Bank on more cost cutting if a pair of aces fails to rebound from a poor 2001

By Phil Taylor

Hampton, the highest-paid pitcher in history, could not blame Coors Field for his woes last season, as he had a losing record on the road.  Ronald C. Modra ENEMY LINES An opposing team's scout sizes up the Rockies "They got Todd Zeile for nothing, and that's exactly what they're going to get. His bat is slow, and his defense is below average. ... Juan Uribe will be a star. He has all the tools -- hands, feet, glove, lots of energy. He will hit with power and can be a Gold Glove defender. ... Jose Ortiz is undisciplined at the plate. He's real rough around the edges, and some of the people in the organization are disappointed in his lack of progress offensively. Defensively he's not quick enough turning the double play. ... Juan Pierre has an outstanding makeup, good speed, .330 ability, and he's an improving defender. ... Having Todd Hollandsworth back for a full year will help a lot. The team went south when he went out last year. ... Mike Hampton didn't throw well this spring. He's gone a little cutter-crazy and hasn't gotten outs with it. The velocity is there, but he's shown no confidence in his sinker or his two-seamer. He's not close to commanding his fastball, so he's going cutter, cutter, cutter. It's ass-backward. ... Denny Neagle 's fastball is still 82 to 86, but he can pitch and change speeds. I'd give him the ball every fifth day and figure on getting at least six innings. ... I'm a big John Thomson fan. If he stays healthy, he could pitch at the top of a rotation. He throws 90 to 94 with an 87-to-88-mph turbo slider. He's had some off-the-field problems [in 2000 he spent a month in rehab for alcohol abuse], but he got married and has matured, so I look for him to have a big year."

Although they are both lefthanded pitchers who failed to put enough zeros on the scoreboard to justify all the zeros in their paychecks last season, Mike Hampton and Denny Neagle have little else in common. Hampton is a roaring fire, a bulldog of a pitcher who looks as if he should be in a helmet and pads instead of on the mound. Neagle is a cool breeze, a jovial fellow with an easy delivery and a relaxed manner. But in an attempt to atone for their lackluster performances of a year ago, it seems that, without even realizing it, each is trying to adopt a bit of the other's personality. Hampton has vowed to tone down his intensity, while Neagle intends to dial his up a notch.

Rockies manager Buddy Bell doesn't care if Hampton and Neagle wear each other's uniforms, as long as they start to resemble the kind of pitchers Colorado thought it was getting when it signed them to fat free-agent contracts last year. If they don't, the Rockies are in for their third last-place finish in the last four years. Colorado gave Hampton an eight-year, $121 million deal, the most lucrative ever for a pitcher, and the first return on their investment was his 14-13 record and 5.41 ERA. Neagle signed a five-year, $51 million contract and finished 9-8 with a 5.38 ERA. Coors Field, every hitter's best friend, can't be singled out as the culprit. Hampton was 6-7 with a 5.10 ERA on the road, and Neagle was more effective at Coors, where he was 6-2.

After a 9-2 start Hampton's season went south. Despite a lingering groin injury that would ultimately require surgery after the season, he insisted on pitching with the pain and doing his normal running and throwing on days between starts. "I'm getting paid to be the ace of the staff, and I wanted to do my job," he says. "This year I'm going to take a day off here and there when I feel my body needs a rest."

Neagle hopes his body won't need as much rest this year. He attacked his weightlifting with new determination during the off-season, intent on building his endurance. "It was a matter of doing three sets instead of my usual two, or 12 reps instead of eight or 10," he says. "I want to get back to pitching deep into games again, to being a 200-inning pitcher." Neagle threw only 170 2/3 innings last year, an average of 5 2/3 innings in his 30 starts, and worked as many as seven innings just twice.

Concerned about the budget drain caused by Hampton's and Neagle's deals as well as the nine-year, $141.5 million contract extension given to All-Star first baseman Todd Helton before last season, the formerly free-spending Rockies dumped several players to trim their payroll from $65 million to $51 million, including Jeff Cirillo, their solid third baseman, whom they dealt to the Mariners. Outfielder Larry Walker shook up training camp when he blasted management's spending cuts and indicated that he wouldn't mind being traded. Walker, who won his third batting title in 2001, agreed to defer $18 million of his salary last year because he was told it would help Colorado sign Hampton without having to break up the rest of the team. "A lot of lies," Walker told The Denver Post. He also said that he was angered to see Helton get his big deal a few days after he deferred his money.

The Rockies have no plans to explore trade possibilities for Walker, who submitted a list of teams for whom he would consider waiving his no-trade clause, including the Diamondbacks and the Cardinals. Colorado badly needs Hampton and Neagle to regain their old form, or disgruntled players and fans might be flying out of Coors Field as frequently as home run balls.

Issue date: March 25, 2002