Jeff Francis Still Hurting: Could Spell Trouble for the Colorado Rockies in '09

The Rocky Mountain News is reporting that Jeff Francis is still battling shoulder stiffness that sidelined him twice during the 2008 season.

Francis struggled early in the year, only hitting 84 MPH with his fastball. Many believed early on that he may have been dealing with fatigue due to the Rockies' run to the World Series the previous season.

Francis had carried the load down the stretch in 2007, starting the first game of each playoff series. 

Many, including pitching coach Bob Apodaca, believed that Francis' mechanics were to blame for the lack of velocity.

The casual observer could see that Francis was overextending as he threw, not coming over his front leg, which led to him dragging his arm.  This slowed his fastball down, and flatted his breaking balls.

Finally, in early July, Francis acknowledged to the team that his shoulder had been bothering him since Spring Training. 

Francis rested and then went to Double-A Tulsa, where he could rehab with his former pitching coach who had had formed a bond with, Bo McLaughlin.

When Francis returned his velocity was back up where it used to be, but he continued to get shelled by the opponent. When the Rockies finally bowed out of the race, the Rockies shut Francis down for the remaining two weeks of the season.

The feeling amongst the experts was that giving Francis extra time to heal would help him come out strong in '09. Until this week, everyone thought that Francis was healing fine and would be ready to go by Spring Training.

Francis, who has been throwing from 90 feet, told the team that the pain in his shoulder is persisting. They sent him to get an MRI, anticipating that he may need some form of arthroscopic surgery to fix what was going on.

The only problem is that the MRI revealed nothing.

Three weeks before the beginning of Spring Training and their ace from two years ago is still having shoulder problems, after three solid months off, with no explanation.

Even if Francis rests more and comes back early in the season, the question begs to be asked, when will the shoulder flare up again? It seems to be a ticking time bomb.

This leaves the Rockies in a predicament. Much of the reason they failed to defend their National League crown was because of Francis' disappointing season (4-10. 5.01 ERA in 24 starts). Many were hoping that a return to form by Francis would mean a return to form by the Rockies.

In order to fill in for Francis, the Rockies will look to their younger players. The rotation seemed to be established with Aaron Cook, Ubaldo Jimenez, Francis, newly acquired Jason Marquis, and Jorge De La Rosa. 

The injury moves Marquis and De La Rosa up one spot, leaving the fifth spot to be battled out for between Jason Hirsh, Greg Smith (acquired in the Matt Holliday trade), and Franklin Morales.

Hirsh and Morales both were expected to contribute in big ways last season, but were major letdowns. Morales never seemed to relax at the Major League level, and Hirsh came down with his own shoulder injury in Spring Training.

Hirsh rehabbed the shoulder, but never found his stuff at Triple-A Colorado Springs, having only a mediocre year there.  Morales also struggled to find his mechanics at Triple-A, and was sent from there to work directly with Jim Wright, the Rockies roving pitching instructor.

Time will tell the extent of Francis' injury. However, with Francis possibly out for a while, the Rockies will need at least one of their players to rise to the occasion.