The Rockies believe in Tyler Chatwood; should they?

Tyler Chatwood will be back with the Colorado Rockies on a two-year deal after the right-handed pitcher avoided arbitration this week.

It’s not clear when Tyler Chatwood will pitch for the Rockies again after he underwent season-ending Tommy John surgery in 2014. What is clear is the fact that we have not seen the last of Chatwood in Colorado.

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The Rockies avoided arbitration with Chatwood this week, agreeing to terms on a two-year deal. Essentially, that means that the Rockies are paying for 2016 now, as Chatwood will miss most of if not the entirety of the 2015 season.

That means that the Rockies still see reason to believe in Tyler Chatwood despite the fact that the last time we saw him pitch well was during the 2013 season.

All told, the deal is quite affordable for the Rockies.

It’s not just that Chatwood pitched well in 2013, posting an 8-5 record with a 3.15 ERA and 3.66 FIP. It’s the fact that he did it with an astounding 58.5% groundball percentage that season.

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That 58.5 GB% in 111.1 innings in 2014 followed a 56.3 GB% in 2013. Insofar as the Rockies are still pursuing the idea that they need to pitch to contact and build a staff full of sinker-ballers and groundball pitchers, they just cannot quit Tyler Chatwood.

The Rockies may or may not be helping themselves by obsessing over groundball pitchers, something Eric Garcia McKinley noted in an excellent piece this weekend over at Purple Row. In that sense, hopefully the Rockies believe in Chatwood’s talent and his ability to bounce back at 26 years old in 2016 rather than just obsessing over the fact he got a bunch of ground balls a couple years ago.

Here’s the bottom line for me: Chatwood was the best starting pitcher for the Rockies at stretches during 2013. The odds of him being that guy in 2016 are low, especially coming off a second Tommy John operation, but isn’t it worth a $1 million dart-throw to find out? For a team that is always starving for good starting pitching, this deal could be a huge bargain.

Chatwood has a career 4.43 ERA. He made his Major League debut in 2011 with the Los Angeles Angels and he has been with the Rockies since 2012.