2013 Colorado Rockies Player Reviews: Jeff Manship

After being outrighted by the Twins in October of 2012, the Rockies signed Jeff Manship to a minor league contract and sent him to Triple-A to start the season. After making 24 appearances in Colorado Springs, Manship was called up to the major leagues and made his first start on August 8 in a Rockies uniform.

A product of the University of Notre Dame, Manship was brought in to provide depth in the organization and give the Rockies an additional arm in the Sky Sox bullpen. It wasn't until Aaron Cook and Christian Friedrich went down with injury that Manship was given a chance to start full-time for the Sky Sox. Considering where he started in the Triple-A bullpen and then finally finishing with 30.2 innings in a Rockies uniform, one could say Jeff made something of his opportunity in Colorado.

With his fielding independent numbers taken into consideration, Jeff's production in Colorado Springs was actually more successful than what he posted for the Twins Triple-A team the previous season. While in Colorado Springs, the righthander put up a 4.85 ERA in 104 innings, with a 3.85 FIP. The previous year in Triple-A Rochester, Manship had a 2.09 ERA with an inflated 4.09 FIP.

In a Rockies uniform, Jeff got off to a good first start, allowing just two earned runs in 5.2 innings in a game against the Mets. Unfortunately, everything went downhill from there and he was moved into the pen permanently on September 10th. The right-hander was saddled with five losses in his first six appearances and was limited to mop-up duty for the remaining five games he pitched in.

The right-hander made 11 appearances for the Rockies in 2013 and struggled to strikeout more batters than he walked, with a strikeout-to-walk ratio barely above one for the year. This weakness left Jeff with a high number of base runners and he failed to limit the damage. Fangraphs has a table which labels a pitchers left on base percentage, with an average season being 72% and an awful season at 60%-- Manships LOB% was below awful at 59.1%. The resulting damage gave Manship one of the worst WAR rating's on the team with a -0.1 fWAR and a -0.7 bWAR.

Grade with the Rockies: C

His time as a Rockie most likely deserves a lower ranking, but the enjoyment fans and writers we're able to procure from his moniker madness earned the extra bump. As the Rockies stumbled to a losing second half, there was very little to distract our attention from the poor play on the field. Fortunately the Manship delivered and some of my favorite Manship-lines included: Dudeboat has a tough draw, The Manship will save us...., and Manship... Come on board we're expecting you (with the well placed animated gif).

2014

There's a chance Jeff Manship will return to the Rockies in 2014, but it would be on another minor league contract as Triple-A pitching depth. The Rockies are likely to non-tender the right-hander this winter to clear up space for players coming off the 60-day disabled list. Plus, Jeff will be turning 29 next year and hasn't posted an ERA below 7.00 in his last three major league seasons. Look for Manship to try and catch on with an organization which plays in a more pitcher-friendly environment next season in order to try and resurrect his career.