ROCKIES

Rockies’ $182 million man headed to Triple-A Albuquerque

Jun 27, 2023, 2:48 PM

Kris Bryant’s two-year tenure with the Colorado Rockies thus far has been really bad, and there are only another five years left on his $182 million deal.

Without Bryant over the past few weeks, the Rockies have been the worst team in the National League at 7-17. But the Rockies are getting reinforcements this week, with last year’s All-Star C.J. Cron coming off the Injured List ahead of Tuesday’s series-opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers and Bryant beginning a rehab assignment in Albuquerque on Wednesday.

This is the third time in two seasons that Bryant goes to Triple-A as he’s fought the injury bug, but the first time he’ll play home games for the ‘Topes. Bryant has only played 92 games in purple since signing the mega-deal ahead of the 2022 season and thus far he’s been worth 0.0 rWAR. He has slashed .283/.359/.420 with 10 home runs and 31 RBI while playing corner outfield.

Bryant, the former MVP of the NL, has dealt with back issues and is now trying to return from a heel bruise that has kept him out since the tail-end of May.

The Rockies are 41-51 over the past two seasons when Bryant plays, a .445 win percentage, which is up big-time from the 58-92 in games he hasn’t played, a .386 win percentage. Or the Rockies are exactly a 100-loss team without Bryant over the past two seasons compared to just bad.

Cron is DH’ing against Clayton Kershaw on Tuesday, though his .228/.277/.426 line to start the year was bad. He had a .783 OPS and career highs in batting average, on-base percentage and OPS last season.

The Rockies finish this long home stand that began with a somehow embarrassing series win against the Angeles with a series against the Dodgers then Detroit Tigers before hitting the road for the Fourth of July.

So Bryant will likely be back for the set against the Tigers if all goes well in rehabbing for the Isotopes.

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