Three teams now worse than the Houston Astros

September 28, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Colorado Rockies center fielder

(13) throws his helmet after striking out in the sixth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Colorado Rockies

The second worst record in all of baseball last season, the Colorado Rockies have plenty of factors to blame for the abysmal season they had. Injuries to Michael Cuddyer, Carlos Gonzalez, and Troy Tulowitzki all drastically limited this offense from making up for the usual shortcomings of the starting rotation.

After losing Cuddyer to free agency and not making any improvements in the offseason, it’s hard to believe the Rockies will be able to win more games than the Astros. Even with a healthy everyday lineup they don’t have the pitching to keep them in games.

There’s very little the Rockies need to do in terms of position players. Just about anyone could get plugged into this lineup and have a successful season. The starting rotation is where the problem with this team lies. Difficult to get an actual grasp on how talented or untalented anyone who pitches for the Rockies is thanks to the affects Coors Field has on their ERA, the important thing to pay attention is the simplest: wins. Only Jorge De La Rosa reached double-digits wins in 2014. He was also the only pitcher with 30 or more starts. This was due to a combination of injuries and general instability that we can always expect from the Rockies.

Wins may be a more important statistic for the Rockies’ starting pitchers than any other team. Blaming Coors Field doesn’t work because when you lose the game it just means the other pitchers are allowing less runs. You don’t need to outrun the bear, just the slowest person in the group. You don’t need to pitch a shutout, just allow fewer runs than the other team.

The only bright spot the Rockies have in their starting rotation is youngster Jordan Lyles. Coincidentally, Lyles came to the Rockies from the Astros in the trade that sent Dexter Fowler to Houston.