Throughout the doom and gloom of 2011 (and there was quite a bit of both), there was a consistent example of what 2011 was supposed to be in the form of Troy Tulowitzki.

After producing a Herculean September in 2010 (15 HRs, 40 RBI) on his way to a 5th place MVP finish, winning some well-deserved hardware (Gold Glove and Silver Slugger), as well as receiving a mammoth 7 year, $134 million extension to his existing contract, Troy Tulowitzki had some gigantic expectations to meet in 2011.

A notorious slow starter, Tulo sprinted out of the gates in 2011, smashing the ball in April to the tune of .298/.385/.617 with 7 HR and 17 RBI (178 sOPS+). In the last month in 2011 that the Rockies were a joy to watch, Tulo shone brightest. And the crazy part was, Tulowitzki had two months in 2011 at the plate that were even better than April.

Like everyone else on the roster, Tulo had a dismal May (.209/.269/.364, 77 sOPS+), but he rebounded with a good June and was voted in as the NL starter at shortstop in the All-Star Game with a .268/.337/.488 line. I firmly believe that he'll be a fixture in that position for at least the next five years.

Tulowitzki's 1st half numbers might have been a little light for an All-Star starter, but he really turned it on in the 2nd half. A great July (.352/.404/.615, 5 HR, 180 sOPS+) was followed by a spectacular August (.356/.438/.673, 8 HR, 197 sOPS+) before his September was abbreviated by a nagging hip injury to only 11 games and 40 PAs. Still, his 2nd half line was certainly a MVP-type performance (.356/.426/.634, 13 HR, 48 RBI in 54 games, 187 sOPS+). If the Rockies get more of that 2nd half Tulo in 2012, they'll be very much on pace to take a winnable NL West.

In all, Tulowitzki's 2011 season line looks pretty similar to his 2010 -- a few more HR (30 to 27), a few less steals (11 to 20), but about the same production (.302/.372/.544 vs.315/.381/.568, 6.3 fWAR vs. 6.5 fWAR) and postseason accolades (8th place MVP vs. 5th, but both seasons garnered Gold Gloves and Silver Sluggers). I can only hope that 2012 brings more of the same.

The conclusion to the 2011 Rockies Player Review series after the jump.

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Coming off a season which was, by all counts, excellent for a pitcher of his age/level of experience, Jhoulys Chacin inadvertently created expectations that, while realistic, may have been too much to count on happening. As a 22-year-old rookie in 2010, Chacin posted an astronomically high 142 ERA+ in 137.1 innings. He allowed just 7.5 H/9 and 0.7 HR/9 - while pitching at Coors Field half of the time. In addition, he struck out a batter per inning.

The one thing holding Jhoulys back was fastball command, but it was a problem that most people figured would improve in 2011 since he exhibited little issues with it while in the minors. During the first half of the season, there was some improvement there, as through June 15th Chacin was 8-4 with a 2.81 ERA. Although he had already given up more homers by that point than he did in all of 2010, he still was only allowing 6.3 H/9 and was striking out just under a batter an inning. Most importantly, he had reduced his walk rate to around three per nine innings, and was looking every bit like the ace that Ubaldo Jimenez was supposed to be.

However, things started to go downhill for Chacin from that point forward, most notably his fastball command (although the team's dismal offense wasn't helping, either). By the time the season came to an end, Chacin had posted the exact same walk rate (4.0 BB/9) as he did the season before, but struck out far less batters (7.0 K/9) and allowed twice as many home runs (but was still under 1 per nine innings). To make matters worse, he started to suffer from some run-of-the-mill nagging injuries in late-August, forcing him to miss a start and and more-or-less limiting him to a pitch count for the remainder of the year.

With all of that being said, Chacin still had a solid season for the Rockies (pitcher wins be damned). Chacin was once again well above average in terms of ERA+ (124), while shouldering the unexpected load of being the team's ace in the absence of Ubaldo Jimenez (ineffective/traded) and Jorge De La Rosa (injured). Not to mention, I have a feeling that his decrease in strikeouts and increase in hits/homers allowed could be due to the Bob Apodaca and the Rockies' pitch-to-contact approach, which resulted in Chacin's groundball rate increasing from 46% to 56%. Hopefully, the coaching staff will focus less on that this time around, and more on a consistent delivery.

More after the jump...

