While my grades for the Rockies batters were pretty good all around and very few “F’s” the pitchers will be another story. I don’t grade on wins and losses so the 75 pitch count limit won’t impact my grades much, but a poor WHIP and bad K:BB ratio will…
The Rookies
Drew Pomeranz – C-: At times Pomeranz showed the ability that made him a top draft pick. He nearly struck out two batters for every one that he walked and he did allow just barely over one hit per inning pitched but the end results (4.93 ERA) just isn’t good enough. (And his FIP and xFIP are about the same).
Christian Friedrich – D: 1.5 batters allowed to reach base every inning. The bright spot for Friedrich is that he was darn close to striking out one batter per inning and his 7.9 K:9 is pretty good. Friedrich, at this point, is another piece of evidence for the prosecuting team against the Rockies ability to develop young pitchers.
Carlos Torres – F: Another pitcher sent to the big leagues when he shouldn’t have. And another pitcher on the Rockies roster with an ERA over 5.00.
Adam Ottavino – C: One of the brighter spots for the Rockies in 2012. He struck out more than one batter per inning and kept his walk totals relatively low (for this staff). He is one of the few Rockies pitchers to keep his WHIP below 1.4 (and 1.4 isn’t good, folks). He is the opposite of Josh Roenicke in that Ottavino’s ERA is higher than it should be but due to bad luck he had some runs score that probably shouldn’t have.
Rex Brothers – B-: In just his first full season with the Rockies Brothers struck out well over one batter per inning pitched (just over 11 batters per nine innings, which is really good). He needs to limit his walks better as he did allow about 4.5 per nine innings but the potential is there. Let’s just hope the Rockies don’t screw it up.
Rob Scahill – C: A rookie called up very late in the season did OK. In only 8 2/3 IP he allowed seven hits and three walks. Hard to grade such a small sample size.
Edwar Cabrera – N/A: I am giving Cabrera an “N/A” because he was thrown to the wolves in his two starts. He wasn’t given any chance to succeed by the Rockies.
Edgmer Escalona – C: In limited time Escalona posted a 3:1 K:BB ratio and had an OK WHIP. I would like to see more of him in 2013.
Zach Putnam – N/A: Two innings pitched in 2012…
Will Harris – F: Even if Harris only threw 17 2/3 innings in 2012 he still allowed nearly 1.9 batters to reach each inning and an ERA of 8.15.
Mike Eckstrom – D: Another rookie who saw a bit of work in the bigs this year and posted an ERA above 6.00. If that was good the Rockies would have been GREAT in 2012. But it isn’t. And they weren’t.
The Veterans
Jeff Francis – D: In what started out to be a pretty decent run with the Rockies faltered quickly. Francis was the one pitcher when the 75 pitch count was first announced that seemed to be have a realistic chance at lasting into the fifth and possibly even the sixth inning on the restricted count. But then September happened and he posted an ERA barely under 6.00.
Alex White – F: Alex did not qualify as a rookie in 2012 as he pitched 51 1/3 innings in 2011 (cannot pitch more than 50 innings to be considered a rook). Alex White walks allowed: 51. Alex White hits allowed 114. Alex White strikeouts: 64. He did induce more ground balls than fly balls in 2012, but the rest was awful. Just awful.
Jeremy Guthrie – F-: Horrendous. Nothing else needs to be said.
Jhoulys Chacin – F: At the end of the year he was showing signs of what Rockies fans had hoped for going into 2012 but he cannot come to camp so ill prepared and what in the hell happened with him anyway? I figure he was sent to AAA to get in shape and a guy who was in line to start Opening Day for the Rockies and ends up only throwing 69 innings in 2012 due to laziness: failure.
Tyler Chatwood – F: He was supposed to be this little pitcher with great strikeout potential – as long as he could limit the walks allowed. Well, in 64 2/3 innings he only struck out 41 and walked 33.
Juan Nicasio – C-: This is a tough one. Nicasio did come back from one of the scariest injuries anyone will ever see on a baseball field to make the Opening Day roster – something that was considered a long shot, at best, after the injury occurred. Unfortunately his season was cut short due to injuries but it is about results and in 58 innings pitched he allowed 72 hits and 22 walks. Not good. Any other pitcher he gets an “F” but I bumped him up just because of what he fought through to get back on the mound in the time frame in which he did.
