2013 MLB Team Previews- Colorado Rockies
Somebody has to finish last in the NL West this season and Colorado is the perfect candidate after going 64-98 last year en route to falling a full 30 games out of first place and 12 games behind the third-place Padres.
The Rockies still have enough overall talent to add quite a few more wins to last year’s total, but they will be counting on a number of players to stay healthy after an injury-plagued 2012 and return to a previous form that made them a valuable asset to this team.
Bovada’s Odds to Win
NL West +2200
National League: 60/1
World Series: 150/1
Key Additions
The biggest addition this offseason could be Walt Weiss, who takes over as the Rockies new manager. He will be taxed with changing the entire culture of a ball club that has suddenly forgotten how to win. You do not have to go too far back to find a team that went to the playoffs with 90 plus win seasons including the 2007 Rockies that went all the way to the World Series.
Projected Starting Line-Up
- 1.Dexter Fowler, CF
- 2. Josh Rutledge, 2B
- 3. Carlos Gonzalez, LF
- 4. Troy Tulowitzki, SS
- 5. Michael Cuddyer, RF
- 6. Todd Helton/Tyler Colvin, 1B
- 7. Wilin Rosario, C 8
- . Chris Nelson, 3B
When healthy and productive, this group knows how to hit the ball around the park and score runs. The Rockies batted .274 last season, which was tops in the National League and scored a total of 758 runs, which ranked third in the NL. [dfads params=’groups=10&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]
If Gonzalez, Tulowitzki and Helton can all stay healthy for the majority of the season, they should be able to be right up at the top of the rankings again.
Projected Starting Rotation
- 1. Jorge De La Rosa
- 2. Jhoulys Chacin
- 3. Drew Pomeranz
- 4. Juan Nicasio
- 5. Jeff Francis
- ALT: Tyler Chatwood
This is where all the major question marks lie on this team. La Rosa, Chacin and Nicasio all suffered through an injury-plagued 2012 campaign and there are no guarantees that they will hold-up this season either. The result was a sub-par rotation and overworked bullpen that ended the season with a team ERA of 5.22, which makes it very easy to see how this team lost 98 games last year.
Closer
- Rafael Betancourt
Hopefully he will have a lot more chances to earn some saves this season as opposed to last season’s roll of trying to put out fires. Along with Rex Brothers and Matt Belisle, this could be one of the better late-inning combinations in the NL.
2013 Colorado Rockies Prediction:
When you look at Colorado’s roster as a whole, there are still enough pieces in place to win far more than 64 games. Everything that could go wrong did last season and that should not be the case two years in-a-row. That being said, too many things have to go right to compete with the likes of Los Angeles and San Francisco in the NL West. The best case scenario has the Rockies climbing to third with a .500 record, but the probable reality is another last-place finish.
