The Rockies are staring at a roster squeeze that arrives fast and leaves little room for sentiment.
Monday is the deadline for Major League Baseball teams to clear players off the 60-day injured list, and Colorado has six names sitting in that lane. The problem is simple: according to the current roster listing on MLB.com, the 40-man roster is already full. That means the Rockies cannot just activate everybody and move on.
The group Colorado has to sort through right away includes Kris Bryant, Chase Dollander, McCade Brown, Pierson Ohl, RJ Petit and Welinton Herrera.
Bryant is the headliner, and not in a good way. His future with the Rockies remains one of the biggest unresolved questions on the roster.
He has not played for Colorado since April 12, 2025, and by the time the 2027 season opens, it will have been nearly two years. His issue is lumbar degenerative disc disease, and there still has not been any positive update or clear return date.
If everyone were being blunt, Bryant may never play again.
But the contract and the rules still force Colorado to deal with him now. He is 34, still owed $54 million on a $182 million deal, and there are two years left on it.
The Rockies can reinstate him and keep evaluating him, hoping he somehow gets back on the field. That would tie up a roster spot for a player with no timetable.
They could also designate him for assignment and potentially release him, which would open the spot but not erase the money. The club has not signaled that move, but it may be the one that makes the most sense.
Paul DePodesta has the task of sorting through all of it, and Bryant is only part of the puzzle.
Dollander is a different kind of call. He had elbow surgery in June and is working toward a possible return in 2027, so he looks more like a hold than a real question.
Brown dealt with shoulder inflammation this season, while Ohl and Petit are both coming back from elbow injuries. Herrera also had elbow surgery, and his return next season is still uncertain.
The Rockies also have to account for the players who are already on their way out. The four impending free agents - Kyle Freeland, Jose Quintana, Jordan Romano and Tomoyuki Sugano - have already been removed from the roster on MLB.com, so those departures do not create any extra breathing room in the current listing.
And that is before Colorado even gets to the Rule 5 Draft. The club still needs room to protect eligible prospects, which means the 40-man roster decisions go beyond the six injured players waiting for Monday’s call.
There are also players already on the roster who could be vulnerable if the Rockies decide they no longer fit the plan. Blas Castano, Jeff Criswell, TJ Shook, Blake Adams and Chad Stevens are among the names that could be in that category.
For now, though, the spotlight is on the injured list decisions. Bryant will draw the most attention, but DePodesta also has to weigh young pitching, depth, and the realities of a roster that is already maxed out. Colorado has a lot to sort through, and not much time to do it.
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