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2011 was, by all accounts, a significant rebound for Todd Helton. After coming off by far his worst year as a professional baseball player in 2010, there was no telling if this was truly the beginning of the end for the longtime franchise figure. The Rockies' most stable, longest tenured and generally consistent player was reduced to a big question mark. Would his skills be permanently affected by his declining back health? How much would he be able to contribute?

The good news is that the answer to that second question is "a pretty reasonable amount, considering the circumstances". While the book on how to play him had to be completely rewritten after a 2010 season cut in half by recurring back problems, his contributions to the 2011 Rockies team were generally quite comparatively significant to the rest of the (admittedly underperforming) team. This is especially important when we consider that Helton's health issues prevented the team from playing him as regularly as a normal starting first baseman, and not wanting to risk a 2010 style disabled list stint, the team was generally conservative with Todd's playing time all year despite standing out on the struggling team, one of the few management decisions I am actually willing to applaud Jim Tracy for. It would have been really tempting to throw Helton out there in excess to make up for the weakened team, and who knows what kind of damage could have come from hastiness like that?

There's no doubt that Helton is not the player we once knew. His power numbers that once justified him a spot in the middle of the lineup have declined significantly since 2005, and the signing of Michael Cuddyer was likely designed to address this specifically as much as anything else. Helton will likely be sliding down to the 6th spot in the lineup in 2012, though I still believe it would be a worthwhile experiment to hit him second behind Dexter Fowler. 2011 saw Helton's worst seasonal walk rate since the changing of millenia, but he still demonstrates an extraordinary eye and pitch sequence understanding. He makes pitchers work, and could be an excellent bridge of productivity between a leadoff batter and the RBI guys, despite the lack of speed. Even with fewer walks, Helton's on base percentage remained competitively high at .385, and most importantly, an ugly 2010 K rate disappeared to closer to career norms, likely the result of regular rest on the back. According to the capricious but nonetheless important defensive metrics, Helton's fielding also benefited from regular rest.

Going forward, Helton is no longer a top first baseman in most respects, but 2011 proved he doesn't have to let his health interfere with the skills that remain strong through his final two years on contract. He can still be a productive bat closer to the top or bottom of the order and his defense remains marvelous. Oh, and in case you forgot, he hits doubles. LOTS of doubles. He's still got pretty solid gap strength. We're just going to have to take all this with the understanding that he can't be out there every day at first base anymore; Jason Giambi, Michael Cuddyer and even Ramon Hernandez can all cover some of that inning load. The big question going forward is how much of these skills will remain consistent, and will the lightened play time allow his back to stay healthy.

Grade: B- The year was a big step upward for Helton. His performance stood out positively on a struggling team. Relative to the league, it was above average, but not overwhelmingly so.

2010 was a phenomenal year for Carlos Gonzalez, a true breakout season. He led the league in batting average (.336), hits (197), and total bases (351) while putting up 6.5 fWAR. On defense, he prowled the outfield with speed and grace, firing his laser of a left arm if baserunners were foolish. Gonzalez finished 3rd in NL MVP voting and won both a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger. Whenever you needed it most, CarGo had your tacos right here.

During the off-season, Gonzalez signed a 7 year, $80 million extension to keep himself in Denver through much of his prime, leading Rockies fans to imagine a multi-championship team lead by its 3 O's. In other words, expectations for 2011 for CarGo were pretty astronomical. It's safe to say that Carlos Gonzalez's 2011 didn't live up to those expectations -- but to be honest, very few players on the Rockies did, and CarGo would have come close if he weren't injured during the season's second half.

Fellow young star Troy Tulowitzki was supposed to be the slow starter, but it was CarGo who struggled early on, hitting just .228/.277/.304 in the season's first month. As the weather improved, Gonzalez found his groove -- eventually finishing the first half with a line of .292/.359/.491. After April, Gonzalez didn't have another subpar month at the plate, but unfortunately he didn't come to the plate nearly enough in the second half.

Gonzalez injured his right wrist while running into a wall trying to make a catch in July, then aggravated the injury multiple times over the next couple of months. His all-out style is one of the things that fans love about him, but it's largely what kept him off the field for 37 games in 2011.

