Colorado Rockies: They can’t put stress on the bullpen this early

Since I have been writing the last couple of months for the Rox Pile and reading all of our writers hard work, I have noticed something.  It looks like I have taken on the role as the Rox Pile’s resident Negative Nancy.

That may come as a bit of a shock for those that know me (doubtful).  After criticizing Desmond’s bad spring training, jumping on Story for his strike outs, raising concerns about CarGo’s slow start, and being one of the few of our writers who didn’t predict a playoff appearance, being Debbie Downer has become one of my job descriptions.

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Baseball is a game of streaks and slumps and being the pessimist that I am, I tend to focus on the slumps and I love to nitpick.  That being said, it’s time for another edition of what is keeping me awake at night about the 2018 Colorado Rockies.

The powers that be did not do the Rockies any favors when it comes to the schedule.  After opening with a three game series in Arizona, they were given the odd Sunday off day.  Now the Rockies are in the beginning of a grueling stretch of 17 games in 17days, including 11 on the road.

The amount of games in a row is not what is concerning.  The worry is the stress that could/will be put on the bullpen during this stretch of 17 games.

Besides the back-to-back great starts by Jon Gray and Tyler Anderson, the starting pitching staff hasn’t done the ‘pen any favors.  The longest outing before those two starts was the 5 1/3 innings by Kyle Freeland on Tuesday night against the Padres.

This has already put a lot of innings on the arms of the bullpen.  In the first 8 games, the bullpen has already pitched 29 2/3 innings with an ERA of 4.85. That ERA is skewed by two rough outings on the road.

Being so early, the arms are still fresh but the Rockies starting staff needs to go deeper into games to limit fatigue later on in the season.  The back end of the pen was paid a lot of money to handle the stress but Bud Black would rather use them when he wants to, not when he needs to.

Next: The Rockies were frozen on Opening Day in more ways than one

On a positive note, the 4-3 road trip was a great way start off season and Adam Ottavino has been absolutely filthy in his four appearances. Now, the Rockies just have to take advantage of playing at Coors.