FanPost

The all-time best Rockies Team

A couple days ago, I did a fanpost outlining the worst Rockies ever at each position (If you missed it, you can read it here). It got plenty of positive feedback, so now we're doing the same exercise again, but this time putting together the BEST all-time Rockies team. The same criteria for worst Rockies ever will also apply to qualify for this list. To review, they are as follows:

Position Players: 400 PA (350 for catchers)

Starting Pitchers: 100 IP + the majority of your appearances from that season had to be made as a starting pitcher

Relief Pitchers: 40 IP + the majority of your appearances from that season had to be made as a relief pitcher

So here we go, the best Rockies of all-time.

Catcher

2008 Chris Iannetta - 407 PA, .264/.390/.505, 18 HR, 0 SB, 129 wRC+, 3 fWAR

Chris Iannetta is probably the best and most underrated Rockies catcher of all-time, with his best year coming in the 2008 season. A strong walk rate and very good power (.240 ISO) paved the way for his success here, as his 129 wRC+ is significantly better than any other catcher season in Rockies history (2012 Wilin Rosario comes in 2nd at 107).

Honorable mention: 2011 Chris Iannetta (2.7 fWAR)

First Base

2000 Todd Helton - 697 PA, .372/.463/.698, 42 HR, 5 SB, 162 wRC+, 8.3 fWAR

To absolutely nobody's surprise, the Toddfather is the owner of best Rockies first base season ever. In fact, Helton has put together the SIX best Rockies first base seasons of all-time. Of them all, 2000 was Todd's finest season, as he had over 100 extra base hits and nearly 2 walks for every strikeout to go with great first base defense. Helton's 8.3 fWAR in 2000 led the NL, but he unfortunately finished just 5th in MVP voting that year.

Honorable mention: 2001 Todd Helton (7.1 fWAR)

Second Base

2006 Jamey Carroll - 534 PA, .300/.377/.404, 5 HR, 10 SB, 97 wRC+, 2.9 fWAR

Moving here from one of the Rockies' strongest positions to one of their weakest, Jamey Carroll's 2006 season had the lowest fWAR of any "best" player to make the list. Carroll was roughly league average offensively, it was his defense that helped get him here. His 16.5 UZR/150 and 18 defensive runs saved (DRS) in 2006 are both the best all-time for a Rockies second baseman (min. 500 defensive innings).

Honorable mention: 1996 Eric Young (2.8 fWAR)

Shortstop

2010 Troy Tulowitzki - 529 PA, .315/.381/.568, 27 HR, 11 SB, 140 wRC+, 5.9 fWAR

In what I'm sure is a shock to everyone here, Tulo put together the best shortstop season in Rockies history. His 2010 season comes out on top, but he actually has the top 5 seasons ever (the top 6 if you include his 2014 season where he was 25 PA short of qualifying for the list) and they were all at least 5 fWAR seasons. Tulo's great offense in 2010 paired with his great defense (13.2 UZR/150, 19 DRS) earn him the nod here, despite injuries limiting him to just 122 games. Let's not trade him.

Honorable mention: 2011 Troy Tulowitzki (5.6 fWAR)

Third Base

2006 Garrett Atkins - 695 PA, .329/.409/.556, 29 HR, 4 SB, 138 wRC+, 5.6 fWAR

2006 was a great season for Garrett Atkins and unfortunately his only truly "great" season, as his next best season was good for just 2 fWAR. His year here was almost completely offense driven (though his defense at the hot corner was about average, so he didn't hurt his value there at all), with his 138 wRC+ being 17 points better than any other Rockies third base season.

Honorable mention: 1998 Vinny Castilla (4.5 fWAR)

Outfield

1997 Larry Walker - 664 PA, .366/.452/.720, 49 HR, 33 SB, 177 wRC+, 9.1 fWAR

2001 Larry Walker - 601 PA, .350/.449/.662, 38 HR, 14 SB, 163 wRC+, 7.6 fWAR

2007 Matt Holliday - 713 PA, .340/.405/607, 36 HR, 11 SB, 151 wRC+, 7.2 fWAR

These were 3 REALLY great seasons, including the Rockies' lone MVP season and best fWAR of all-time (1997 Walker) and another season that has a legitimate argument that it should've been an MVP season as well from the best player during the Rockies' best season of all-time (2007 Holliday). Walker's 2001 season was magnificent as well, but if you recall there was another outfielder (Barry Bonds was his name I think) in 2001 who had a decent year. Not to mention Sammy Sosa (64 HR) and Luis Gonzalez (57 HR. Yep, there was a time when 57 home runs was only good for 3rd in the league). Still, the fact that Walker finished just 24th in the 2001 MVP vote is kind of sad. It's also amazing that the 2001 Rockies had two 7+ fWAR players and still only won 73 games.

