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Colorado Rockies: Checking on their NL West foes’ pitching rotations

By Colin Gaiser

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - SEPTEMBER 03: Madison Bumgarner #40 of the San Francisco Giants pitches against the St. Louis Cardinals in the top of the first inning at AT&T Park on September 3, 2017 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - SEPTEMBER 03: Madison Bumgarner #40 of the San Francisco Giants pitches against the St. Louis Cardinals in the top of the first inning at AT&T Park on September 3, 2017 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /
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SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA – MARCH 07: Zack Greinke #21 of the Arizona Diamondbacks throws a warm up pitch during the spring training game against the Cleveland Indians at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick on March 07, 2019 in Scottsdale, Arizona. (Photo by Jennifer Stewart/Getty Images)
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA – MARCH 07: Zack Greinke #21 of the Arizona Diamondbacks throws a warm up pitch during the spring training game against the Cleveland Indians at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick on March 07, 2019 in Scottsdale, Arizona. (Photo by Jennifer Stewart/Getty Images) /

A few weeks ago, I compared the Colorado Rockies’ starting rotation with the Los Angeles Dodgers’ but today, we will take a look at the Rockies other NL West rivals

I’ll leave my look at the Rockies’ and Dodgers’ starting pitchers in that analysis but for now, it’s time to dive into the other rotations in the evolving landscape that is the National League West.

Arizona Diamondbacks

2018 Starters: 3.83 ERA (9th), 3.82 FIP, 5.69 innings/game

Key additions: Merrill Kelly (from the Korean Baseball Organization), Luke Weaver

Key subtractions: Clay Buchholz, Patrick Corbin, Shelby Miller

Current depth chart: Zack Greinke, Zack Godley, Robbie Ray, Luke Weaver, Merrill Kelly

The D-Backs will regress in 2019 after the front office sucked some life out of the Chase Field dungeon and sent away Paul Goldschmidt and Patrick Corbin. With Clay Buchholz going to the Blue Jays, Arizona’s two best pitchers by ERA are gone, leaving Zack Godley, Robbie Ray and Zack Greinke as the foundation of this rotation.

Plenty of organizations would envy that trio. Ray had a 2.83 ERA in his final 13 starts of 2018 after a few months on the disabled list. Godley could be lethal if he recovers his 2017 form (when he had a 3.37 ERA and a 26.3 percent strikeout rate) , and Greinke continues to age gracefully and baffle everyone not named Trevor Story (you can check out his numbers against Greinke here).

But the rest of the rotation is where things get dicey. Luke Weaver struggled with the Cardinals in 2018 (4.95 ERA, 2.24 strikeouts-to-walk ratio) while Taijuan Wakjer is back on the 60-day IL. Merrill Kelly is the great unknown of this rotation – he posted a strong 3.80 ERA over three seasons in the hitter-friendly KBO but is having an uneven spring.

Matt Koch will probably get some starts, but the guy had an ERA of 4.68 as a starter last year and an abysmal FIP of 6.45 and an OPS of .872 against him.

Bottom line, the depth just is not there anymore for the Diamondbacks. Any injury to one of the key guys in the rotation and the Snakes will have a hard time slithering out of trouble.

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