratic at times, ranging from 82 to 89 miles per hour. General manager Dan O’Dowd said Monday that Francis’ slump was the most “perplexing” element among the team’s many concerns. The injury helps make some sense of his forgettable season.
He is 3-7 with a 5.67 ERA.
“I don’t think he felt (pain) from his first start, but I think it became more of a problem than he gave it credit for,” manager Clint Hurdle said.
Francis has been unable to repeat his arm slot, which has sabotaged his sinker and left him without consistent fastball command. Minus that weapon, his changeup was no longer a swing-and-miss pitch when painted on the outside corner. Making the same pitches without the same results drove home to Francis the impact of his injury.
“I didn’t used to get beat that way,” he said.
Francis normally throws two side sessions between starts but halted that routine because of the tightness. He said he felt pain only on the last few pitches of recent games.
Francis isn’t sure whether his flawed delivery created the shoulder problem or the shoulder pain tweaked his motion. What the left-hander does know is that he needs to improve. The Rockies are 5-12 in his starts, compared to 22-12 last season.
“It’s not like I am throwing in pain; that’s the hard part,” Francis said. “But this will give me an opportunity to take a step back and evaluate what I have done and do what I need to do to get this right.”
Troy E. Renck: 303-954-1301 or trenck@denverpost.com
