Colorado Rockies: Roundtable season projections and outlooks

By Aaron Hurt

Surprise Player

No question Carlos Gonzalez will be the Rockies’ biggest surprise player. For a guy who wasn’t on a team until two weeks before the season, he is relieved to be back in a Rockies uniform. He should bounce back because contract talks will no longer be a distraction. He knows he’s lucky to back in Denver and I believe his carefree attitude will help him tremendously.

Disappointing Player

For those that have been following my articles, the obvious prediction for disappointing player is Ian Desmond, but that’s the easy way out. I will take some heat for this but I’m predicting that Wade Davis will be a disappointment in 2018. He is replacing the Rockies’ single season save leader after signing the largest contract ever for a reliever. That is a lot to live up to. My biggest concern is his nasty curveball won’t adjust to Coors Field. Much like the late Darryl Kile, Wade’s curve will hang in the rarified air in Denver and could lead to a lot of blown saves. I hope I am wrong.

Buyers/Sellers

The Rockies will be big trade partners no matter their record in July. They have a lot of expiring contracts that will be moved, most likely DJ LeMahieu and Gerardo Parra. As long as the young rotation pitches well and Trevor Story and Carlos Gonzalez have bounce-back years, they should be buyers.

Final Prediction 

With a lot of question marks, I haven’t gotten a good feel for how 2018 will go. I do believe that the Dodger and D-Backs will come back to the pack because of some of their departures this offseason but the Giants and Padres got better. That said, I’m predicting 85-77 for third in the West but missing out of the Wild Card by four games.