Colorado Rockies: Recapping an ugly series in Miami

Colorado Rockies batters — SAN FRANCISCO, CA – APRIL 16: Charlie Blackmon #19 of the Colorado Rockies is being congratulated by teammate DJ LeMahieu #9 after hitting a lead-off home run during the first inning against the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park on April 16, 2017 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Stephen Lam/Getty Images)

Lack of depth

With injuries to DJ LeMahieu and Carlos Gonzalez, and facing two left-handed pitchers, the Rockies trotted out their most uninspiring lineups of the season in the two losses. For some reason, Ian Desmond (with a batting average of .188 and an OPB of .240) batted second. While he’s batted fairly well against lefties, a competitive team with playoff aspirations should not be putting the 2018 version of Ian Desmond second in the lineup (if at all).

But that just speaks to a serious issue with depth, especially against left-handed pitching. The Rockies made lefties Wei-Yin Chen and Caleb Smith look like Cy Young candidates. The five through nine spots in the lineup went 2-35 (that’s a .057 batting average) with 15 strikeouts and just one walk.

Look, I am a big fan of guys like Noel Cuevas, Pat Valaika, and Gerardo Parra. But when injuries come into play, if these are the best batters the Rockies can roll out against against left-handed pitchers, they are not going to be a playoff contender. The NL West has a lot of very good left-handed starters. Blackmon, Arenado, LeMahieu and Trevor Story can only be asked to do so much.

Meanwhile, Tom Murphy and Raimel Tapia are raking in Albuquerque. Has anyone asked if they can play first base?

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