Colorado Rockies offseason plans and bullpen bounce backs

Rockies GM Jeff Bridich faces urgent offseason to-do list | Denver Post

Patrick Saunders lays out Bridich’s to-do list for the upcoming season. Some of these decisions have probably already been made though we won’t know the outcome for another month or so. I doubt that anything that happens over the next few weeks will probably have much of an impact on the Rockies decisions on Weiss, Nick Hundley, the outfield and first base situations.

The outfield and first base situations may be tied at the hip if the Rockies do indeed plan to move Carlos Gonzalez to first base. as that could actually fill both the hole there and free up the playing time in the outfield for the young stars. Moving Gerardo Parra to first, as has been the case the last month, doesn’t fix either problem and would still necessitate trading either CarGo or Charlie Blackmon.

Frustrating season hasn't deterred Motte | Rockies.com

Another big item on the Rockies offseason plans is fixing a bullpen that has been the team’s biggest weakness. Seemingly every member of the bullpen has struggled at some point during this season including the entire pen, minus Adam Ottavino, for the past month. Replacing the entire pen isn’t feasible nor it is probably necessary. Bullpen arms are notoriously inconsistent from season to season as Boone Logan has perfectly illustrated in his time with the Rockies. Successfully determining which of the current arms are capable of bouncing back next year is going to be a huge step to putting together a successful team next year.

Jorge De La Rosa Down to His Final 3 Starts in Colorado? | RoxPile.com

The answer to this should be an easy yes. While Jorge De La Rosa has had a longer more successful career as a Rockies pitcher than anyone else, the time for it to end is now. There’s been a clear slide in his production that will probably only continue as he ages. More importantly, the Rockies actually have at least five better starting pitching options for next season, all of which are considerably cheaper. There really isn’t room in the Rockies budget at this point to resign JDLR if they want to fix their bullpen as well.

Rockies' Bettis perfecting the fast finish | Rockies.com

Chad Bettis is one of those cheaper and better options for next year. He also seems to be following JDLR’s trend of slow starts to the season followed up by impressive endings. Coming into this season, Bettis was seen as the Rockies second or third best starting option. Next season, that will probably be closer to fifth best option, despite his production not changing all that much. which speaks volumes about the Rockies new starting pitching depth.