Rockies Believe Having This Would Have Prevented Historically Poor Season

Would this have impacted the Colorado Rockies?
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The Colorado Rockies couldn't make it two wins in a row on Friday.

Coming off their victory in the series finale against the Houston Astros, the Rockies welcomed in the Chicago White Sox for the holiday weekend series that began on the Fourth of July.

With the two worst teams facing off, it was anyone's guess how this set was going to go.

But Round 1 went to the White Sox after they won 3-1, and now Colorado is inching closer and closer to finishing with the worst record in Major League Baseball history.

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However, the Rockies believe one thing might have changed things.

According to Thomas Harding of MLB.com, Colorado thinks that having the middle infield duo of Ezequial Tovar and Thairo Estrada healthy throughout the year "could have made a difference to their record."

Maybe it would have.

Tovar, coming off a Gold Glove-winning campaign at shortstop and a 19th-place finish in NL MVP voting last year, has only been on the field for 32 games this season.

Estrada, who was signed this past offseason to a one-year, $3.25 million contract with a 2026 mutual, has played just 26 games.

In total, the duo that was supposed to be the starting middle infielders for the Rockies has only been active at the same time for four games and has only played together three times.

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That's pretty notable.

As a result, Colorado has gotten an fWAR of minus-1.3 and a wRC+ of 49 from the keystone, which ranks last in the MLB. Shortstop has been a bit better, but the minus-0.4 fWAR is second to last while the 58 wRC+ is third to last.

All in all, it's hard to win games when getting that lack of production from important spots on the field.

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The good news is the Rockies will be able to test their theory out pretty soon.

Estrada is back on the field and has been performing well, while Tovar is nearing the end of his rehab from the left oblique strain he suffered. Which means both should be in the middle of Colorado's infield together for the majority of the second half of the year.

For more Rockies news, head over to Rockies On SI.


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Brad Wakai
BRAD WAKAI

Brad Wakai graduated from Penn State University with a degree in Journalism. While an undergrad, he did work at the student radio station covering different Penn State athletic programs like football, basketball, volleyball, soccer and other sports. Brad currently covers the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros for Sports Illustrated/FanNation. He is also the Lead Contributor for Nittany Lions Wire of Gannett Media where he continues to cover Penn State athletics. Brad is the host of the sports podcast I Said What I Said, discussing topics across the NFL, College Football, the NBA and other sports. You can follow him on Twitter: @bwakai