Lots of high-5's for the Braves offense this weekend
Duh.
The title of this piece isn’t exactly ground breaking news: the Rockies pitching is atrocious. How bad is it?
Who would most fans say are the Rockies best pitchers, right now? Or at least who has been the best year to date? I would venture to say that many fans would say Jamie Moyer or Juan Nicasio.
Juan Nicasio has the eighth worst ERA in the National League out of 63 pitchers who qualify. Nicasio also has the fourth worst FIP and Moyer is right behind him with the fifth worst. If we want to talk xFIP then Moyer has the fourth worst and Nicasio clocks in with the ninth worst. Moyer has the fifth worst strikeout per nine innings ratio and Nicasio’s homers allowed per fly ball ratio is sixth worst in the National League.
Nicasio and Moyer are the only two pitchers on the Rockies starting staff who qualify right now. If I lower the innings qualifications to include more starters from the Rockies staff the results get more dismal.
(This in of itself is bad news because Rockies starters are not lasting deep into games and already more than half of the staff doesn’t qualify for many of the pitching stats like ERA. This of course kills the bullpen, too.)
In lowering the innings limit to 20 innings pitched Jhoulys Chacin has the worst ERA in the National League (73 pitchers have thrown at least 20 innings) and Jeremy Guthrie clocks in with the 7th worst ERA. Chacin and Guthrie also have the worst FIP (Chacin worse than Guthrie). In fact, when looking at these stats the Rockies have five pitchers (with Drew Pomeranz) within the 15 worst FIP’s in the National League (remember Nicasio and Moyer staked their claim as terrible). The Rockies starters also dominate the xFIP category for putrid performance: Guthrie (worst), Chacin (third worst) and Moyer (sixth worst).
Chacin currently has a -0.3 WAR and Guthrie isn’t doing much better at -0.1! Both of these guys are performing worse than an average AAA call-up!
Guthrie has the worst strikeout per nine rate in the NL and Chacin has allowed the most home runs per nine innings pitched in the NL.
If we include Guillermo Moscoso he has a MUCH worse ERA than Chacin (7.30 for Chacin vs 11.57 for Moscoso) and his FIP is equal to Nicasio’s horrid number.
Of the six pitchers who have started for the Rockies in 2012 none of them have an ERA under 4.00, a FIP under 4.40 and with the exception of Moscoso none of them have an xFIP below 4.10. According to FanGraphs the league average in all of these statistical categories is under around 3.88-3.92.
Every pitcher the Rockies have used this year is worse than league average.
The awfully atrocious Rockies starting pitching is starting to tax the bullpen.
The Rockies have four relievers on the first page of relief pitchers with the worst ERA in the NL (three pages long and totaling 67 pitchers). Esmil Rogers has the second worst ERA (8.36), Rex Brothers has the 16th worst ERA (4.22), Josh Roenicki has the 22nd worst (3.52) and Matt Reynolds rounds out the Rockies on the first page with the 29th worst ERA (3.00).
All of this totals up to a bad pitching staff.
The Rockies pitching staff carries the worst ERA in the National League (by a quarter of a run!), the worst FIP, second worst xFIP and have provided the second worst WAR. The team has the fourth worst strikeout rate and fifth worst walk rate. They allow the most home runs and even have the second worst BABIP in the NL.
I can’t find anything positive to say about the Rockies pitching staff without looking specifically at a guy like Rafael Betancourt or Matt Belisle.
And this week the Rockies will use two pitchers who weren’t good enough to make the starting rotation out of Spring Training! It sounds like Alex White, Carlos Torres or Christian Friedrich will start two of the three games in San Diego.
Who does this onus fall onto? My first inclination is to heap this onto the pile of crap known as Dan O’Dowd’s body of work, but he has made a few really good trades in the past year (Jimenez trade is looking better and better as every start by Ubaldo passes). Maybe the onus falls onto Bob Apodaca? He does own the pitching staff, right?
But much like the open-ended contracts of O’Dowd and Jim Tracy there isn’t any indication that ‘Dac’s job is on the line. Just another year of awful pitching in Coors Field, as if it isn’t avoidable.
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12 comments
2 pings
Logan Burdine
May 7, 2012 at 11:07 AM (UTC -6)
The onus is definitely on O’Dowd. One decent trade doesn’t override a decade plus of complete failure to draft and develop pitchers.
Travis Lay
May 7, 2012 at 11:08 AM (UTC -6)
Agreed. I do think we need a piece around a few good moves this offseason…even if they might be marred by a host of bad ones.
Dom
May 7, 2012 at 12:54 PM (UTC -6)
This is O’Down’s steaming pile, Tracy has nothing to work with. Just another total failure by O’Dowd in addressing this teams needs. His worst second worst job – his total failure to land a third basemen.
Simone
May 7, 2012 at 1:10 PM (UTC -6)
Maybe the Rockies should have tryouts like college teams do. Open it up to the public…i’m sure we can get some starting pitchers that are better then the current group.
Simone
May 7, 2012 at 1:14 PM (UTC -6)
I’m really considering canceling my trip down to Phoenix next month to see the Rockies. I haven’t bought tickets for the games yet but my airline tickets are fully refundable. I don’t want to fly over 2,000 miles each way (I live in NYC) to watch the Rockies get blown out 3 days in a row. I can do that at home with my MLB.tv subscription.
