The meme off the 2011 offseason was "Acquire All The Young Arms", given that the Rockies traded half of the 2011 team away for seemingly their weight in cost-controlled pitching. As a result, the Rockies are going to have many young pitchers and Jamie Moyer competing for 5 rotation spots. Also bullpen spots. Also, to be the next callup from Colorado Springs.
It's always a little amusing to think about players fighting for the spots deeper in the depth charts, but the reality is that these guys have a good chance of seeing major league action this season.
Despite adding a likely 200IP in Jeremy Guthrie, the Rockies will still have question marks on where their innings are going to come from. Jorge De La Rosa won't be overworked, especially coming off of Tommy John Surgery, and as such is going to miss over 2 months' worth of starts. Jhoulys Chacin, fitness level aside, will have to overcome his 2nd half bout of wildness in 2011 if he wants to consume a top-of-the-rotation starter's worth of innings. For Chacin, it will really revolve around attacking hitters, a quality that made him stand out as a 16-year old trying out for the Rockies. Not purely in terms of walk numbers either, but also strikes thrown in general. Fewer deep counts will mean more pitches to throw to batters in the 7th.
Past those three, we've heard talk that the Rockies are going to have to be creative in managing Alex White and Drew Pomeranz' inning loads. This probably means just skipping starts, because we want them available later in the season if they're doing well and the Rockies are in a playoff hunt. Juan Nicasio seems to be a lock for the Rotation, but there's no guarantee that we'll be looking at the same level of performance from 2011.
Patrick Saunders suggests that the top 5 in the Rockies rotation look to be:
Jeremy Guthrie
Jhoulys Chacin
Drew Pomeranz
Juan Nicasio
Guillermo Moscoso
Alex White, Esmil Rogers, Tyler Chatwood, Jamie Moyer, and Josh Outman are also going to be competing for that "6th man" spot and the next available depth spot for the rotation. This is one of the best parts of having Colorado Springs just 90 minutes South of Denver, being able to call up depth on a near-whim. Should the Rockies get home to Denver and Drew Pomeranz is slated to start after making 5 straight starts, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Rockies give Tyler Chatwood or Josh Outman a call and Pomeranz the evening off.
We've heard praises for Jeremy Guthrie and his high character and work ethic from a lot of Baltimore fans. Now it's our turn; you can email questions to the Denver Post to ask Guthrie, and we'll see what we can learn about our new pitcher.
So ask away. Send your Qs in an email to fanmail@denverpost.com. Please include your first name and where you are from. Questions will be accepted through Wednesday morning.
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