Colorado Rockies: 2017 Season Review and Offseason Preview

What Went Wrong

The Colorado Rockies made an unusual move last December when they signed Ian Desmond to a five-year, $70 million contract. Desmond had played shortstop for most of his career, then moved to the outfield in 2016. The Rockies had a full outfield, so they signed Desmond to play first base, which seemed like a waste of fielding talent.

Desmond broke his hand in spring training and missed all of April. When he got back on the field in May, he struggled to hit for two months before being put on the DL with a calf injury in early July.

He came off the DL after the All-Star break but went right back on it less than two weeks later. This time, he missed another month. He finished the season with a .274/.326/.374 batting line. Hopefully, he can come back healthy next season and be a good contributor.

In what was likely his final season in Colorado, right fielder Carlos Gonzalez was below replacement-level. He started the year slowly and had trouble finding his stroke through the first four months of the year.

As July rolled into early August, he was hitting .228/.301/.338. He started to warm up a bit in August and caught fire in September. Over the final two months of the season, he hit .325/.407/.583.

It was a great finish to a rough year. Whether it helps Gonzalez make some coin on the free agent market in the offseason remains to be seen.

The starting rotation had a few pitchers with ERAs over 5.00, but you have to take Coors Field into account when looking at Rockies pitchers. None of the eight pitchers who started a game for the Rockies was below replacement-level. Their numbers make them look worse than they were.

The bullpen did have a couple arms who were just below replacement-level in Adam Ottavino and Jordan Lyles. Ottavino had a reasonable strikeout rate but walked way too many hitters (6.6 batters per nine innings). He finished with a 5.06 ERA and 5.16 FIP. Lyles was worse, with a 6.94 ERA and 5.84 FIP.