Rockies send Jeremy Guthrie to bullpen, will go with four-man rotation

Colorado Rockies manager Jim Tracy announced on Tuesday that left-hander Jeremy Guthrie was being banished to the bullpen, and that the team will use a four-man rotation for the time being.

"We had to do something that was unconventional." Tracy on 4-man rotation—
Jorge Arangure (@jorgearangure) June 19, 2012

Each of the Rockies’ four starters — Alex White, Christian Friedrich, Josh Outman and Jeff Francis — will be on a 75-pitch limit. It’s quite a bold move given the makeup of the quartet: White is in his second season, Friedrich is a rookie and Francis signed three weeks ago after the Cincinnati Reds would not promote him to the big leagues. Moreover, Friedrich, Outman and Francis are all left-handers.

Colorado is in a bind with expected starters Jhoulys Chacin, Juan Nicasio and Jorge De La Rosa on the disabled list. More curious, though, is the decision to keep 23-year-old prospect Drew Pomeranz in Triple-A.

No word on how long this experiment will continue.