Aaron Cook’s jammed right big toe has the Rockies in a bind and has reliever Josh Fogg on standby.
Cook was scheduled to start Tuesday night against the Pirates. Now he’s set for a Saturday start in Florida against the Marlins.
Cook, a rotation anchor with a 10-4 record and a 3.93 ERA, will see a foot specialist today at the Steadman Hawkins Clinic. Cook wants to make sure his injury is not serious enough to put him on the disabled list or something that could affect his pitching delivery.
“This is the right move,” Cook said Sunday. “We want to make sure and get all the inflammation out of there so I can stick around the rest of the season.”
Manager Jim Tracy said that Tuesday assignment will go to veteran Fogg or rookie Jhoulys Chacin. Tracy’s preference is to go with Fogg. Even though Fogg threw 22 pitches in the ninth inning Sunday, Tracy didn’t rule him out.
“We are going to wait another day before I make the announcement,” Tracy said, but he added that Fogg’s Sunday outing was like a “side session.”
Fogg said he envisions a scenario in which he and Chacin get plenty of work.
“I think either way, we are both going to get the bulk of the innings,” Fogg said. “I haven’t thrown more than 40 pitches this season, so I don’t think it would be beneficial for me or the team to stretch it much beyond that.”
Fogg, who earned the nickname “The Dragon Slayer” in 2007, when he consistently defeated some of the best starters in baseball during the Rockies’ run to the National League pennant, has been steady out of the bullpen. He’s 0-1 with a 2.17 ERA, but he has pitched just 29 innings in 17 relief appearances.
Chacin was promoted directly from Double-A Tulsa on July 24. One of the Rockies’ top starting pitching prospects, Chacin has worked sparingly out of the bullpen, appearing in four games with a 1.80 ERA. He allowed his first major-league run Saturday night on a homer by the Cubs’ Kosuke Fukudome.
