Colorado Rockies' Starting Rotation Filled With Question Marks

As a loyal Rockies fan since the team's inception in 1993, there are a few things I have come to expect from the team.

First and foremost, the Rocks will score. It may not be a 20-5 game, like one I witnessed on Father's Day, 1999 with my Dad, but baseball a Mile High will always be about scoring. It doesn't matter much if it's Larry Walker or Eric Young—everyone has a chance at a homer in Denver.

Second, the Rockies cannot attract top-tier pitching. Sure, Denver is a great sports city, and a great city overall—unless you happen to be a Major League pitcher. One reason is the organization, headed by the Monfort brothers, does not want to spend big-league dollars.

Part of the blame has to go to the loyal Colorado fans, who, from 1993-2000, led the league in attendance. Fans spoiled the Monforts into thinking that they will always come to the park, whether the team was a contender or, more often than not, a pretender.

Looking ahead to the 2009 season, the Rockies once again show pitching is not one of their top priorities.

The “Ace” of the rotation is Aaron Cook. Cook is the best starting pitcher Colorado has, earning a spot as the first Rockie pitcher named to the All-Star team. However, 2008 was Cook’s best year in his young career, going 16-9 with a 3.96 ERA, 96 Ks, and only 48 walks. Weather it was a breakout season or career-best year has yet to be seen.

In the two years prior, he went a combined 17-22 with an ERA around 4.17. He became the number one starter after prior ace Jeff Francis went down with an injury. Going forward, it looks like Cook is the best pitcher the Rockies have, so hopefully he can build off of the success he had last year.

Jeff Francis is the next best pitcher in Colorado’s rotation, though it was announced on Feb. 5 that he will wait until the 19th to decide whether or not to have season-ending surgery.

Francis has been experiencing fluid buildup in the front of his left pitching shoulder, and it would be bleak for the Rockies if he cannot play this season.

In order to prepare for Francis not being able to go, Colorado traded bullpen pitcher Luis Vizcaino for Jason Marquis. Marquis had a decent 2008 season with the Chicago Cubs, going 11-9 with a 4.53 ERA, but only had four more strikeouts (91) than runs allowed (87). It will be seen if he can pitch in the altitude of Coors Field, but either way, it is likely he will be needed.

Ubaldo Jimenez might be the one shining diamond in the rough for the Rockies. He is a young fireball thrower, often hitting in the high 90s on the radar gun. The knock on Ubaldo is that he needs to work on his control. At times he throws so hard that he loses all command of the ball and lets loose a wild pitch.

He went 12-12 with a 3.99 ERA in 2008 with 172 Ks. If he can find more control, he will be a great pitcher for the Rockies this year. If not, he will continue to be mediocre—the definition of Rockies pitching.

Jorge De La Rosa should make the starting five, as he pitched to 10 wins compared to eight losses with a 4.92 ERA. He is similar to Jimenez, with a rocket for an arm, but misses the plate, and at times gets so rattled he has to come out of a game very early. De La Rosa had more than twice as many strikeouts (128) as walks (62), which is encouraging.

Both Jimenez and De La Rosa are wild cards in this rotation, and if one were to do well, the Rockies should be content. If both do well, the organization should be ecstatic.

The final spot could be anyone from second year player Greg Smith to Franklin Morales, whom the team hopes is their closer.

Overall, the Rockies are once again in trouble in the pitching department. Cook is the best and oldest pitcher on the staff at 31. Everyone else in the starting five is a question mark.

Jimenez, De La Rosa, and Smith are babies, at an average age of 26, young enough to let the pressure of the Major Leagues get to them at times. Jeff Francis is likely to have season-ending surgery, which leaves the rotation lacking talent immensely.

With this starting rotation, if the Rockies do not come out hitting and playing defense at extraordinary levels, as they did in '07, they do not have a chance to make the playoffs.