WASHINGTON — Aaron Cook will get a chance to rediscover his trademark sinker in the Rockies’ rotation, not in the bullpen.
Manager Jim Tracy has reshuffled the deck in the rotation, but Cook will remain. Ubaldo Jimenez will get the first start after the all-star break vs. Milwaukee, followed by Juan Nicasio, Jhoulys Chacin, Cook and Jason Hammel.
Cook had preceded Nicasio in the rotation since returning from a broken finger suffered in spring training. But Tracy decided he needed to separate the two, given the strain their short starts had put on the bullpen.
“With where Aaron has been of late, splitting those guys up a little bit so that we’re not involved with taxing our bullpen . . . you have to be mindful of that,” Tracy said. “In the course of a two-day span, you don’t want to blow up your bullpen.”
Said Tracy, when asked about Cook’s ineffectiveness (0-4, 5.82 ERA in six starts): “He needs to get the ball down. The sinker can’t go side to side across the plate. It has to go down toward the plate. That’s the big thing here.”
Clearly, Cook is on notice, with Tracy saying that a Triple-A starter such as Greg Reynolds or Clayton Morten- sen could join the rotation “within the matter of a phone call” if Cook doesn’t do better.
“I’m not sitting here having a conversation with you guys with the suggestion being that we’re trying to run Aaron Cook out of the rotation,” Tracy said. “But I think Aaron Cook also realizes the fact that he has to pitch better. It’s that simple.”
CarGo update.
Carlos Gonzalez’s bruised right wrist kept him out of the starting lineup for the sixth time on the seven- game road trip. CarGo had an X-ray taken last Sunday after crashing into the center-field wall at Coors Field, but he might undergo an MRI today to make sure there’s no serious issue.
CarGo returned Friday, went hitless and sat out the weekend games. He’s feeling pain in his wrist that figures to linger for days, if not weeks.
“It’s like when you sprain your ankle and they ask you to run 100 percent,” Gonzalez said. “You’re not feeling good, so it’s hard. I have to use my wrist when I hit.”
Go figure.
Jason Giambi is quietly having a prolific season — he leads the majors in fewest at-bats per home run and RBI — but has struggled as a pinch hitter. He’s hitting .267 with nine homers and 22 RBIs in 86 at-bats — .318-9-20 in 66 at-bats as a starter, but .100-0-2 in 20 at-bats in a pinch-hit role.
Footnotes.
Hammel returned to New England on Sunday so he and his wife, Elissa, could prepare a nursery for their first child. Beckett William (no, he isn’t named after a certain Red Sox pitcher) is due on Sept. 2, which happens to be his dad’s 29th birthday. . . . Jimenez’s road act, by the numbers: His 2.28 road ERA is sixth in the league, and his .158 opponents’ average is the best in baseball, with Josh Beckett a distant second at .182. . . . Rookie outfielder Charlie Blackmon will have surgery on his broken left foot today. He’s expected to miss upward of two months.
Jim Armstrong, The Denver Post
