Call to the pen
Fansided

The five MLB teams with the most grim futures

By Joseph Romano

SAN DIEGO, CA - SEPTEMBER 11: Joe Maddon #70 of the Chicago Cubs argues a call with home plate umpire D.J. Rayburn during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park September 11, 2019 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images)
SAN DIEGO, CA - SEPTEMBER 11: Joe Maddon #70 of the Chicago Cubs argues a call with home plate umpire D.J. Rayburn during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park September 11, 2019 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images) /
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Colorado Rockies
(Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) /

Five MLB Teams With The Grimmest Future

Colorado Rockies

The Rockies went for it, they deserve credit for that. Perhaps this is a rush to judgment, but Colorado is a team with a few excellent players and not much of anything else. The pitching- which they supposedly were built around- was non-existent.

German Marquez had a difficult season, swinging on a pendulum from dominant to readily hittable. Jon Gray had another solid season, further building his case as a middle of the rotation arm. However, not a single other member of this highly thought of rotation was even close to average.

The biggest disappointment has to be Kyle Freeland, who went from a top of the rotation arm to the minor leagues. This is not a permanent state, yet with the money allocated to Nolan Arenado and Charlie Blackmon where precisely are the reinforcements coming from?

Such a situation allows one to project this Rockies club to simply fade into obscurity over the next few seasons. As they compile a few excellent individual seasons, the peripheral offensive production and pitching- both rotation and bullpen- cannot be strengthened.

In order to make a substantive impact, they must sign numerous players. First of all, they do not have the assets to make any substantial trades, unless they will trade from the current roster. Their farm system is slowly becoming depleted, especially considering the promotion of Brendan Rodgers.

The Rockies are not necessarily in as a precarious position as the two prior clubs, however, if they are unable to make changes and become mired here, it will certainly last longer. Luck also can play a factor, as Freeland will likely be better in 2020 and the Rockies would then have a solid top three in their rotation.

The pressing issue then would be to find a way to pad the back end of the rotation and bolster the bullpen. A couple of recent free-agent acquisitions have weighed down the bullpen. Bryan Shaw and Wade Davis were nothing short of dreadful in 2019- with not much more success in 2018. Considering the capital already invested, Rockies management has to decide whether they will invest more or let the team wither away.

The striking issue is that this club has a glaring number of holes, yet there is no simple solution to alleviating the situation. Their listless turn in the 2018 postseason and subsequent struggles in 2019 echoes the idea that maybe that team only got hot at the perfect time and was not one ready to take the proverbial next step.

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