The Rockies’ game plan for dealing with the cut in Ubaldo Jimenez’s right thumb cuticle can be summed up in three words: wait and see.
“We’re going to take it one day at a time, so I don’t have to worry when I get to the mound that it’s going to come back,” Jimenez said. “I have to be perfect. So we’re not trying to rush anything.”
There has been no official determination of when Jimenez will make his next start. He’s tentatively scheduled to pitch Friday at Pittsburgh, but Rockies manager Jim Tracy acknowledged that Jorge De La Rosa could step into that spot.
“We’re still monitoring the situation,” Tracy said. “His finger looks much, much better, there’s no question about it. And yet we don’t want to push it to the point where we take major steps backwards just by trying to play catch.”
Jimenez is scheduled to throw a bullpen session today. If he can’t, the Rockies could determine his status at that point. He could miss a start or have his scheduled start pushed back a day. If he isn’t able to pitch Saturday, the Rockies would have to dip into their Triple-A staff for a spot starter.
While Jimenez’s prognosis is unclear, this much is certain: The Rockies will take no chances with the greatest pitcher in the history of the franchise. Jimenez will throw today, said Tracy, only “if the finger is exactly where we want it to be.”
The most likely fallout from Jimenez’s injury? Time will tell, but Jimenez, who has been soaking his thumb in antibiotic soap, said an extra day of rest would be beneficial.
“As much (rest) as I can get, it’s probably going to be better,” he said. “It’s getting better, but I can still feel it. We need to let it heal from inside. Right now, it’s fine from the outside, but probably from the inside, it’s not ready.” New-look lineup.
Seth Smith was 7-for-19 against lefties at spring training and doubled off left-hander Joe Paterson on Saturday, but he was nowhere to be found in Tracy’s lineup against Clayton Kershaw. Nor was Ian Stewart.
Ryan Spilborghs, who got his first start in right field and hit second, on the Rockies’ bench: “It’s hard to say we have a bench. (Ty) Wigginton, (Jose) Lopez, (Jonathan) Herrera, myself . . . we’re really good players. You’re talking about guys who have the potential to play a lot of games and be starters.”
Footnotes.
It’s early April. How do we know? Chris Iannetta went into Tuesday’s game with a league-leading .625 on-base percentage. His fifth-inning home run was his fourth hit of the season in eight at-bats, equaling his hit total for 30 at-bats in the first month of last season. . . . Lopez, who hit seventh on opening day and sixth on Saturday, was in the five hole.
Jim Armstrong, The Denver Post
