The 2014 Colorado Rockies: What to cheer against

Cheer against being average

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Ultimately the problem for the Rockies is that they are in the dreaded middle ground of Major League Baseball. Things aren’t so hopeless that they feel the need to tear things down and start over, but they don’t really have realistic hopes of contending either. That has been bearing itself out with the recent Ervin Santana rumors. The Rockies aren’t so bad that it’s a ridiculous idea to sign him, but they aren’t contenders in a way that it makes sense to throw down the cheddar and the draft pick to go “all in” and pursue him.

Not all .500 seasons are created equal; it is acceptable when there is a sense of forward momentum. It is not acceptable when it just feels like another disappointing outcome. It is completely different for, say, the Houston Astros to go .500 than it is for the Rockies. The presence of guys like Michael Cuddyer, Justin Morneau, and Jorge De La Rosa, not to mention the contracts of Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez, create enough urgency to win now that crawling back up to an average .500 season does not feel like much of an accomplishment.

I am not going to go so far as to say that I want the Rockies to fail spectacularly if they aren’t going to be a playoff team, but we at least have to start questioning whether that would be a good thing or a bad thing at this point. The Rockies probably need to either win now or acknowledge the signals that this isn’t working and that they need to change course. Otherwise they will just keep running in place.