Colorado Rockies: Where has the offense gone? | Rox Pile
The Rockies have had a bit of a rough week, and there are many elements contributing to this. The two blown saves were hard to see, and the Rockies didn’t make many trade moves before the deadline. The offense, though, has to take its share of the blame. They’ve been held to less than five runs in eleven of their last twelve games. Batting averages are low, runners have been stranded all too often, and there have been a whopping 114 strikeouts. It’s been pretty ugly, and in conjunction with the bullpen struggles, things aren’t going well. Today’s win broke a four game losing streak, but even in the win, we could see these issues at play. It’s coming down to the wire, and the Rockies need to work on delivering when it counts.
The Colorado Rockies have a glaring problem | Rox Pile
Pitching has been problematic for the Rockies since the beginning of the season. At various times, individual pitchers have shown great improvement, clearly having worked through this problem or that. A lot of issues have been in the bullpen, but the starting rotation has its own woes as well. The Rockies have given up a lot of first-inning runs throughout the year, in 52 games. In Saturday’s game alone, Tyler Anderson gave up six runs in the first inning. To be fair, there have been many games where the starter was able to bounce back and hold the opposing team, but it’s tougher for sure when there’s already a run against you so early on. This kind of problem is not insurmountable, as we have seen with the return of the Jon Gray we knew was in there. It’s just a matter of addressing and finding a way to remedy them in enough time.
Washington Nationals in discussions with former Rockies reliever Greg Holland | Denver Post ($)
Greg Holland had some amazing saves for the Rockies in 2017. Sure, he had his rough patches, but more often than not, he came through for his team. During the offseason, there was a lot of speculation around where he would go, Denver being one of the teams on that list. He ended up signing a late contract with the Cardinals, but his 7.29 ERA and continued health struggles led to his release. The Nationals have now expressed some interest in the reliever, as he has cleared waivers and they won’t have to take on his salary. It’s hard to say where he might end up, but with the Rockies’ bullpen looking like they do now, I wouldn’t mind seeing Holland back on the mound in purple.