Colorado Rockies: Pitching Must Be Top Priority This Offseason

Aug 14, 2014; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Jorge De La Rosa (29) delivers a pitch in the first inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

Although it sounds cliché and we have been repeating this for the past twenty years, the Colorado Rockies must focus on improving their pitching staff this offseason. Re-signing southpaw Jorge De La Rosa to a two-year, $25 million extension was a step in the right direction, but management must continue to build on that.

Lets face it, the Rockies have one of the better lineups in the Majors even without Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez. Granted, they’re a little streakier without the two all-stars, but have proved they can get the job done. The team is currently first in the Majors in slugging percentage, sitting at .443 while sitting second in batting average, hitting .275. Not to mention, the Rockies rank fourth in the Majors in both runs (665) and on-base percentage (.326). One thing this team lacks however, is consistent pitching.

Franklin Morales is the kind of player that basically sums up this season for the Rockies on the mound; inconsistent. Morales has a game where he’s lights out, then will come back the next time out laying an egg. Sad, but true. The starting pitching featured of Tyler Matzek in the second half looks promising as we look forward to the 2015 season, but the team is nearly last in every pitching category.

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Entering play Wednesday night (September 10th), the Rockies rank 30th (last) in the league in terms of ERA at 4.88. This doesn’t just sit on the bullpen who currently hold the second-worst ERA in the bigs (4.91), but it also weighs on the starting pitching where they rank third-worst with a 4.88 ERA.

Colorado showed little to no attempt in the offseason, regarding acquiring a starting pitcher. They made one deal sending southpaw Drew Pomeranz to the Oakland Athletics for Brett Anderson and that didn’t go over so well. Colorado will have to decide whether or not to pick up Anderson’s $12 million for 2015, which is a definite no from me.

There are other “potential” free agent starting pitchers that the Rockies can set their sights on. For example, Yovani Gallardo of the Milwaukee Brewers. Granted, the asking price might be a tad-bit high but management has to move on and let the Denny Neagle, Mike Hampton signings go. One thing Colorado needs to shore up is their porous bullpen. Rule-5 pick Tommy Kahnle and veteran LaTroy Hawkins have been the only consistent pieces of the pen, but Colorado needs to add more pieces to hopefully contend in 2015.

For a list of potential free agent pitchers, make sure to follow the link. Let us know in the comment section who you’d like to see the Rockies go after.

The offense will be there for the Colorado Rockies as we all know that, it’s just up to management whether they want to spend money on pitchers to bring back a winning culture to 20th and Blake.

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Pitching Must Be A Top Priority This Offseason For The Colorado Rockies

By Andrew Dill | Sep 10, 2014