Colorado Rockies: Projecting the Starting Rotation

With no major additions to the offense or the bullpen this winter, it will be up to the rotation once again to carry the Colorado Rockies back to the playoffs.

The Colorado Rockies have had a great run the past two years under manager, Bud Black. They’ve made it to the playoffs in consecutive years for the first time in team history and are poised to make another run at the postseason this year. A team known mostly for its home ball park and its out of this world offensive environment was surprisingly carried by their pitching staff in 2018. The high-priced bullpen was up and down a season ago but the young starting rotation was outstanding.

After a winter of very little offensive additions, the team looks likely to be carried by the rotation once again. The bullpen might take a step forward from last season simply with positive regression, but with the loss of Adam Ottavino and no other replacements to speak of it has a definite ceiling. The offense should be better this year as well with some of the young guys coming up and contributing. However, don’t expect the team to make a major step forward at the plate either as their only true addition to the offense, Daniel Murphy, is essentially just a replacement for the loss of D.J. LeMahieu.

The rotation was excellent last season and may even be better this year. The Rockies had the eighth best starting rotation in baseball in 2018 with 15 fWAR, which was their third best mark in franchise history. Most of this success came from young starters, not to mention a down year from the incumbent staff ace, all of whom could realistically improve in 2019. Let’s take a look at these pitchers and see how they might turn out in the year ahead.