Colorado Rockies: Jon Gray is not the only one at fault

Yesterday, Jon Morosi of MLB.com and MLB Network published an article talking about how the NL West is wide open. One person that he spoke to for the article was Jeff Bridich, the Rockies general manager. He called out Rockies “ace” Jon Gray for his inconsistent start to 2018 but to find the person who is at fault for the Rockies being under .500 nearly half way into June, it’s not just Jon Gray

Since May 30, the Colorado Rockies have gone 2-9 and as a result, they have dropped from first place in the NL West to fourth place. Quite frankly, with the way they have been playing in 2018 thus far, it was amazing that the Rockies were in first place at all.

When the pitching staff was doing it’s job, the offense couldn’t hit their way out of a paper bag. Now that the offense is picking it up, the pitching (and particularly the bullpen) can’t keep the ball in the ballpark and when they do, they are still getting pounded.

Jeff Bridich spoke to Jon Morosi of MLB.com and MLB Network about the teams inconsistencies, including the bullpen among other things. But his most intriguing part was on Jon Gray.

He had this to say about Gray to Morosi:

“When he’s been good, he’s been really good. When he’s been bad, it’s been tough to watch,’ Bridich said. ‘We need him to step up. This is his third full season at this level. There are still lessons he’s learning. But he’s no longer a young kid in this league, at this level. He needs to step up, and we need to help him find a way to become more consistent.” “I’m not sure there’s a ton left for him — if anything — [to learn] at the Triple-A level. If at some point it becomes obvious he would need a mental breather, physical breather, or both, that would be an option. But the hurdles are here. He’s got to figure this out at this level. That’s just the way it is. It’s where he’s at in his career.”

Should they be more consistent like they are capable of? Absolutely. Jon Gray looks like he isn’t confident in his pitching as after last night’s loss to the Phillies, he drops to 6-7 with a 5.68 ERA. Bryan Shaw still has not shown any signs of being able to consistently record outs.

Granted, the Rockies have suffered numerous injuries to players like DJ LeMahieu, Adam Ottavino, David Dahl, and Mike Dunn, among others, but that still doesn’t excuse the whole team being so inconsistent.

But who is the person who believed that the Rockies starting pitching staff would be a playoff worthy rotation and expected Jon Gray to anchor that rotation? Jeff Bridich.

Obviously, it would be nice to believe that Jon Gray could develop into an ace but he has shown with his results that he can’t. He doesn’t look he is confident enough to be an ace either. Really, you could see it when he started for the Rockies in the Wild Card game last year.

Also, if you just look at this year’s group of players, or roster composition of the current Rockies, there are many questionable moves by Bridich.

Who resigned Carlos Gonzalez after a bad season in 2017, who has improved lately but still playing well below league average?

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Who signed Ian Desmond to play a position that he had never played in his life for five years and $75 million?

Who signed Bryan Shaw?

Gerardo Parra?

Mike Dunn?

Resigned Jake McGee (who has been doing better than the other relievers but that’s not saying much)?

Chris Iannetta?

Who didn’t get another starter, one that was a veteran?

Who didn’t sign somebody to help out the bench, particularly a veteran, instead relying on Pat Valaika, Tony Wolters, Mike Tauchman, and Ryan McMahon?

All were Jeff Bridich.

Let’s look back even further, though. In fact, let’s look back to Bridich’s entire tenure as general manager.

In his first season as manager, in 2015, Bridich traded LaTroy Hawkins and the Rockies franchise player, Troy Tulowitzki, for Jesus Tinoco, Miguel Castro, Jeff Hoffman, and Jose Reyes. Only Tinoco and Hoffman are still in the Rockies organization.

Tinoco is 18-20 with a 5.55 ERA between Single-A, Advanced-A, Double-A. Hoffman has had limited success in the majors thus far between parts of three seasons (including this year).

Tulo has been injured for most of his tenure with the Blue Jays but I think that it’s safe to say that, as of now, neither team has been successful with that trade.

He drafted Brendan Rodgers in the 2015 draft so, obviously, the jury is still out on that. There are some players in that draft who came after Rodgers that have been successful in the majors already but they have all been college players and Rodgers was not, as he was in high school.

Bridich also traded away Tommy Kahnle for Yency Almonte. Kahnle has struggled this year but in 2016 and 2017, he had an ERA of 2.60 in 98 games split between the White Sox and Yankees.

Betwen 2015 and 2016, Jason Motte signed as a free agent and that didn’t work out (4.94 ERA). He also signed Chad Qualls, who also didn’t work out (5.29 ERA).

He did sign Mark Reynolds, which was a pretty good signing (2.4 WAR in two seasons).

He also traded Corey Dickerson for German Marquez and Jake McGee, which was a pretty good trade.

He later picked up Tony Wolters off waivers from the Indians.