When the Rockies have an absolutely abysmal season that has the team finishing 64-98, there probably shouldn’t be too much optimism coming from their players or their fans for the upcoming season. But don’t be so quick to shoot down any chance of success that the Rockies could have in the 2013 season.
I know that the baseball die-hards are probably already asking when my last therapy session took place, but don’t shy away just yet.
First off, here are the facts. The Rockies had their absolute worst season since their expansion to the league in 1993, no doubt. They had no consistency in their starting rotation, and their ERA as a team was 5.22. The worst in all of Major League Baseball in 2012 by far. .44 worse than the next team on the list (Cleveland). Mid-way through the season, the Rockies starting pitching was so bad that there had to be a 75-pitch limit on all starters, which created a 6-man rotation, something that only the Rockies were crazy enough to try out. And for the most part, it was a complete failure, as the Rockies continued to struggle in the second half of the 2012 regular season, going 31-46 after July 12th.
Not only did their starting rotation struggle mightily, but their top offensive weapon, Troy Tulowitzki, was out for 70 percent of the 2012 season. That’s 30 home runs and 105 RBI’s (2011) that were out of the line-up for much of the year. While the Rockies did average .274 at the plate as a team (1st in MLB) and scored the third-most runs in all of baseball, their line-up was really out of wack all season long without their star-slugger in the middle of that batting order.
Without Tulo, the Rockies were forced to focus their line-up around Carlos Gonzalez, who had a sub-par season compared to his 2010 and 2011 campaigns. Inserting Tulo back into the line-up will once again give the Rockies the ability to strike more fear into opposing pitching staffs with that 3-4 punch of CarGo and Tulo. Something they desperately missed without their star shortstop. During points in the season, the Rockies tried to replace Tulo in the batting order with Cuddyer, Rosario, Colvin, and even tried to stick CarGo in the lead off role to switch things up. As far as offensive consistency goes, getting Tulo back healthy will hopefully get this squad back on their feet.
But as all Rockies fans know, the offense wasn’t the problem. The pitching staff was what did the Rockies in during the 2012 season. There were 14 different starting pitchers during the regular season, mainly due to the fact that there was so much failure that led to the Rockies coaching staff letting whoever could pitch, get a crack at the starting role.
Much of the reason for the ugly play on the mound in the starting role was due to the fact that two of the Rockies top starting pitchers were hobbled or completely derailed during the 2012 season. Jhoulys Chacin suffered a pectoral injury and missed a good middle portion of the season and never really got any consistency on the mound. And then Jorge De La Rosa was lost early in the season in June when he suffered a complete tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow that forced him to undergo Tommy John Surgery, which was the biggest blow to the
Rockies, seeing as how DLR had really been on the rise as the hope for the Rockies starting rotation.
Both De La Rosa and Chacin are expected to be back and healthy for the Rockies, which should most definitely bolster the starting rotation, at least on paper.
As projected, the Rockies starting line-up should look a little like this. De La Rosa will be the Rockies quote on quote “ace”, Chacin and Nicasio will battle for the No. 2 position, while Pomeranz and Jeff Francis should round out the rotation. If that starting rotation can stay healthy during the course of the regular season, along with a couple bounce back seasons, this rotation can and should prove to be productive. Hopefully productive enough to at least give the offense a chance to out-gun opposing offenses good enough to get victories, which was not at all the case last season.
The Rockies lost far too many games even when they put up 7 or 8 runs on offense, surely due to the fact that the bullpen could never bail them out after having to relieve the starters so early on in many contests. The staff looks to be good enough to keep the Rockies in games, but this team could definitely get better if they were to add a true ace or another solid No. 2 to this roster before the start of the 2013 season.
With all of that said, realistically, how much worse can the Rockies be? There’s no way that this team can be as bad as they were last season. With the re-addition of Tulo to the line-up, and a consistent looking (at least on paper) starting staff led by a healthy De La Rosa and Chacin, what’s not to be positive about heading into the 2013 season after such a dreadful 2012 season?
Point being, everything that could’ve went wrong last season, most certainly did. Not even mentioned yet, add to the equation a brand new coaching staff led by first-year manager Walt Weiss, who has gotten high praise early on in spring training. It’s not crazy to imagine this team having some success, at least early on in this 2013 season.
Truth is, they can’t afford to sustain such a terrible season again. If it’s getting rid of O’Dowd that the Rockies fans truly want, then another near-100 loss season should be in the blueprints. But if the fans want to see Tulo and CarGo in Rockies uniforms in 2014, and Rockies fans happily sitting in the seats at Coors Field in the future to cheer on the guys in purple, then the Rockies must find a way to win in 2013.
Anthony Rodriguez
Anthony is the Founder, Administrator, Editor and Publisher of Lightning Rod Sports. Originally from California, Anthony has been raised in the Rocky Mountains and Denver area for most of his life. Anthony works with the Emmy-winning student-run T.V. newscast at MSU Denver, The Met Report, as the Assistant General Manager, formerly the Sports Producer, as well as Lead Anchor and Production Assistant. He is currently the Play-by-Play Announcer, Color Commentator, and Production Assistant for the Metro State Broadcast Network, and calls games for Metro State soccer, basketball, volleyball, baseball, and softball as a “Voice of the Roadrunners.” In addition to that work with the Metro State Broadcast Network, Anthony also hosts the monthly 30-minute magazine show called "The Roadrunner Review" which airs on Altitude Sports and Entertainment. He hosts the bi-weekly "KMet Sports Show" on KMET Radio at MyMetMedia.com/KMETSportsShow. He is also the Founder, Administrator, Editor, and Columnist for his own Denver Sports website, LightningRodSports.com. Anthony is also part of the Social Media team at Examiner.com, and has worked with the Altitude Radio Network for the Avalanche and Nuggets. Anthony is a former Producer for Mile High Sports Radio, as well as a former Sports-Talk show host on the LightningRod Radio Network.
