Colorado Rockies: They need to get another starter by the end of August

DENVER, CO - OCTOBER 01: Antonio Senzatela #49 of the Colorado Rockies pitches during a regular season MLB game between the Colorado Rockies and the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers at Coors Field on October 1, 2017 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Russell Lansford/Getty Images)
DENVER, CO - OCTOBER 01: Antonio Senzatela #49 of the Colorado Rockies pitches during a regular season MLB game between the Colorado Rockies and the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers at Coors Field on October 1, 2017 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Russell Lansford/Getty Images)

The Colorado Rockies starting rotation has been one of the strongest components of their team this season but it has become obvious of late that they need another starter.

As our own Jake Shapiro noted on Twitter last night after the Rockies 7-5 loss to the Cardinals after Antonio Senzatela was shelled for 10 hits and 7 runs (all earned) in 4 1/3 innings, the Rockies have a big disparity between their top three starters (Kyle Freeland, Jon Gray, and German Marquez) and their bottom three starters (Senzatela, Tyler Anderson, and Chad Bettis) as of late.

With that, there’s less than a week until the waiver trade deadline on August 31 and entering play on Saturday, the Rockies are only one game back in both the NL West and the NL Wild Card so both are definitely within grasp in the next 4+ weeks of play.

That’s why for both the rest of the regular season and the postseason, the Rockies need to acquire another starter, both to lengthen their starting staff as well as provide some help for the bullpen in the postseason (assuming they make it) as any of Anderson, Senzatela, or Bettis could provide the Rockies with another long reliever in the postseason.

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Some options that could be on the market are Derek Holland of the Giants, Gio Gonzalez of the Nationals, Marco Estrada of the Blue Jays, Andrew Cashner, and Alex Cobb who are both with the Orioles.

For all of those options (and there are plenty more), they are all free agents at the end of the season so the Rockies could get a starter for as little as a waiver claim and the team lets them go (like what the Padres did when the Cardinals claimed Tyson Ross off waivers). The maximum would be a lower level prospect, a player to be named later, and/or cash.

If they were to decide to go with a guy with more control, obviously, the situation would become a little bit more complicated but either way, the Rockies have an issue that can easily be solved on the cheap, so they need to pounce on it.

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