Yohan Flande. (Evan Vucci, The Associated Press)
Walt Weiss played coy to start, saying only that he moved Franklin Morales to the Rockies’ bullpen. Then he spilled the secret. “There are no secrets these days, anyway.”
Yohan Flande, the Rockies’ 28-year-old rookie lefty with an 0-5 record and a 5.04 ERA, will move back into Colorado’s starting rotation to finish off the 2014 season. He will start Wednesday against the Dodgers at Coors Field.
The Rockies, finishing out a losing 2014, will begin their search for 2015 starters early. They’ve used 15 starters this season — Jorge De La Rosa’s 30 games leads them all, with Morales second at 22.
“Flande will get a couple starts before it’s all over,” Weiss said.
Flande was called up on June 25 to replace the injured Christian Bergman, who replaced the injured Jordan Lyles. Now all three will reunite in the Rockies rotation.
The Rockies dropped Flande back to Triple-A Colorado Springs in August, then called him back as a reliever. In five appearances out of the bullpen, he allowed two hits and no runs in 4 1/3 innings.
But Colorado wants another look at Flande as a starter, where he had a 5.52 ERA over nine games.
“We haven’t given up on him as a starter,” Weisssaid. “We feel like he can transition easily to the bullpen. When we put him in the bullpen, he was very effective. He’s a strike-thrower, very effective against lefties, keeps the ball down in the zone.”
Morales similarly skipped back and forth between the bullpen and a starting spot. He’s 5-8 with a 5.46 ERA in 22 starts this season. He has a 4.50 ERA in 11 relief appearances.
But the Rockies know what they have in Morales. So instead, they’ll use their remaining time this season to test-drive Flande for 2015.
“It’s just matter of getting another look before we wrap it up,” Weiss said.
Tags: Christian Bergman, Franklin Morales, Jordan Lyles, Yohan Flande
