Sunday Rockpile: The rise of Jhoulys de la Chatwood

The Rockies actually do have an ace. Let me introduce you to Jhoulys de la Chatwood.

Jhoulys de la Chatwood is 22-12 with a 3.13 ERA, a 1.27 WHIP in 286.2 innings pitched. That record includes a rare complete game loss from yesterday, further proof in my opinion that W/L records for pitchers ought to simply be abolished. JDLC can pitch 3 of the 5 rotation spots and has been dominant lately, actually trending upwards and not regressing back to some sort of mean.

Might it all come crashing down in the future? Who knows, but right now the Rockies aren't middling because of a lack of pitching. Sure the last two spots in the rotation have been close to automatic losses, though it was nice to see Juan Nicasio make a strong start, but the fact remains that if the Rockies supposedly uber-intimidating lineup could back up three out of every five great starts from their pitching, they would probably be winning the NL West.

JDLC gives the Rockies a chance to win almost every time out and should have the Rockies thinking less about adding an impact arm at the trade deadline and more about adding an impact bat.

There may not be a perfect solution but it seems clear that the Rockies can go with one of two options. Either try to find a suitable replacement for the black hole that has been 1B by trying to acquire Adam Dunn, Kendrys Morales, or (pretty pretty please) making a serious run at Edwin Encarnacion, OR find a decent outfielder so that Michael Cuddyer could be moved to first.

The lack of production from in-house guys like Tyler Colvin, and earlier in the year Eric Young Jr has put a blemish on what once looked like very solid OF depth, but Cuddyer gives the team flexibility to find the best deal. I think Jhoulys de la Chatwood shows that the Rockies should still be buyers at the trade deadline, they just don't need to sell the farm (unless it's for Encarnacion) they just need to shore up two spots (RF/1B) by making one move.

Linkage

I couldn't get a lot of sites to load this morning, not sure if my computer/internet is derping or if the Denver Post and ESPN are. So, here is a link to a Harball Times piece about the eephus pitch!

Carlos Gonzalez's evolution as a baseball player, a person, and as a father.

Walt Weiss is giving the Rockies a license to steal.