CUBUFFSPAC12
May 7, 2012 at 2:02 PM (UTC -6)
Wow,
I knew it was bad, but that blog is just downright depressing. The failure hasn’t necessarily had to do with terrible trades, but the complete failure at drafting players. I believe that Greg Reynolds was drafted ahead of Lincecum and the failure of Friedrych’s draft just piles onto this staff. Most people never thought that Hammel for Guthrie was a good trade, garbage for garbage rarely is and the dude can’t even ride his bike correctly so how did they think he’d get out MLB hitters? Juan will be fine, let’s not forget that he’s been running hot and cold as we all probably would after taking a liner off the dome. He says that he’s back, but in reality it will take longer than a couple of starts. As for the Seth Smith trade, one average OF isn’t going to bring in two good pitchers. It’s a little too late to start blaming the BP due to their high workload beginning on day 1, but Rogers is truly worthless. As for the rest of them, it remains to be seen. Sad thing is that the offense has been good if not great enough to go 7-2 on the last homestand, yesterday’s game and game 2 of the Met’s series notwithstanding. As for the lack of a 3B, we all knew that Blake with a surgically repaired neck and Nelson weren’t the answer.
Kevin Giles
May 7, 2012 at 4:18 PM (UTC -6)
This is just further proof that this year is a developmental year. Chacin is still a very young arm who needs to get his head and mechanics straightened out. Nicasio needs to continue to develop in order to become an effective MLB starter. Pomeranz also needs more playing time to improve. White and Friedrich need one more season in AAA honing their craft. There we have five pitchers who will likely occupy a starting rotation position in the future, all of whom will use this year to develop their talents. Moyer is the ultimate band aid, and he won’t be around next year. Guthrie is another veteran who provides innings and a bridge to more talented pitchers. Throw in the fact that Rosario and Arenado (and Fowler, to a certain extent) are developing talents, and this year looks like it’s not a year to compete, but rather to work on building the ballclub for the next couple of years. So then, why do we did we bring in several grizzled old veteran position players? I don’t know…maybe the young guys can realize their potential while the old guys (Helton, Cuddyer) still have some left in the tank.
JD
May 7, 2012 at 7:08 PM (UTC -6)
“Chacin currently has a -0.3 WAR and Guthrie isn’t doing much better at -0.1! Both of these guys are performing worse than an average AAA call-up!” – False. They’re better than AAA call-ups – if they’re called up from the Rockies’ AAA team!
O’Dowd has to go. Been saying it for years. It only gets worse every year. Even the recent moves that some people like aren’t that good. He got rid of Ubaldo, yeah, but Ubaldo is better than what we got in return so far. Pomeranz’s weak stuff doesn’t bode well for him ever becoming good, whereas Ubaldo is still a guy who can two-hit Texas over seven innings as he did on Sunday. Cuddyer? Nice start, but he’s settling into his career norms, which aren’t worth $10 million/year, especially with our budget. Hernandez has only replaced Iannetta, Scutero isn’t hitting better than the guys who could replace him, even if he is better on D, and we still haven’t gotten to Casey Blake or the Hammel/Guthrie fiasco.
The only move I’ve ever seen from O’Dowd which I could say is so much as break-even is Holliday-for-Cargo. Remember, the reason Ubaldo tanked was that the team torqued him off. I know, he’s a baby, but still, O’Dowd’s responsible for stuff like this. He might have had a good trade on his resume in 2004 when he tried trade Larry Walker for prospect Ian Kinsler, but Walker vetoed the trade. Thus perished O’Dowd’s only flicker of competence.
Small market teams can’t afford bad GMs. Nobody can, but especially not us. It’s time we started drafting good players more than once every five years (Helton/Holliday/Tulo). It’s time we made our first smart free-agent move since signing Larry Walker. It’s time we had a prospect who was a real prospect (I hope Arenado’s not like the others…).
Michael
May 8, 2012 at 7:07 AM (UTC -6)
Calling the pitching bad is being kind! Im sure there are high school staffs in the denver area better than the rockies staff top to bottom. Pathetic is the word you should have used.
Steve
May 16, 2012 at 12:14 PM (UTC -6)
The Jamie Moyer story is cool and gets good press but no one can seriously believe a Major League Baseball Team is a serious championship contender when there rotation includes a 49 year old slow ball pitcher? The Rockies are a joke!
Joe
June 11, 2012 at 9:26 AM (UTC -6)
Esmil Rogers is the worst reliever in baseball. Period.
Steve
June 11, 2012 at 10:17 AM (UTC -6)
Esmil Rogers is also gone! Someone will likely pick him up as he has a mid-90s fastball. If another team makes good with Esmil Rogers what does that say about Apodaca?
Baseball’s Worst Defensive Team - Blake Street Bulletin » Blake Street Bulletin
May 8, 2012 at 2:34 PM (UTC -6)
[...] The Rockies starting pitching is terrible. However, they aren’t the worst in baseball. That distinguished honor currently belongs to the woeful Twins. Regardless, being in the same league as the Twins in anything is a really, really bad sign. The Rockies pitching problems will not be going away any time soon. Sure, they have some valuable arms in the bullpen, but if this continues, they’ll all be worn out. And the starters, oh man, those pitiful starters. They’re all either hurt, ancient, or just flat out terrible. [...]
Who should the Colorado Rockies fire? » Blake Street Bulletin
May 17, 2012 at 8:12 PM (UTC -6)
[...] think the likely candidate who gets fired however, is Apodaca. The Rockies pitching is terrible (where is Charles Barkley when you need him or at the very least Frank Caliendo?). I don’t agree [...]