Honorable mention: 1996 Ellis Burks (7.2 fWAR), 2008 Matt Holliday (5.8 fWAR), 2010 Carlos Gonzalez (5.7 fWAR)

Starting Rotation

2010 Ubaldo Jimenez - 33 starts, 221 2/3 IP, 2.88 ERA (63 ERA-), 3.10 FIP (69 FIP-), 1.15 WHIP, 8.69 K/9, 3.74 BB/9, 6.5 fWAR

2009 Ubaldo Jimenez - 33 starts, 218 IP, 3.47 ERA (75 ERA-), 3.36 FIP (72 FIP-), 1.23 WHIP, 8.17 K/9, 3.51 BB/9, 5.6 fWAR

1999 Pedro Astacio - 34 starts, 232 IP, 5.04 ERA (91 ERA-), 4.56 FIP (81 FIP-), 1.44 WHIP, 8.15 K/9, 2.91 BB/9, 5.3 fWAR

2008 Aaron Cook - 32 starts, 211 1/3 IP, 3.96 ERA (85 ERA-), 3.76 FIP (80 FIP-), 1.34 WHIP, 4.09 K/9, 2.04 BB/9, 4.5 fWAR

2013 Jhoulys Chacin - 31 starts, 197 1/3 IP, 3.47 ERA (79 ERA-), 3.47 FIP (79 FIP-), 1.26 WHIP, 5.75 K/9, 2.78 BB/9, 4.4 fWAR

Look everybody! You CAN pitch at Coors Field! 2009/10 Ubaldo Jimenez was clearly the finest 2 year stretch of pitching the Rockies have ever seen. It included arguably the best first 11 starts to a season in Major League history that included a no hitter (the only one ever thrown by a Rockie), the best pitch ever thrown, and a 0.78 ERA. Special shout out here to Pedro Astacio as well, the only pre-humidor Rockies pitcher to make the list (it's amazing that a 5.04 ERA was legitimately good in that environment). A look at 2013 Chacin is also enough to make me really really want him to be that pitcher again in 2015. Please? Hats off to Aaron Cook, his extreme ground ball ways, and his ability to succeed without getting many strikeouts as well.

Honorable mention: 2006 Jason Jennings (4.4 fWAR), 2000 Pedro Astacio (4.3 fWAR), 1998 Darryl Kile (4.2 fWAR), 1997 John Thompson (4.1 fWAR), 2008 Ubaldo Jimenez (3.9 fWAR)

Relief Pitchers

2000 Gabe White - 67 appearances, 83 IP, 2.17 ERA (38 ERA-), 2.56 FIP (44 FIP-), 0.92 WHIP, 8.89 K/9, 1.52 BB/9, 3.3 fWAR

1995 Curtis Leskanic - 76 appearances, 98 IP, 3.40 ERA (66 ERA-), 2.86 FIP (55 FIP-), 1.18 WHIP, 9.83 K/9, 3.03 BB/9, 3.1 fWAR

2008 Brian Fuentes - 67 appearances, 62 2/3 IP, 2.73 ERA (59 ERA-), 2.24 FIP (47 FIP-), 1.10 WHIP, 11.78 K/9, 3.16 BB/9, 2.4 fWAR

1993 Bruce Ruffin - 59 appearances, 12 starts, 139 2/3 IP, 3.87 ERA (84 ERA-), 3.62 FIP (78 FIP-), 1.53 WHIP, 8.12 K/9, 4.45 BB/9, 2.3 fWAR

2010 Matt Belisle - 76 appearances, 92 IP, 2.93 ERA (64 ERA-), 2.68 FIP (59 FIP-),1.09 WHIP, 8.9 K/9, 1.57 BB/9, 2.2 fWAR

1997 Jerry Dipoto - 74 appearances, 95 2/3 IP, 4.70 ERA (91 ERA-), 3.54 FIP (68 FIP-), 1.47 WHIP, 6.96 K/9, 3.1 BB/9, 2.2 fWAR

1998 Chuck McElroy - 78 appearances, 68 1/3 IP, 2.90 ERA (55 ERA-), 2.98 FIP (55 FIP-), 1.35 WHIP, 8.03 K/9, 3.16 BB/9, 2.1 fWAR

Here's a group of guys who had great seasons out of the bullpen for the Rockies, Surprisingly, the majority of these pitchers came pre-humidor, with only Fuentes and Belisle making the list after the humidor was installed. A possible reason for that could be post-humidor starting pitchers getting deeper into games, resulting in fewer IP by the bullpen and thus fewer opportunities to accumulate WAR. One thing that really stood out to me about the leader in the clubhouse here, Gabe White, is the volatility of relief pitching from year to year. He put together a magnificent 2000 season (a 2.17 ERA in that environment is extremely impressive), then fell flat on his face the following year and had the 3rd worst relief pitching season in Rockies history. Chuck McElroy was also a dishonorable mention "worst" relief pitcher the season after his great 1998 campaign. Bruce Ruffin is also in interesting inclusion here as he's the only player from the inaugural 1993 season to make the list and is also the only pitcher to make the list while both starting and coming out of the bullpen.

Honorable mention: 1995 Steve Reed (2.1 fWAR), 2000 Julian Tavarez, 2010 Rafael Betancourt, 2012 Matt Belisle, 1995 Darren Holmes (2 fWAR), 1996 Bruce Ruffin (1.9 fWAR), 2011 Rafael Betancourt, 1998 Dave Veras (1.8 fWAR)

So that's the list, the best Rockies players of all-time. Using FanGraphs' estimation that a 0 WAR team = approximately 48 wins, this team would project to be either 141-21 or 142-20. Not too shabby. Hopefully the 2015 season will give us a few players to add to this list when all is said and done.

Eat. Drink. Be Merry. But the above FanPost does not necessarily reflect the attitudes, opinions, or views of Purple Row's staff (unless, of course, it's written by the staff [and even then, it still might not]).

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