Colorado Rockies
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| Projected Lineup |
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| 2B |
Pablo Ozuna |
| LF |
Jay Payton |
| RF |
Larry Walker |
| 1B |
Todd Helton |
| CF |
Preston Wilson |
| 3B |
Jose Hernandez |
| C |
Charles Johnson |
| SS |
Juan Uribe |
| Projected Rotation |
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| LHP |
Denny Neagle |
| RHP |
Jason Jennings |
| RHP |
Denny Stark |
| RHP |
Aaron Cook |
| RHP |
Chacon/Elarton |
| CL |
Jose Jimenez |
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By John Donovan, SI.com
We've had 10 seasons of baseball in Denver now. Ten seasons of thin air, fat batting averages and fatter ERAs.
And, recently, a lot of losing, too. Four losing seasons in the past five, in fact.
It's up to skipper Clint Hurdle, in his first full season of managing the Rocks, to find a way past the albatross that is Coors Field and field a winning team. It won't be easy with this bunch, in that park. Especially with this pitching.
But the Rockies, as down as they've been, have some upside. They've shed the huge contract of lefty Mike Hampton, trading him to Florida (he eventually ended up in Atlanta). They have some young pitchers who have shown an encouraging lack of respect for the way Coors Field normally treats pitchers.
And they've landed a couple of good players, power guys who have been around the league, guys the team hopes can come in and show Colorado the way to win again.
Yes, the pitching's still a mess, and that alone may make 2003 another losing season. Denny Neagle (11-19, 5.31 ERA in his two years with the Rockies) still has three years and $37 million left on his contract, making him virtually untradeable, which stymied the Rockies in their bid to get some more veterans to take their chances at Coors.
And, of course, the Rockies play in a division that just doesn't tolerate a team that might be OK if everything falls just right. With the Diamondbacks, Giants and Dodgers all playoff possibilities, the NL West is no place for a team that aspires to be mediocre.
So it's probably going to be another gasping-for-air type year in Denver. It's what we've come to expect.
Everyone wants to pencil in Pablo Ozuna at second base, but before Hurdle does that, he's going to have to see for himself in Tucson. Ozuna has great speed, and he's solid defensively, but he has plenty of competition in Brent Butler, Chris Stynes and Ron Belliard. Second base, though, is a piece of cake compared with figuring out the rotation.
The Rockies may go with the veteran Neagle at the top of the rotation, if only to take a little pressure off their best pitcher, Jason Jennings, the NL Rookie of the Year (16-8, 4.52 ERA, including 9-4, 5.65 at Coors). But then again, they may not. Neagle had offseason elbow surgery, so Jennings could be their Opening Day starter. And then there's Denny Stark, who was overshadowed in '02 by fellow rookie Jennings but probably shouldn't have been. He was 11-4 with a 4.00 ERA and 8-1 with a 3.21 ERA at home. He'll also be near the top of the pitching order.
Aaron Cook will be in the mix, and Shawn Chacon, too. The Rocks also are hoping Scott Elarton rebounds from shoulder surgery. Who can pitch; who can't? Hurdle has to find out, and fast.
Larry Walker is a hitting machine -- .317 lifetime, .338 with 26 homers and 104 RBIs last season -- but he was harshly criticized for turning down a trade to the Diamondbacks. (He said he wasn't comfortable with the finances because Arizona wanted much of his proposed salary to be deferred.) A lot of the sniping over Walker comes from a slide at the end of the season, when he hit .237 after August. Whatever. The guy hit .312 away from Coors. He's a veteran on a team badly needing veteran leadership. Hurdle wants him to step up. Look for Walker to do just that.
Cook went 2-1 in nine starts last season with a 4.54 ERA (1-0, 4.98 ERA in three starts at Coors). He's one of the young bunch (along with Jennings and Stark) trying to prove that pitchers can win in Colorado. He has to pace himself, especially if he wins a starting spot out of spring training. But a good year by him can help offset a bad one by, say, Neagle or Chacon or Elarton. A good year by all the young guys would be the biggest surprise in the division.
Arrivals: 3B Chris Stynes (free agent from Chicago Cubs), INF Jose Hernandez (free agent from Milwaukee), RHP Steve Reed (free agent from New York Mets), RHP Rich Garces (free agent from Boston), LHP Darren Oliver (free agent from Boston), C Charles Johnson (trade from Florida), OF Preston Wilson (trade from Florida), LHP Vic Darensbourg (trade from Florida), 2B Pablo Ozuna (trade from Florida), RHP Nelson Cruz trade from Houston).
Departures: 3B Todd Zeile (free agent signed with New York Yankees), C Sandy Alomar Jr. (free agent signed with Chicago White Sox), C Gary Bennett (free agent signed with San Diego), LHP Kent Mercker (free agent signed with Cincinnati), RHP Pete Harnisch (free agent signed with Cincinnati), 2B Terry Shumpert (free agent from Los Angeles), RHP Mark Corey (free agent signed with Pittsburgh), LHP Mike Hampton (trade to Atlanta via Florida), OF Juan Pierre (trade with Florida).
The Rockies were right around .500 under Hurdle until their end-of-the-season slide (they lost their last five). This year, they figure to have a little more pop in the lineup with the signing of infielder Jose Hernandez (from Milwaukee), catcher Charles Johnson and oufielder Preston Wilson (both in a trade from Florida). They'll join Walker and first baseman Todd Helton, who is expected to be healthier after battling a bad back all last season. The newcomers should help the Rockies score more runs -- and you can never have enough runs in Coors (though the Rocks won 47 games there last season). Of course, Hernandez and Wilson are notorious strikeout kings, too, and when you add shortstop Juan Uribe to that (120 strikeouts last year), you have some rally killers. Still, the Rocks will score. But will the pitching be enough? That's always the question.
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