Beck Before Dawn

 

The 2025 Colorado Rockies. Hitting .212 as a team, a 5.22 team ERA, calling up their biggest prospects and getting next to nothing from them, the team captain's hitting .150 and leading the team in strikeouts [illuminating the fact that he really should have been traded by now], the rotation is catastrophic, the biggest star keeps getting injured every year, and the player with the highest WAR is a 29-year-old middle reliever. I know the White Sox just set the new bar for ineptitude, but they didn't have a stadium that made it impossible to keep runs down. 

Look, the fact that it's already looking this rough after just a month isn't a great sign. And it's not like they have that many replacement options either. There's so many proven successes in position to do well, and they're just not. German Marquez, Antonio Senzatela and Kyle Freeland all have ERAs over 5. Poor Chase Dollander has been thrown right into the fire, and has a 6.48 ERA in his first 5 starts. And because this is Colorado, that's not enough to cost him the job. Ryan Feltner and his 4.75 ERA, by comparison, are Cy Young caliber. The guys who are doing the most work in the pitching unit are relief guys, like Jake Bird and Victor Vodnik. They also found this rookie relief specialist named Zach Agnos, who's been nothing but a control artist so far and has essentially been their main closing option. Look, whatever they can get to work. 

The lineup seems to indicate that everything that was being set up in 2024 doesn't seem to be the answer. McMahon's been terrible at the plate. Tovar is hitting .212, Toglia .211. Statistically the team's best hitter is Hunter Goodman, who's a decent enough catcher to keep Drew Romo from getting any MLB time lately. The most prominent hitting Rockie at the moment is Jordan Beck, who had a brief run last season without being too exciting. Beck, despite a trip back to the minors, has accumulated 5 homers, 11 RBIs and 4 steals, which for this team puts him in line for the papacy essentially. He's got a .948 OPS at the moment, which is good even for teams that aren't the rockies. It'd really help if he continued at this pace, and perhaps taught Zac Veen a thing or two about hitting in the majors.

The issue with the Rockies is not just that they're really struggling, but they're struggling in a division where they were already kind of guaranteed last place. The top three teams are terrific, and their nearest competitor is 11 games ahead and still above .500. All they needed to do to stay dignified was finish better than they did in 2024, even if it was in last. They're not exactly on target to accomplish that. A lot of people need to turn their seasons around to get anything close to dignity out of this Rockies team.

Coming Tonight: Remember the Austin Meadows deal that the Pirates seemed to regret the moment they made it? This guy also snuck out of there too, and he's finally come into his own.