The Colorado Rockies are currently tied with the Miami Marlins for the worst records in Major League Baseball at this point. Both teams are over 16 games back from the leaders in their respective National League divisions. There may be a variety of reasons why the Rockies have fallen so far behind, but one major reason is the number of all-star potentials sitting on the injured list.
Yes, predictably this story is going to start with Kris Bryant. This is Bryant’s third year of a 7-year, $182 million, contract for which he has been consistently on the injured list early and often. The reality is that the Bryant of today is not the Chicago Cubs Bryant that won a World Series in 2016. The Cubs got the peak years out of Bryant beginning in 2013, and then sold the Rockies a very expensive lemon. It is not just that Bryant is unperforming, but the Rockies do not even get the benefit of his veteran leadership and experience in the dugout because he spends so much time away from the team rehabilitating injuries. The best contribution Bryant could make at this point is to retire but why would he give up four more years of earning millions of dollars for the kind of performance that would get any other rookie sent down.
Next obvious discussion must turn to German Marquez and the $10 million he is earning this season despite not having thrown a pitch for the Rockies since April 26, 2023. Marquez had Tommy John’s surgery last year and has been in some stage of recovery this entire time. The Rockies gave Marquez this $10 million extension contract while he was on the injured list, and it includes another $10 million for the 2025 season. This is all because the Rockies are hoping to purchase the 2018 version of Marquez when he threw 230 strikeouts for the season. The reality is Marquez has not come close to doing that since then, which was seven years ago. How are fans supposed to believe that Marquez, 29, is going to miraculously step back onto a major league mound after a year and a half away on the injured list and suddenly start slaying major league hitters?
The parade of placating hopefuls on the injured list goes on and on. Nolan Jones, another young talent that was supposed to bring wonders to the Rockies’ offense, has been missing games since day 2 of Spring Training due to lower back tightness. And Kyle Freeland, the Rockies’ Ace that delivered the tempo-setting failure of a performance at the start of the 2024 season, is also still out with elbow inflammation. Then there are names like Lucas Gilbreath and Antonio Senzatela that just seem to be mystery players that collect a check for being injured because maybe one day they will play in a major league game again and it might be worth it even though the bat boy has given more contribution to the team this year than they have this season.
Not only is the injured list soaking up a lot of the Rockies’s talent pool, but it is also draining the Rockies’ coffers and preventing the team from investing in new prospective talent at the beginning of a career instead of aging talent hoping to squeeze a few more good seasons out before retirement. Young talent like Ezequiel Tovar is hard to find and harder to bring to the Rockies’ lineup when all the team’s money is tied up in the fading glory of so many veteran players.
