Colorado Rockies Spend Winless Week in Arizona

Since the whole saga with Jay Cutler and the idiotic move by the Broncos' new, incompetent front office to try and trade him is so ludicrous, I'm not going to dignify the story with a response. 

Instead, let's take a trip down to Tucson, where the Rockies are finding wins hard to come by after their first week of Spring Training.

Wins are far from the most important aspect for a team during Spring Training.  What's crucial for most teams is getting the team's starters sufficiently prepared by the time opening day rolls around.

Hitters work daily to perfect their timing at the plate, and pitchers practice throwing to big league batters as they hone their repetoire.

So in theory, it doesn't matter if you win or lose, but how you play the game...or something to that effect. 

Still, the Rockies have reason to be concerned with the overall performances they've been witnessing during the first week of Spring Training games.

Only seven Rockies are hitting above .300 so far, and of the seven, three are not projected to be on the Rockies Opening Day roster (Edwin Bellorin, Omar Quintanilla, Joe Koshansky), and one will more than likely not be a starter (Matt Murton).

The others have seemed to stumble out of the gate in February, and one would hope the calendar turning to March will have a positive effect on the hitters' lumber and the pitchers' location.

To illustrate the offensive struggles of the Rockies' hitters thus far, let's take a gander at some of the early hitting numbers.

-The Rockies have scored only sixteen runs in their five games.

-They've knocked only two home runs, one by Joe Koshansky and one by roster-spot longshot Sal Fasano. 

And the hitters aren't the only ones who are suffering. 

The pitching staff has taken their lumps as well coming out of the blocks.

The competition for the fifth spot in the starting rotation has been more Battle of the Network Stars than Battle Royale, as candidates Josh Fogg, Greg Smith, and Jason Hirsh all own ERAs over 13.50. 

The number four starter, by title alone, Jorge de la Rosa, sports a 9.00 ERA. 

New bullpen acquisition Alan Embree, signed to be a calming veteran left-handed presence, has given up seven runs in 1.2 innings while new closer candidate Huston Street gave up a run on three hits in his Rockies debut.

Ubaldo Jimenez, after allowing three runs and two walks in his first outing on Wednesday, rebounded impressively in today's game against the Indians by throwing three innings of shutout baseball and not walking a batter.

The real star of Spring Training, however, has been erstwhile rotation-savior Franklin Morales who, after a lost year of ineffectiveness and back pain in 2008, showed what he is capable of when healty and mechanically sound.

In his two innings of scoreless work, Morales didn't walk a batter and struck out two, a far cry from his effort last season (99 walks in 135 total innings last year between Denver and Colorado Springs). 

If he is able to step up and return to his 2007 form where he, along with Ubaldo Jimenez, spurred the Rockies down the stretch all the way to the World Series, the Rockies rotation could be in solid shape.

The Rockies will start to win ballgames in Tucson.  It's only a matter of time.  Hopefully they can start the regular season with a bit of momentum to try and avoid yet another abysmal April.