On a rate basis, CarGo's final 2011 numbers (.295/.363/.526, 26 HR, 92 RBI, 20 SB) are pretty impressive, especially when you consider that he played most of the second half with a hurt wrist, only reaching 542 PAs on the year. If he were healthy, replicating his 2010 stats could have been a plausible scenario. Despite his sterling rep as an outfielder (he sure passes my eye test), neither Baseball-Reference nor Fangraphs rated Gonzalez's defense as a positive, so it was definitely interesting to see that he was worth 4.1 fWAR but only 2.6 rWAR.

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In 2011, the onus was on Chris Iannetta to improve. It was on Iannetta to rebound from his miserable 2010 and prove to the Rockies' brass that he was, indeed, the guy they had been hoping he was for such a long time.

So far in Iannetta's career, he's been a completely mixed bag. He's been awful, and he's been a top-10 catcher. He's been productive, and he's been completely unemotional. He's been a low-average strikeout compiler, and he's been an on-base machine. When compared to his catching contemporaries, he's been the most polarizing character in Lord knows how long in Rockies history.

2010 was nearly the worst season of Iannetta's 5-year tenure with the Rockies. He batted .197/.318/.383, showing declining power, an inexcusably low batting average, and poor fielding (This is coming from someone who eschews AVG as a good batting metric - an AVG that bad is going to nuke your OBP and SLG). Certainly not what the Rockies wanted to see after inking their homegrown catcher to a 3-year contract.

In 2011, Iannetta was essentially handed the starting job. GM Dan O'Dowd forced Jim Tracy's hand by trading away Miguel Olivo and trading FOR Jose Morales, a catcher there to complement Iannetta and not to compete with him. Things seemed hunky dory for those in the Iannetta camp.

A major criticism of the 2011 season was Jim Tracy's curious use of backup catchers and his seeming disrespect for Chris Iannetta. We saw Eliezer Alfonzo bat cleanup for Pete's sake. Well, frustrating as his lineup decisions typically are, a lot of managers bat their catchers 8th regularly, and while it seemed that Iannetta's regular 2-days-off-in-a-row down the stretch were unjust and idiotic, it's worth noting that Iannetta did appear in a career-high 112G, 426PA over the 2011 season.

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Many fans adore Troy Tulowitzki. Many more worship Todd Helton. Jason Giambi is a popular player. My favorite player? It might just be Jason Hammel. Part of it is his unique candor in interviews, his rare dry wit. A large part of it is that he a fascinating case study in statistics, testing whatever method of grading pitchers you may ascribe to.

By the eye-and-feel test, Jason Hammel lost something last year after two eerily similar previous seasons. At one point, he stopped his pitching motion mid-pitch because he forgot what pitch he was going to throw. His out pitch disappeared and he lost his sterling control. Only two starting pitchers have a season with a K/BB ratio of 3.00 or greater in Rockies history: both are Jason Hammel. Most importantly, he lost his job in the rotation late in the season.

What do the numbers say? Well, he allowed a .280 batting average on balls in play, a career low, and actually lowered his ERA by five points from 2010. Baseball Reference gives Hammel a 2.0 rWAR, the best of his MLB career, thanks to what is graded as the worst defense behind him in his career. Baseball Reference WAR is a popular method in which to grade pitchers in larger samples, usually starting with a full season. By this method, Jason Hammel was at his best last year.

That just does not pass the smell test.

Delve further. We see that Hammel's strikeout rate plummeted to below 5.00 (a career low), while his walk rate increased by 50% to 3.59, far higher than anything he had shown in the NL before. His home run rate was the highest of his Rockies career. He managed to pitch just 170.2 innings, his lowest total since joining Colorado. He allowed a higher percentage of the base-runners he allowed to score than any year in a Rockies uniform. Yuck.

As a result, his SABR ERA predictor statistics exploded. His FIP, xFIP, SIERA, and tERA all increased by over one full run over his 2010 campaign, suggesting the lowering of his ERA was quite lucky. Baseball Prospectus' FRA increased nearly a full run, once again producing a Rockies' career low in WAR (theirs is called WARP). Given the way he appeared to perform, those sabermetric acronyms seem to mirror what our eyes would tell us about Jason Hammel's 2011 far more than ERA or even Baseball Reference WAR. This seems to be in direct opposition to 2009-2010, when Fangraphs WAR suggested Jason Hammel was about as valuable as Matt Cain. Fascinating.

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In a season chock-full of disappointments, the biggest and most indicative of the 2011 Rockies was a guy that nearly won the Cy Young award the year before, and less than a year later, was no longer in the organization.

