Strike 1: There will be no “3-peat.” The Colorado Rockies will not lose 100 games again this season.
The oddsmakers don’t agree of course, and they have their reasons, along with recent history, to base their predictions on. Their numbers are hard to argue with.
But the feeling around those who watch the team full time is a little different. Not that anyone is suddenly enamored with the roster as is, but rather there’s an optimistic curiosity about what the roster will look like by midseason.
As Spring Training draws to a close, the Rockies aren’t suddenly promoting all their top prospects, even though that’s what most casual observers would like to see. Instead, they’re sending young players like Spring Training MVP Zac Veen and starting pitcher Chase Dollander to Albuquerque to start the season, in the hopes that they’ll do well enough at Triple-A to warrant promotion to The Show sooner rather than later. That part makes sense.
What’s a little more difficult to understand are some moves that don’t compute on the surface. For example, trading outfielder Nolan Jones, who had a sensational 2023 season before struggling last year, back to Cleveland for utility man Tyler Freeman, who mustered just a .209 batting average with the Guardians last season, seems odd. In their favor, the Rockies could send Freeman back to Triple-A this year without fear of losing him, which is something they couldn’t do with Jones, so there’s that.
On the mound, while everyone waits on Dollander, the current Rockies are going to continue to count on some old Rockies, namely Kyle Freeland and his new and improved slider, plus healthy versions of Antonio Senzatela and German Marquez, who despite all his injuries the past few seasons is still just 30 years old. Can that trio recapture the magic of seven seasons ago? For what it’s worth, Senzatela has been excellent this spring, so there’s that, too.
The bullpen won’t be a trainwreck all season as it has been the past two seasons. Arms like Victor Vodnick and Seth Halvorsen are high quality pitchers and unlikely to completely cave in.
It wouldn’t be at all smart to base a prediction of fewer than 100 losses on a couple of young hard throwing relief pitchers or the resurrection of three arms with a lot of miles on them. However, if the three vets can give the Rockies decent production for half the season, that may be enough time for some of the younger starting pitchers to become MLB ready.
And if the Rockies do morph into a team of young prospects – plus Ezequiel Tovar and Brenton Doyle – by midseason, Colorado will send out a group that’s young and hungry during the second half of the season. Even if they aren’t playing for a playoff spot at that point – and they won’t be – they will be playing to establish themselves as major leaguers, guys eager to earn a roster spot for the following season and beyond. And that desire is a powerful motivator.
That’s why the Rockies won’t lose 100 games again this season. Probably.
