Rockies starting second baseman will miss Opening Day, leaving hole

The Colorado Rockies will have to scratch their Opening Day plans, as the team’s starting second baseman Thairo Estrada broke his right wrist on Thursday.

Estrada, 29, signed with the Rockies this offseason. The Venezuelan was hit by a pitch from Rangers righty Kumar Rocker and will miss 4-8 weeks, according to MLB.com.

Where Estrada struggled last season for the San Francisco Giants, he has had a strong spring for the Rockies and had won the job at second. He was slashing .400/.405/.457 across 13 appearances, though he’s only had one extra-base hit. That compares to the .217/.247/.343 line he had last season which is rough. But he was still a positive fWAR (0.4) player thanks to his glove.

The Rockies had hoped they’d bought low on the player Estrada had been the past few years. He was worth 6.3 fWAR in 2022 and 2023 combined thanks to .266/.319/.408 slash with  28 home runs, 44 stolen bases, and 111 RBI. And there were signs of that in Arizona this spring. Now Colorado will have to turn to another veteran in Kyle Farmer, who they also picked up this offseason. Farmer has an even weaker bat but would have been fine in a utility role since he’s played more than five games in the majors as a catcher, first baseman, second baseman, third baseman, and shortstop and left field over his 707 career contests.

Estrada has played 469 big league games, all for the Giants and New York Yankees. He has spent 351 of those at second base but also has 92 appearances at shortstop, 31 in the outfield, and 13 at third base. Estrada should be the everyday second baseman when healthy, replacing former Gold Glover and top pick Brendan Rodgers, who the Rockies non-tendered and is now with the Astros.

Estrada and Farmer seemed like the main plan for Bud Black in replacing Rodgers but the Rockies will now have to adjust. They already sent down top prospect Adael Amador, who had a cup of coffee with the big club last fall. Amado was working through a solid camp, notching a .296/.472/.333 line over 16 games and 27 at-bats. Amador’s potential was a reason why the Rockies could move off of Rodgers.