Can the Rockies count on Jordan Lyles?

The Colorado Rockies made quick work of a new, one-year deal with Jordan Lyles to avoid arbitration. But can they count on him for their starting rotation next year?

Was Jordan Lyles better or worse than you think he was in 2014?

Certainly he was solid and worthy of the $2.475 million deal that the Rockies gave him to avoid arbitration this week, as reported by Jon Heyman and MLB.com.

Lyles is 24 years old and coming off the best season of his career. In that sense, he was a pleasant surprise last year after arriving in Colorado to the tune of collective skepticism along with Brandon Barnes in the trade that sent Dexter Fowler to the Houston Astros last winter.

More from Colorado Rockies News

• A Colorado Rockies Thanksgiving
• Colorado Rockies: Charlie Blackmon out for the season
• Colorado Rockies: Injuries shift look of roster ahead of Dodgers series
• Colorado Rockies: 3 things we appreciated from Tuesday in San Francisco
• What Bill Schmidt’s comments mean for the Colorado Rockies in 2023

On the other hand, the general sense of his success doesn’t quite match up with his actual performance last season. Lyles went 7-4 in 22 starts and 126.2 innings of work. He posted a 4.33 ERA, 4.22 FIP, and a 3.98 xFIP. Those numbers all sit somewhere around league average, and in Colorado, maybe that’s enough.

Still, as far as knee-jerk reactions are concerned, I was under the impression that Lyles was better than that. For me, the lasting impression from 2014 was that Lyles was a really solid, pleasant surprise. It’s not that the overall numbers undo that impression, but they do serve as a reality check.

At just 25 years old, Lyles seems to have his career pointed the right direction. That he turned things around upon arriving in Colorado is all the more impressive.

The question is, can you comfortably write Lyles into the starting rotation for 2015? Or should he be competing for a rotation spot with a number of guys, with a trip to Triple-A as a real possibility? As things stand now, Lyles might be a sure thing due to injuries and a general lack of depth, whether he looks good in Spring Training or not.

More from Rox Pile

• A Colorado Rockies Thanksgiving
• Colorado Rockies: What if Todd Helton had played football instead?
• Colorado Rockies: Charlie Blackmon out for the season
• Colorado Rockies: Injuries shift look of roster ahead of Dodgers series
• Colorado Rockies: Has Sean Bouchard earned a second look in 2023?

Let’s look at the following projected starting rotation:

• Jorge De La Rosa
• Jhoulys Chacin
• Tyler Matzek
• Jordan Lyles
• Christian Bergman/Eddie Butler/shoddy free agent pick-ups

While we can be happy that the Rockies locked up Lyles for a modest salary and that he appears to be a starting pitcher with a bright future, taking a look at where he stands and what he means to the Rockies also serves as a reminder that the Rockies really do need to add more starting pitching.

It feels like Lyles could go a lot of different directions next season. Hopefully he proves that 2014 was a sign of sustained improvements and not a fluke as compared to his struggles as a member of the Astros. If he does, that’s great for the Rockies. But if he starts to struggle, something that also feels like a real possibility, they will need some more options to fill out their rotation.