3 Things To Improve All 30 Teams — The Colorado Rockies
The 2021 Rockies finished the season with a record of 74–87 (161 games), good enough for 4th place in the stacked NL West. One of the younger franchises in the league at 28 years old, they have only made the playoffs 5 times with the most recent being in 2018. Finishing 10th overall in the National League, the Rockies have some work to do if they want to make the playoffs in 2022, starting with…
1. Hope The Bull Pen Amalgamation Works
As stated above, Coors Field is a launching pad for baseballs. This is due to the humidor they keep the game balls in before they come into play, and the mile high atmosphere. Breaking balls don’t have as much break and balls that would normally be doubles into the gap fly 480 ft into the Colorado sunset. Needless to say, pitching will always and forever be a problem for the Rockies.
In 2021, the Rockies 5 main relievers (Daniel Bard, Tyler Kinley, Carlos Estevez, Yency Almonte, and Robert Stephenson) combined for an ERA of 4.96, .14 higher than the team ERA of 4.82. Yency Almonte is now a Dodger, and the Rockies have brought in Alex Colome on a 1 year, $4.1 million deal and JD Hammer on a minor league contract. Alex Colome easily has a spot in the pen and JD can give Daniel Bard or Tyler Kinley a battle in camp for one of their spots.
Alex Colome is entering his 10th year in the Majors. He currently holds a career ERA of 3.11, and an ERA+ of 133 over 393 appearances and 489 innings. He is a groundball pitcher with a career ground ball rate of 45.9%, so as long as he has a good infield defense behind him, he should finish the 2022 season with an ERA around 3.75–4. An ERA that low would contend for the best ERA out of the Rockies pen.
JD Hammer is more of a shot in the dark. Going up and down with the Phillies over the last few years, the 27 year old holds a career ERA of 4.38 over 40 appearances and 39 innings. If he can put it all together with the change of scenery and put up an ERA in the 4.25 range, the Rockies would be ever thankful. Should both of these guys pitch to their potential and the Rockies bull pen ERA lower to even just 4.75, that should give the Rockies another 2 wins.
2. Let The Prospects Cook
With Trevor Story pretty much a sure thing to be going elsewhere in free agency, the Rockies don’t have many viable big league options to lead their team to victory. Luckily for them, they have multiple prospects in their top 30 slated to be called up this year including 3 of their top 5 prospects. Let’s take a look at those 3.
Their 3rd ranked prospect, 24 year old left handed pitcher Ryan Rolison, was taken in the first round of the 2018 draft by Colorado. Over 50 starts and 231.2 innings so far in the minor leagues, he has an ERA of 4.35 to go along with 243 strikeouts. Getting his first taste of AAA action in 2021, he struggled a bit with a 5.91 ERA over 10 starts and 45.2 innings, while walking 16 batters. As he is now another year older and has another year of pro ball experience, expect him to improve upon those numbers this year. 5 more starts in AAA should be enough before he gets the call to The Show. As a rookie in Colorado, expect a 4.70 ERA from him with a good bit of strikeouts but also a good bit of walks.
The Rockies 4th ranked prospect, 23 year old 1B/3B Elehuris Montero, came over to the Rockies from the St Louis Cardinals as a part of the Nolan Arenado trade. Over 7 years in the minor leagues, he has a career professional slash line of .271/.344/.441 with 60 homeruns over 1,778 at bats. In 28 games at the AAA level last year, Montero stayed pretty close to his career lines .278/.355/.546, the main difference being the jump in his slugging percentage. Montero seems to have found his power stroke last year as 28 of his 60 homeruns came in 2021. Give him another 100 at bats in AAA before calling him up, then expect a .280/.350/.480 line from him with 25+ homerun power.
Last but not least, the Rockies 5th ranked prospect 23 year old outfielder Ryan Vilade. Taken in the 2nd round of the 2017 draft by Colorado, Ryan has done pretty well thus far as a pro hitting .289/.360/.422 with 170 walks over 1,551 at bats. More of a contact and plate discipline hitter, you can still expect him to hit 10–15 homeruns with the Coors effect. Giving him, too, another 100 AAA at bats would be beneficial before calling him up for good and letting him hit to the tune of .295/.370/.440. Should all 3 of these guys have good years in the Bigs, expect 3 more wins.
3. If All Else Fails, Don’t Make The Same Mistake They Made With Trevor Story
Trade rumors surrounded Trevor Story for years, only intensifying as the Rockies moved further and further away from their 2018 playoff appearance. As one of the top, seemingly available SS trade targets in 2021, Colorado was expected to receive a king’s ransom in return should they trade him to a contender. The deadline came and went and Trevor Story still donned a Rockies uniform just to leave in free agency this offseason, leaving the Colorado Rockies empty handed in his departure.
The Rockies have a history of making these awful decisions. Before Story, they waited too long to pull the trigger on an Arenado trade, and when they finally did they even agreed to continue to pay most of his exhorbitant salary. The Rockies should learn from their mistakes and make it right should the situation arise this year.
Charlie Blackmon is entering his age 35 season, his 12th in the Majors all with Colorado. Over his previous 11 seasons, he’s hit to the tune of .300/.359/.495 with an OPS+ of 114. With his best years most definitely behind him, he is currently on the next to last year of his contract. Making $21 million this year, and anywhere between $10-$18 million (has performance incentives in his deal for the final year, which is also a player option. This means that he has the option to play the final year of his contract or become a free agent. At his age, there’s a 99% chance he plays the final year of his contract) he can still bring a ton of value to a contending team with a young roster. Should the Rockies be guaranteed to not be in the playoffs come July, they need to pull the trigger on a Blackmon trade and snag a couple of prospects to restock their farm system. Definitely don’t let him leave in free agency where they won’t get anything in return.
Should the pen improve and the rookies do well enough to help the offense, another 5 wins would give them a record of 79–83. A record like that would still keep them out of the playoffs, but they would be a step closer to a .500 record. Every step counts.
This has been the 9th entry in our series in which we take a look at all 30 teams individually and find 3 things that would help them improve year over year. Previous entries include the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Atlanta Braves, the Baltimore Orioles, the Boston Red Sox, the Chicago White Sox, the Chicago Cubs, the Cincinnati Reds, and the Cleveland Guardians. Next up will be the Detroit Tigers!
