Carlos Gonzalez will remain in left field for Colorado Rockies

The Colorado Rockies opened the action this off-season by sending switch hitting center fielder Dexter Fowler to the Houston Astros in a trade. That move was part of a larger plan that included shifting Carlos Gonzalez to center field full time.

It turns out that plan did not even make it to the first Spring Training game, as Rockies manager Walt Weiss announced on Saturday that the plan is now to keep Gonzalez in left field. Weiss said the following about the situation (from Thomas Harding of MLB.com):

"We are feeling comfortable with the alternatives, watching these guys run around…The big thing is we want to keep [Gonzalez] on the field. Risk and reward has kind of swung the other way. We are in a different place than we were in the fall. That’s what it comes down to.”"

When the Rockies initially announced their intentions to move CarGo to center, they were surprisingly blunt, effectively saying “well he gets hurt anyway, so why not play him in center?” They seem to have backed off that stance and will once again hope that having him in left field full time does a better job of keeping him healthy.

The team will now turn to two guys from their farm system, Charlie Blackmon and Corey Dickerson, as well as recently acquired Drew Stubbs to compete for and potentially platoon to fill the center field spot.