Juggling the Starters

The Rockies have been pretty fortunate this season on the injury front. They lost Jeff Francis and Taylor Buchholz before the season started and Franklin Morales got hurt in his second start in April. Other relievers have gone down such as Matt Daley, on the freak play where the umpire kicked the bat into his path, or Juan Rincon, Manny Corpas and others.

The Rockies used only 5 starting pitchers from April 22nd through August 10th, a span of 99 games. In the past 29 games the Rockies have used 8 starters, and a 9th starter Esmil Rodgers is slated to start tomorrow night in San Diego.

Jim Tracy does look ahead when trying to fill in the gaps of the starting rotation amid injuries. Ubaldo Jimenez who pulled a hamstring running the bases in Monday's game, was scheduled to pitch on Saturday. By slipping Rogers in, he not only gives Jimenez a few extra days rest, but puts him in a more meaningful game against San Francisco rather than San Diego. He also avoids using Rogers in a high pressure game in San Francisco, and also realizes he can skip Rogers twice if need be, with off days next Thursday and Monday the 22nd. He can also give Contreras and Cook more time.

So the Rotation right now might look like this:
@San Diego: De La Rosa, Rogers, Marquis
@San Francisco: Hammel, Jimenez, De La Rosa
@Arizona: Marquis, Hammel, Jimenez
San Diego: De La Rosa, Marquis, Hammel
St. Louis: Jimenez, (Contreras, Cook, or Rogers), De La Rosa
Milwaukee: Marquis, Hammel, (Contreras, Cook, or Rogers)
@Los Angeles: Jimenez, De La Rosa, Marquis

Because of the off days, the Rockies could get away with using a 5th starter on 2 more times after this weekend. Tracy may decide to use the 5th starter in the San Diego Series at home and save Hammel for St. Louis. However he decides to do it, it's obvious he has some options with the days off, and can see how Cook and Contreras progress.