Trouble was on the horizon as early as the first week of spring training, when Rockies' ace Ubaldo Jimenez struggled through two innings in the team's debut game in their brand new training facility. Shortly thereafter, he was scratched from a start with a cuticle issue on his throwing hand. That, in addition to vacationing during the offseason instead of pitching in winter ball as he was accustomed to doing, likely caused him to not be able to build up the arm strength that he normally possessed coming out of spring training. A second warning sign came in a March 16th outing against the White Sox in which he was shelled for seven runs on eight hits in 4 1/3 innings, and the bad outing accompanied already existing reports of decreased velocity.

Despite everyone surrounding the ballclub saying all the right things about Ubaldo's health and velocity, opening day 2011 marked the third and most disastrous warning sign, almost from the very moment Jimenez lobbed an 89 mile-per-hour fastball over the plate on the game's first pitch. The D-Backs would tag him for six runs on seven hits in six innings, while Jimenez only picked up one strikeout. After the game, Arizona catcher Miguel Montero said it all:

"I noticed when he threw me a couple of fastballs, it was kind of weird...I don't know, honestly. I don't think he was throwing that hard. I wonder if he's all right."

Jimenez, whose fastball never exceeded 95 in that game and was sitting around 91-92, landed on the disabled list after that start with an apparent aggravation of the cuticle injury that he suffered early in spring training. In his return on April 19th, he took his first loss of the season while allowing four runs on six hits in five frames against the Giants. He struggled to find his traction throughout the next month and a half, and at the end of May he was the shameful owner of an 0-5 record, a 5.86 ERA, and many whispers of pouting over not receiving the type of contract extension that fellow star teammates Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez received prior to the season.

More after the jump...

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It was June 24. Ian Stewart and Dexter Fowler batted in the first inning as anchors to a prolific offense. It was just as fans had hoped, except for the fact this game was taking place in Tacoma, Washington against the Mariners' AAA team. Both men stumbled extensively and found themselves wearing Sky Sox blue.

This was the low point for Fowler. Dexter had suffered a minor injury June 4 and was sent to AAA to rehab. It isn't as if he had been performing well (.231/.325/.343 in May), and his stance had drastically changed since his success in 2010. Stuck in AAA with Stewart, Fowler sunk in his new surroundings. By the time June 24's game concluded, he had gone an astoundingly bad 3-for-46 with 15 strikeouts. Even when he had a historically good game, he was historically bad. Something was wrong. Would he go the way of Ian Stewart?

Fortunately, Dex knew. Whatever it was that Fowler needed to fix, he figured it out en route from Tacoma to Salt Lake. Over his next six games (in Salt Lake City and Las Vegas), he had two or more hits in five of them. He recorded hits in 10 of 13 games, and the Rockies elected to bring him back up after the All-Star Break.

As Fowler is wont to do, he gave fans something to salivate over during the offseason. He burst out of the gates with a .361/.443/.557 line in his 16 games before August. Overall, he posted an OPS a full 200 points higher in the second half than his first half, without much of a jump in BABIP. His 37 extra base hits placed him among the league leaders after the break.

That .880 OPS from a CF sure looks juicy. Sure, park adjustments and all, but only Matt Kemp, Jacoby Ellsbury, Curtis Granderson and Josh Hamilton were better for the full 2011. Hamilton beat Fowler by just .002. If he can keep that up, Fowler will be a huge weapon at the top of the lineup.

For the season, he set career highs in hits, doubles, runs, triples, RBI, walks, IsoP, SLG and OPS/OPS+/wOBA/wRC+.

That is why the Rockies have dubbed Fowler untouchable, just three months of games after he appeared to be broken. That, and Fowler is only in his first arbitration season, meaning he's cheap. Of course, whether he can continue to make adjustments without a cup of coffee in Colorado Springs is will be a huge question. Whereas Ian Stewart was my key to the 2011 lineup, Fowler has the widest range of potential impact, positive and negative. Hopefully I don't jinx it this time.

Fact You Should Know 1: Fowler posted a higher batting average and OPS batting left-handed, the second year he has done that in a row. His switch-hitting, is more than fine.

Fact You Should Know 2: Fowler was almost equal at home and on the road in plate appearances, runs, triples, home runs, OBP, and OPS.

Fact You Should Know 3: Fowler's given first name is William.

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