Resto Is Now a Rockie

Rotoworld reports that Michael Restovich has been claimed off waivers by the Colorado Rockies.

Meanwhile, I imagine Eduardo Perez should give a big lift to the Devil Rays lineup over the next five or six years. He looked good on SportsCenter last night, losing that flyball in the roof at the Trop. Pathetic. I see that Charles Johnson had an auspicious first day with the Rays, as well--begging out of the lineup and taking a leave of absence for some mysterious personal reason, which Rays GM Chuck LaMar took care to note is NOT a "bereavement leave."

"The organization gives him until noon Friday to come back," LaMar said. "If he's not back by then, he will be placed on the restricted list without pay. ... We hope to have him back by the weekend. We will get the situation straightened out." mlb.com

Said Sweet Lou: "I'm glad we have the day off tomorrow. Look, we'll get by this. Right now, different things are hitting us from different directions. We'll get through it.

"Obviously, something's bothering the young man that makes this necessary. I haven't had to go through this very often as a manager, thank God. But we'll get through it. These are all setbacks. We're not awfully deep as it is."

And yet you can afford to let good young talent walk away to Colorado, Lou, so I guess you have that going for you. Looks like you folks really got your shit together....

Anyway, when I was speculating on potential destinations for Restovich last week, I had this to say about Colorado:

Colorado - The LF is Matt Holliday, who hit .290/.349/.488 as a rookie in 2004, but in Denver that translates to just a 98 OPS+ (100 being the adjusted league average), and on the road he hit a miserable .240/.287/.367. In RF, they're giving a shot to Dustan Mohr. (Or, "Mohr's the Pity" as Capt. Bess calls him.) Need I say mohr? Brad Hawpe and Cory Sullivan wouldn't seem to block out Restovich, either. Hawpe is a lefty bat who mashed AAA pitching last year but struggled in his callup to Denver and needs to show that he can hit lefty pitching. Sullivan is another lefty bat who missed all of 2004 recovering from elbow replacement surgery(!), last playing at AA in 2003, and should be in AAA this season even if he is swatting balls all around the yard in spring training.

Dustan Mohr just went on the 15-day DL with a strained left calf, which he hurt while celebrating the Rockies' victory yesterday. Brad Hawpe is a lefthanded prospect expected to get most of the playing time while Mohr is out. The Rockies have high hopes for Hawpe, but as I noted, it remains to be seen whether he can handle lefty pitching in the majors. Cory Sullivan is the other reserve OF on the 25-man roster, hitting a double in his first major league at-bat on Monday, but he's also a lefty and should return to the minors to make way for Restovich, once Mohr comes back.

So it would seem that in the next couple weeks Michael Restovich should get an opportunity to platoon with Hawpe or pinch-hit for him against lefthanded pitching. Then he ought to compete for playing time with Dustan Mohr (oh, the irony), or at least settle in as a RHB off the Rox bench. This time, let's hope he gets a real chance to play.