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Seeking the bright side after a tough road trip for the Colorado Rockies

By Hayden Kane |
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Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

This past week was disastrous for the Colorado Rockies.

There is no way around it. There is very little to point to in terms of things that went well. Every area of the team struggled at various turns of a trip through Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Cleveland that ended with a 2-7 record.

That leaves the Rockies with a 12-21 record away from Coors Field so far this season. They have been outscored by a -25 differential in those games. This past weekend, the starting pitchers for the Cleveland Indians combined for 28 strikeouts in three games. In the meantime, the starting pitching for the Rockies was just flat-out bad and the bullpen gagged away multiple tight games in the final innings.

Colorado’s record for the season stands at 28-28. There is certainly cause for pause as we consider the prospects for a team that had our hopes up just recently. Thanks in part to the ridiculous play of the San Francisco Giants, the Rockies now find themselves 8.5 games out of first place. Things will only get more difficult in the NL West when the Los Angeles Dodgers heat up (and yes, I typed “when” and not “if” in that sentence).

Does this mean the Rockies stink? No. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle, as they say; they probably are not elite on the level that they showed in April and they probably are not door mats like they were this past week. But this losing stretch certainly threw some ice water on the excitement surrounding 2014.

It is easy, and perfectly understandable, to take this opportunity to point at everything that is wrong with the Rockies. But how about the bright side? Let’s give that a shot and try to focus on ways that things will still get better for the Rockies.

Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

1. The absurdity of the Jeff Samardzija trade discussions, exposed

You know what’s cool? Keeping your top pitching prospects, especially when one of them (Jon Gray) has the ceiling of a true, legit ace.

You know what’s not cool? Making knee-jerk reactions and trading those prospects for a guy who has never been an ace but is off to a hot start this season, not to mention a guy would never, ever, ever sign with the Rockies beyond 2015.

You know what is even less cool than that last not-cool thing? Trading the best pitching prospect in team history for 1.5 years of a number-two/number-three starter, only to finish 10 games behind the Giants and Dodgers this season anyway.

You know what’s cool? Resisting the temptation to impose the mentality of the Denver Broncos, a team that has decided that they must win now because they have Peyton Manning, onto the Rockies because they have Troy Tulowitzki. That’s not how baseball works. Also, Tulo is under team control through 2020 and, you know, he’s not 39 years old and on the verge of retirement.

Look, I’m never going to celebrate a losing streak, but I hope we all learned our lesson. Don’t overreact to hot starts and don’t feed the Denver Post’s resident troll.

Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

2. Pitching help is on the way…seriously

The starting rotation and the bullpen for the Rockies are an absolute mess (not necessarily in that order). There are options to improve the pitching staff, both in the minor leagues and guys who will come off the disabled list between now and the All-Star break and beyond. While we don’t know who will be able to help and who won’t, the good news is that the Rockies have a long list of options to bolster their staff.

This starts with the guys who can help the rotation:

When that help arrives it also stands to improve the bullpen. Juan Nicasio may or may not find himself making that switch. Franklin Morales, maddening though he has been, can help as a reliever. There is even the outside possibility that the young guys could start their big league careers in the ‘pen.

There are still big questions, but the Rockies will at least have options to change things up and hopefully improve on the mound.

Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

3. The Rockies have played 10 more games on the road than they have at home

Look, I have no allusions about where this Rockies team stands after this recent road trip. They have no answers on offense when they are away from Coors Field, they have no answers for approximately 2.5 spots in their rotation, and they have no answers anywhere in the bullpen. There is a lot to worry about.

But here’s a way to spin the Rockies’ 28-28 record that is not entirely unreasonable: to have a .500 record at this point after playing 33 games on the road and 23 at home is actually a good sign. Sure, it is propped up by a 16-7 record in LoDo. Of course, the Rockies need to play much better next time they are on the road.

At the same time, wins at Coors Field count the same as those on the road. The Rockies certainly won’t keep winning at their current clip at home, and they face tough tests in the Dodgers and Braves on the home stand that is about to start. But if they can piece together one more dominant stretch at Coors Field, it could at least buy them time as they try to figure out how the heck to even resemble a competent team on the road.

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