After finally answering the fans' decade-old request to fire General Manager Dan O'dowd, the Colorado Rockies showed promise for change. Unfortunately, after hiring O'dowds right-hand man Jeff Bridich, Colorado has had what is yet another dissappointing off-season. With an opportunity to bolster what is the worst pitching staff in the league based on ERA, the Rockies did nothing to improve it. Instead, they decided to use their limited resources to sign a back-up catcher and a utility infielder with no offensive upside. At least they also tried to fix the pitching problem by signing one of the worst pitchers to somehow stick around in the MLB in Kyle Kendrick and rolled the dice on Jon Axford, a once good reliever whom nobody else wanted this year.

Notable off-season additions and subtractions to the roster.

Additions

  • Nick Hundley
  • Daniel Descalso
  • Kyle Kendrick
  • Jon Axford
  • Jairo Diaz
  • Roger Bernadina
  • John Lannan
  • Aaron Laffey

Subtractions

  • Michael Cuddyer
  • Brett Anderson
  • Matt Belisle
  • Josh Rutledge
  • Franklin Morales
  • Nick Masset
  • Danny Winkler
  • Taylor Featherston
  • Rob Scahill
  • Juan Nicasio

Biggest Weakness... Starting Pitching, Bullpen, Injury Prone Superstars

It is the same story every year for the Purple Pinstripes. If Tulo and Cargo stay healthy, the Rockies might be good. The story is the same this year. Every season the Rockies have had in which both players played in 150 games, they have made the playoffs. That was one year - 2009. It's time for them to get their stuff together and stay healthy together for the second time in six years so that the team has a fighting chance. It doesn't help that the Rockies also probably have the worst-looking bullpen going in to the season, and starting pitching never works out in Colorado. The truth is that there probably is a way for effective pitching a mile high, but nobody in the front office has even attempted to try to fix it since the Mike Hampton experiment failed. It is a dissappointing and embarrassing fact about the organization that I have been a loyal fan to my entire life. Even if the stars stay healthy, it's hard to imagine a genuinely competitive Rockies team with pitching in the same situation year after year.

Biggest Strength... Offense anchored by Troy Tulowitzki

Despite the lack of pitching in the rotation and the bullpen, Colorado is among the best offensive teams in the league. Even with Tulo and Cargo not playing for a large portion of the season last year, they still ended up in the top three in the league in runs scored. Does this have something to do with the run-scoring environment in their home stadium of Coors Field? It certainly does, but the Rockies are a great overall offensive team on top of that. With the emergence of Corey Dickerson (2nd in the MLB in SLG % in 2014) and the consistent good play of corner infielders Justin Morneau and Nolan Arenado, the Rockies have a great handful of complimentary hitters to Tulowitzki and Gonzalez. They should strive to score more runs than anyone in baseball this year. If they do, they have a chance of squeaking into the playoffs. If they don't, there is no chance of this team competing.

Something to keep an eye on... Eddie Butler/Jon Gray

The Rockies are used to being the worst-pitched team in the MLB by a large margin. It will probably take more than just a couple of stud prospects to come up and perform well at the MLB level to fix that, but it would be a nice start. Gray and Butler look like they are for real based on their Minor League numbers, and they both pass the eye test. It should also be interesting to see how they fair in 2015 because Colorado switched over their Minor League affiliate teams this season, so the AAA pitchers no longer have to deal with the most hitter-friendly park on the planet in Colorado Springs. Since these guys are both fairly close to being ready to pitch in the Big Leagues and the Rockies aren't very deep with their pitching staff, expect to see both of them at the Big League level for a large portion of the year. There is even a chance that one or both of them could start the year in the MLB rotation if they have a good Spring Training.


Potential Lineup... * denotes lefty... ^ denotes switch hitter...

1. Charlie Blackmon* - CF

2. Carlos Gonzalez* - RF

3. Troy Tulowitzki - SS

4. Justin Morneau* - 1B

5. Nolan Arenado - 3B

6. Corey Dickerson* - LF

7. Wilin Rosario - C

8. DJ LeMahieu - 2B


Potential Bench

Nick Hundley^

Daniel Descalso*

Charlie Culberson

Brandon Barnes

Drew Stubbs


Potential Rotation

Jorge De La Rosa*

Jhoulys Chacin

Jordan Lyles

Tyler Matzek*

Kyle Kendrick


Potential Bullpen

LaTroy Hawkins - Closer

Adam Ottavino

Rex Brothers*

Jon Axford

Tommy Kahnle

Jairo Diaz

Boone Logan*

Injured to start the season

Tyler Chatwood

Fantasy Bargain - Carlos Gonzalez

It seems as if people are scared to draft Cargo this year due to his lost season last year. Maybe his value should take a bit of a hit, but he has gone in the mid 40's - the mid 50's in a few drafts. This is just simply way too far for him to be falling in drafts. If Cargo makes it past the top 30 overall players drafted, get him. He almost won a triple crown in 2010, and he put up five straight 20/20 seasons after that with very good percentage numbers. He will also hit in the middle of a lineup that should be amongst the best in the league, so he should put up loads of runs. A prediction of 30 homers, 20 steals, 100 runs and 12 RBI is legitimate. Draft him in the 20's and 30's, not the 40's and 50's.

Overvalued Fantasy Player - Charlie Blackmon

One half of one year is not enough to prove a players worth. Blackmon did have a great first half in 2014, but he way out-performed his track record throughout all levels of his play in his professional career. Bet on a full season similar to his second half last year. Blackmon is a player who is slightly above replacement level, and the only reason he provides offense any higher than that is because of the Coors Field effect. Owners should not draft Blackmon in the top 125, maybe even the top 150.

Other Notes

It's notable that the Rockies are a very good defensive team. Keith Law actually named the Rockies as the best overall infield in all of baseball. Every member of the infield has had a Gold Glove. Both Arenado and DJ LeMahieu got the Gold Glove for their respective positions in 2014, and Arenado is on his way to becoming a perennial All-Star once he gets some of his offensive numbers up a little. The Rockies have all this great defense, and the team was still last in the league in runs allowed.

Conclusion/Season Prediction

This is a team with a little bit of potential, but that potential comes with a lot of ifs. If Cargo and Tulo can stay healthy the team should be the best offensive team in baseball. If the Rockies play defense as well as they did last year, they could save their pitching staff a little. If the pitchers make a step in the right direction and the prospects Jon Gray and Eddie Butler make an impact, they might not be the worst pitching staff in the bigs. If all of these things work out in a positive light, the team could win as many as 88 games or so. If they don't, they couod be as bad as a 65-win team. The official prediciton is 75 wins and a fourth-place finish in the NL West - ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Tyler spoke with Grant Kingery (@TheGK7) about the state of the Rockies on the radio.

See more of Tyler's team previews.