Sunday, June 16, 2024

Breaking Rox in the Hot Sun

 


The Rockies only have three wins so far in June. All of them were by one point, two of them were against the Cardinals. The rest, the losses, are games where the team gave up 4 or more runs. 

The Colorado Rockies: The Wins Are Close, But The Losses Sure Aren't.

It's honestly wild that Cal Quantrill still has a 3.30 ERA. Even Austin Gomber's has gone above 4 at this point, despite his strong start. And Quantrill isn't a particularly powerful pitcher, he's only struck out 56, but he's not giving up many runs, or hits. He just keeps batters down, and doesn't make many debilitating mistakes. He's 6-4 right now, and clearly the best starter on this team. I am worried about the long term success of somebody like Quantrill heading up a rotation, as in San Diego in Cleveland he was always better at being a 4th or 5th guy. I mean, so were Gomber and Hudson and now they're sort of struggling anyhow.

The fundamental issue here is that, with Justin Lawrence and Jake Bird hurt, the next nearest bullpen pieces, guys like Tyler Kinley, Nick Mears and Anthony Molina, are getting massacred. All of those guys have ERAs over 6.50, and those...are the main options. At least Victor Vodnik and Jalen Beeks are better, but batters are even getting to THEM now. And the wild part is that Mears, Kinley and Molina combined don't have as many losses as Dakota Hudson. I just picture Freeland, Marquez and Senza just sitting on the bench in the bullpen shaking their heads every night.

There are people hitting well but many of them, including Elias Diaz, Jacob Stallings and possibly even Charlie Blackmon if they want to be particularly cruel, might be gone in a month or so. Diaz has been an option for many teams needing catching help, and Stallings flirting with .300 as a backup is only boosting his own appeal. McMahon, Tovar and Doyle have all fallen into place, they're doing the best they can. They've thrown in Adael Amador at 2nd, and he hasn't really done anything yet but he keeps threatening to. Jones and Montero still aren't hitting, Goodman and Toglia still haven't shown up and Bryant's still hurt. So the struggle continues.

This is very much like 2014 or 2015 for Colorado, because you can see some of these pieces begin to crop up and inherit the team. If Ezequiel Tovar continues on this pace he might be yet another legendary shortstop for the Rockies. It just sucks that it continues to be such a pitching suck, regardless of how hard anyone's trying to not be lit up in Coors Field. 

Coming Tonight: Setting a team record for wins to start a career should have been a tipoff that he'd be something. But we all wondered if he'd ever be something again. Well...turns out he still had a lot left to show for himself. 

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