Colorado Rockies Rundown: Minors, Prospects, End Of Year

Jul 24, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Rockies starting pitcher E. Butler (31) trips over third base in the fifth inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

Is there any hope for Eddie Butler?

(via Minor League Ball)

This piece is about fantasy primarily, but these two paragraphs (while fairly sabermetric-heavy) should be something familiar to you:

"Well there’s no real way to spin Eddie Butler’s troubles into something positive. Through 16 major league starts this year he went 3-10 with a 5.90 ERA. The traditional stats were not a fluke as his FIP was just as bad as the ERA at 5.91. His K/BB ratio was poor at 44/42 and he gave up 102 hits in 79 innings. He also made 11 starts for Triple-A Albuquerque in the Pacific Coast League and was hit hard there too, with a 5.40 ERA and a 37/25 K/BB in 63 innings, 71 hits allowed. Was this just a thin air curse?. In the unfriendly confines of Coors Field he ran up a 6.22 FIP and a 5.33 xFIP. He was slightly less horrible on the road at 5.72 and 5.11 but that’s still very weak sauce. As noted he was not much better in Triple-A and while it is true the PCL isn’t an easy place to pitch, he did nothing there to make anyone think he would do much better in a different environment."

[ Poll: Will the Colorado Rockies finally commit to re-building this winter? ]

We’ve written a lot about Butler here, and I just can’t see a path to him getting significantly better next year — of course, saying that, I remember that I said the same thing about Chad Bettis, and he certainly became a better pitcher in his third year of Major League experience so… surprise us, Eddie!

Whatever’s happening in the future, though, Eddie is absolutely on the outside looking in as far as the rotation is concerned for 2016, and I don’t see any way he starts the year in the big leagues, unless he truly has an unbelievable Spring Training.

Next: Bye Bye, Coors Field