Rex Brothers: a Risk Well Worth Taking for the Rockies

Rex Brothers is back with the Colorado Rockies on a one-year deal, with the team sincerely hoping for a big turnaround in 2015.

This one’s on me, guys. I will at least take my portion of the blame for the Rex Brothers meltdown last season.

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I was all kinds of excited about Brothers before the 2014 season started. I figured it was only a matter of time until he was the closer with LaTroy Hawkins serving as the setup man. I truly thought he was going to be a difference maker in a bullpen that I thought was going to be good.

Yep. Error on the author on that one, but I know I’m not the only one.

So now what for Rex? The Rockies brought him back on a one-year deal this week for $1.4 million to avoid arbitration (as reported by MLB.com). Even if he is a disaster, that number is perfectly reasonable.

Hopefully he’s not a disaster, of course.

There are more questions than answers with Rex Brothers. We know that. Will he be a long reliever this season? Is that a terrible fit? Will he ever be suited for high leverage situations in 2015? Will he ever find the strike zone again?

The amazing thing about Rex Brothers is that he provides all of us with the opportunity to learn how to be pitching coaches. You can see him guiding the ball instead of throwing it. You can see his stride getting out of kilter and his shoulder flying open.

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A couple awkward deliveries, and you know that outing is not going to go well for Brothers.

The numbers tell a depressing story for Brothers in 2014: 74 appearances, 5.59 ERA, a career-high 39 walks issued, and a career low 8.8 K/9.

Hey, at least he was durable, right? It just had to be Brothers and Franklin Morales who were the models of durability over the course of the 2014 season, didn’t it?

Here’s the bottom line, at least the way I see it: left-handed pitchers who can run it up there in the mid-90’s are going to get plenty of chances to turn things around, no matter how badly they struggle. There’s a good reason for that: if a pitcher like Rex Brothers gets right, he is an absolute weapon out of the bullpen.

The Rockies are right to keep giving Brothers the chance to get his game back on track. The main question for them will be what role to give Brothers in 2015. Will he make enough of an impression in Spring Training that he is thrust back into a role as a setup man? Will the Rockies feel comfortable using him as anything other than a LOOGY? Is the idea of using him in long relief one that will gain momentum?

Those are the uncertainties, but one thing is clear: Rex Brothers is going to be in the mix in the bullpen for the foreseeable future for the Rockies, for better or for worse.

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