"Aaron Cook will get a chance to rediscover his trademark sinker in the Rockies' rotation, not in the bullpen.

Manager Jim Tracy has reshuffled the deck in the rotation, but Cook will remain. Ubaldo Jimenez will get the first start after the all-star break vs. Milwaukee, followed by Juan Nicasio, Jhoulys Chacin, Cook and Jason Hammel.

Cook had preceded Nicasio in the rotation since returning from a broken finger suffered in spring training. But Tracy decided he needed to separate the two, given the strain their short starts had put on the bullpen.

"With where Aaron has been of late, splitting those guys up a little bit so that we're not involved with taxing our bullpen . . . you have to be mindful of that," Tracy said. "In the course of a two-day span, you don't want to blow up your bullpen."

Said Tracy, when asked about Cook's ineffectiveness (0-4, 5.82 ERA in six starts): "He needs to get the ball down. The sinker can't go side to side across the plate. It has to go down toward the plate. That's the big thing here."

Clearly, Cook is on notice, with Tracy saying that a Triple-A starter such as Greg Reynolds or Clayton Morten- sen could join the rotation "within the matter of a phone call" if Cook doesn't do better."