Colorado Rockies take advantage of new DL rules in bullpen shakeup

DENVER – On Wednesday, the Colorado Rockies had to place on of the main pieces of their phenomenal bullpen on the Disabled List after Mike Dunn was able to quickly recover from mid-back spasms.

“We checked it out to make sure we weren’t missing anything,” he told the media after the news was announced. “We gave it a couple of days off, tried to throw a pen yesterday, the fastball felt great but trying to crank on a slider the back just locked up a little bit.”

He says this is mostly precautionary and something they wanted to do to make sure he is 100 percent healthy moving forward. “I felt it my last outing and tried to pitch through it,” he said, “At this point take some time and make sure we get rid of all of it and move forward.”

He says an MRI came back clear and he hopes to start throwing again when the team makes the trip to Arizona this weekend.

The new MLB rules lowering the 15-day DL to a 10-day DL have played in the Rockies favor here, and manager Bud Black thinks the change is helping teams across baseball stay healthy.

“I think that was a great move by baseball,” he said. “Even in Mike’s case you’re back-dated … so he’ll be able to pitch in San Diego. I think it was a rule that was talked about for some time and I think it helps clubs. It really takes that injury that is sort of iffy [so you don’t have to lose someone] for 13-15 days. I think it’s a good rule. In a way, it helps the players at times fighting through an injury that could put them at risk if they play.”

Dunn agreed adding that it’s nice to be able to have someone step in while he takes the time to rest. “If I wasn’t on the DL,” he said. “We’d be putting the team in handcuffs in the bullpen. So it’s the right move to make to make.”

Dunn says he has no history, and the injury isn’t related to his workload or the cold weather.

Dunn has been fantastic for the Rockies in 2017, posting a 1.17 ERA over 7.2 innings, striking out 10 and walking just two.

Chad Qualls rejoins the team in Dunn’s place after a stint on the DL himself. Qualls came to the club last season as a free agent and didn’t have the kind of results he was hoping for in 2016, posting a 5.23 ERA over 32.2 innings. At 38-years-old, Qualls will be aiming to show Colorado he still has some juice left in that right arm.

“There’s a fresh arm for us,” says Black. That’s especially important coming after a game when a lot of ‘pen arms were called upon in a 15-12 game. But, Black says,”We feel good about tonight’s game as far as readiness for the bullpen.”