Colorado Rockies Make Wrong Decision with Jeff Hoffman

The Colorado Rockies have decided to move starter Jeff Hoffman to the bullpen for the rest of the season. In his place to start will be German Marquez, who is slated to start tomorrow against the St. Louis Cardinals. Hoffman didn’t have great numbers as a starter, but this decision is another pitching gaffe which has haunted this team in 2016.

Nick Kosmider of the Denver Post reported this move last night, and manager Walt Weiss‘ reasoning for this move is to “protect some innings” and for Jeff Hoffman to “work on some things in the bullpen”.

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“We’re looking at Hoffman a lot like we did Jon Gray last year, where we’re trying to protect some innings,” Weiss said via Kosmider. “It’s his first full season pitching after Tommy John (surgery). He had that two years ago, but this is his first full season. We’re aware of that. He’s going to work on some things in the bullpen.”

Let me get this straight – I HATE this move. Sure, Hoffman is 0-4 with a 6.04 ERA in five starts. He has struggled mightily in keeping his pitching command in check. However, pitching in the big leagues is not easy for any pitcher, let alone a rookie who is learning on the fly.

I understand the reasoning, and I totally get it why they are being cautious with him like they were with Gray in 2015. However, the best place for Hoffman to continue his development is as a starter, not in the bullpen.

The Rockies are not going to the playoffs. If he continues to scuffle then so be it. It won’t be costing them a playoff berth. He will get much better experience and a better look at “working on some things” if he remains as a starter, where he has several innings to work on his pitches, or his command, or to make adjustments to a hitter the second and third time around in a game.

He will not get these things pitching just 1-2 innings each appearance. If they are worried about his workload, then bring back the piggyback system and pull him out after 75 pitches, no matter how he is doing.

Don’t worry, I’m just kidding on this one…

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Five innings of work is more worthwhile to Hoffman at this point in his development than throwing him out there in high or low-leverage situations which will not be his role in 2017. He could be setup to work on his fastball command (for example) in one start, and perhaps his off-speed command in another start and see how it all shakes out at the end of the season.

Based on how he did in his last 2-3 starts, this information could be gathered and a plan for 2017 could be implemented to turn him into a vital rotation piece next season.

But by placing him in a needless bullpen role, all of this work will now have to be done on the side or in bullpen sessions, which just wastes valuable time on the mound over multiple innings, which is what he needs to aid in his MLB development. At this stage, he has just thrown 22 1/3 MLB innings.

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This was a bad move, Colorado. Let’s hope this doesn’t set Hoffman back in his growth going into an important 2017 season. Remember, 2017 is being seen as a potential playoff season for the Rockies.