Jamie Moyer – F: Remember this experiment? Doesn’t it feel like a long, LONG time ago in which the Rockies were sending a 49 year old man to the hill? Well, the experiment went about as planned: 1.733 WHIP and 5.70 ERA: terrible.
Josh Outman – F-: Did it seem like the Rockies home broadcasting teams (both TV and radio) liked this guy just a biiiiit too much? His 8.19 ERA to end the season says he shouldn’t ever throw another pitch in the big leagues ever again.
Josh Roenicke – D: When looking at Roenicke’s ERA of 3.25 in 2012 one could assume he had a good year, but then you look at his K:BB ratio and his WHIP and his H:9 and you wonder: was he just really lucky? His FIP and xFIP were 4.72 and 4.67, respectively and both of those stats take luck out of the equation. His career BABIP is .300 and this year it was only slightly lower at .276 but his LOB percentage was near 77%. I guess results (runs) is all that matters but I am not one to immediately give Roenicke a roster spot next year.
Guillermo Moscoso – F: Dan O’Dowd was fooled by this guys ERA in the spacious ballpark the Oakland A’s call home but we here at Blake Street Bulletin were not. As predicted Moscoso struggled at Coors to the tune of a 6.17 ERA and a 1.720 WHIP. Both just awful.
Jorge De La Rosa – F: I guess we have to give him an F because of injury but I am tempted to give him an “N/A” since he only threw 10 innings before going down.
Matt Reynolds – C: The lefty specialist did do his job against left hand batters (he allowed LHB to OPS nearly 200 points lower than RHB) but he still allowed runs. When you compare Reynolds to much of the rest of the staff he stands out as being the best, but being better than a bunch of failures isn’t saying much.
Matt Belisle – B+: Belisle allowed a few too many hits but how many Rockies could possibly say that they only walked 2 batters per nine innings pitched? Very few of them. Toss in Belisles K:BB ratio of nearly 4:1 and he was very good in 2012.
Jonathan Sanchez – F: Much like DLR I want to give him an “N/A” but we all know he wouldn’t have improved much on his 9.53 ERA with the Rockies.
Esmil Rogers – F-: Remember him? Just one of many former Rockies pitchers who pitched very well for teams outside of Colorado. But when he was with the Rockies he posted an 8.06 ERA and a WHIP over 2.1!! OVER TWO POINT ONE!!!
Rafael Betancourt – A: About the only thing the Rockies have going for them in the back of their bullpen. What I don’t understand is how Betancourt only threw 57 innings in 2012 while a guy like Roenicke threw nearly 90. Oh, ya, Betancourt is their “closer” which means Jim Tracy can ONLY use him in the ninth inning when the Rockies were leading by three runs or fewer. *slaps forehead*
The Stars
LoL…right…
And since I have to kick a dead horse; here are some stats of former Rockies pitchers playing with new teams in 2012.
Guthrie with Colorado: 90 2/3 IP, 6.35 ERA and 1.688 WHIP
Guthrie with Kansas City: 91 IP, 3.16 ERA and 1.132 WHIP
Rogers with Colorado in 2011: 83 IP, 7.05 ERA and 1.892 WHIP
Rogers with Colorado in 2012: 25 2/3 IP, 8.06 ERA and 2.104 WHIP
Rogers with Cleveland in 2012: 53 IP, 3.06 ERA and 1.113 WHIP
Franklin Morales with Colorado in 2009-10: 68 2/3 IP, 5.24 ERA and 1.646 WHIP
Franklin Morales with Boston in 2012: 76 1/3 IP, 3.77 ERA and 1.231 WHIP
Jason Hammel with Colorado in 2011: 170 1/3 IP, 4.76 ERA and 1.427 WHIP
Jason Hammel with Baltimore in 2012: 118 IP, 3.43 ERA and 1.237 WHIP
Huston Street with Colorado in 2011: 58 1/3 IP, 3.86 ERA and 1.217 WHIP
Huston Street with San Diego in 2012: 39 IP, 1.85 ERA and 0.718 WHIP
And if I mention those I must mention…
Ubaldo Jimenez with Colorado in 2010-11: 344 2/3 IP, 3.44 ERA and 1.233 WHIP
Ubaldo Jimenez with Cleveland in 2011-12: 242 IP, 5.32 ERA and 1.570 WHIP
And old friend…
Aaron Cook with Colorado in 2011: 97 IP, 6.03 ERA and 1.691 WHIP
Aaron Cook with Boston in 2012: 94 IP, 5.65 ERA and 1.468 WHIP
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10 comments
Mark McMillan
October 16, 2012 at 11:02 AM (UTC -6)
Wow. What baseball team do you watch? Seriously? You assume Josh Roenicke got lucky, so he gets a C? Without Roenicke, this team was screwed.
