It's been a spring to forget for Colorado Rockies starter Aaron Cook. Soon after reporting to camp, Cook struggled with soreness in his shoulder and was limited in his workouts. That already put him behind the rest of the team's pitchers. And now this certainly isn't going to make things any better:
Cook has a broke right finger, out at least a month
Contrary to what you might imagine, Cook actually broke his finger when it got caught in a closing door. And now he's going to be out for a good amount of time while his finger heals. Once that's complete, Cook will then basically have to start spring training all over again from scratch, working to build up his arm strength and get into game shape.
So it's going to be several weeks before Cook can start even trying to get himself back into the Rockies' rotation. For the time being, that fifth spot is going to go to one of Esmil Rogers, Felipe Paulino, John Maine, Greg Reynolds, or Clayton Mortensen. Rogers is considered to be the favorite.
The 32-year-old Cook is coming off a 2010 campaign that saw him struggle, but he remains one of the most extreme groundball pitchers in baseball, which works to his benefit in Colorado.