Rockies need to focus on pitching
The Colorado Rockies are going to finish in last place in the National League West. They are already at the bottom with a 34-44 record and are going nowhere fast, a position the franchise has found itself in all too often since losing the 2007 World Series to the Boston Red Sox.
Colorado has a beautiful stadium in Coors Field and a wonderful fan base, but the team has fallen on hard times because the pitching is terrible. It seems the front office can never find a way to put real hurlers on the mound, especially more than one at a time. When you think about Colorado, now in its 23rd season, who is the best pitcher in franchise history? You are choosing between names like Ubaldo Jimenez, Jeff Francis and Kevin Ritz. Yeah, it has been that bad.
The Rockies have longed blame the thin air for the pitching woes, and certainly that has been part of the problem. Any time the ball can carry like crazy and turn a decent fly ball into a home run, things are going to get dicey for anybody taking the bump. Yet, after the team brought forth the humidor, most analysts say the hitting advantage has gone by the wayside. Still, the Rockies have no ability to pitch.
It would seem that the front office should be targeting ground-ball pitchers. Get guys who record a ton of outs on the ground, and the thin air becomes much less of a problem. It figures that if Derek Lowe and Tim Hudson played a ton of games at Coors Field, they would still have enjoyed terrific campaigns.
The reality is Colorado simply doesn’t find good pitching. This year, the Rockies have allowed an absurd 396 runs, with only the horrendous Philadelphia Phillies posting a higher number at 406. The men who have started for Colorado this year include Chad Bettis, Tyler Matzek, Jorge De La Rosa, Christian Bergman, Chris Rusin, Eddie Butler, Jordan Lyles, David Hale and Kyle Kendrick.
You couldn’t make a good Triple-A rotation out of those names.
It’s time for the Rockies to trade either Troy Tulowitzki, Carlos Gonzalez or both. Target teams like the New York Mets who are flush in young pitching, and aim for guys who either have high strikeout rates or keep the ball almost exclusively on the ground. The offense has always been there in Colorado, and with men like Nolan Arenado (24 home runs and 68 RBI) Wilin Rosario, DJ LeMahieu, Corey Dickerson and Charlie Blackmon, it will still produce. It’s time to straighten out the pitching and create some financial room, once and for all.
The Rockies aren’t going anywhere in 2015. It’s high time they build a great rotation and fill in the offensive puzzle later, not the other way around.