Friedrich gets a D? He struggled at home, but had some very good starts on the road, and considering that he was going to be a September call-up at best, wouldn’t you think he did ok?
And Adam Ottavino (you spelled it wrong in the post) was perhaps the best reliever of the bunch. He proved to be the best offseason pickup for the Rockies possibly. He got blown up in San Diego after being overused all year long.
This article is horrendous. Absolutely terrible.
Travis Lay
October 16, 2012 at 12:26 PM (UTC -6)
Thanks for catching the mis-spelling!
Marcus Farrell
October 16, 2012 at 1:58 PM (UTC -6)
Did you really say without Roenicke this team would be screwed? They lost 98 games this team was screwed from day 1. If the worst season in Rockies history isn’t screwed then what is?
JD
October 16, 2012 at 11:52 AM (UTC -6)
This was actually pretty decent. Yes, Roenicke got lucky. Every stat except ERA shows it.
Friedrich was a first-round pick in 2008. He gets an F for not being a solid starter by now. Period.
But Pomeranz was too high, because despite all the peripherals, there was a foreboding sense of dread that the game was already lost whenever he took the mound. And it was accurate. To post such poor numbers with his supposed ability is an F.
Logan Burdine
October 17, 2012 at 8:34 AM (UTC -6)
This board looks more and more like an ESPN comment board every day. That’s not a good thing. Please be respectful, folks.
CodenameDuchess
October 17, 2012 at 11:04 PM (UTC -6)
I think the Betancourt grade is a little strong. I never felt safe with him on the mound and it always felt like there was a little too much traffic every time he pitched. However, in relation to the staff I suppose he is as close to an A as they have.
I think DLR deserves the NA, look how bad Wainwright’s first few starts were this year. It takes some time to get your feel back and certainly a lot more than 10 innings.
I struggle with Pomeranz and Friedrich. I hold out hope that they can still have bright futures but these guys were college pitchers, I would have liked to see more progress. I know not every college pitcher is David Price but these two have top of the rotation stuff it would be nice to see a little more consistency. Perhaps that is a Rockies failure more than a player failure.
Kevin Jordan
October 18, 2012 at 3:10 PM (UTC -6)
I’m with you on Betancourt. Seemed like he always allowed traffic, even though his WHIP says otherwise. More importantly, 31/38 in save chances. That’s enough to push him down to a B or B+, considering his job is to earn saves.
Dennis
October 18, 2012 at 2:55 PM (UTC -6)
I always take the ERA of relief pitchers with a grain of salt. The don’t get nailed for inherited runners who score, even if there is a runner on first with two out.
Steve
October 18, 2012 at 4:41 PM (UTC -6)
Rockies pitching overall was so poor I give the organization an F as a whole. I hope some of the Rockies pitchers are finally able to perform in the future. I give the young pitchers the “Benefit of the Doubt!”
BA Baracus
October 20, 2012 at 10:06 AM (UTC -6)
OK, I have the solution for the Rockies pitching staff. Bill should keep a 5 man rotation, keep a 75 pitch count at home with the long relief philosophy, then allow the pitchers to pitch like a normal staff on the road since apparently 75 Coors field pitches is equal to about 120 dodger stadium pitches according to bill. This would allow the relievers to rest up a little better for the next homestand. Then they go out and get Josh Hamilton and Arod, (roid him up) any production increase would be attributed to Coors. This would keep the starters happy and potentially utilize the home field advantage that has not been present in the last few years. The Rockies focus needs to be on scoring more runs not so much limiting the opposition’s runs, embrace Coors field! Oh and Mark, I’m only kidding about the Arod part. I really really don’t advocate Roids but I do think arod could be better at Denver compared to NY without roids. I still probably do not want him, (too much potential T.O. effect) plus I have daughters.