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

San Francisco Giants

2018 Starters: 4.06 ERA (15th), 4.21 FIP, 5.50 innings/game

Key additions: Drew Pomeranz

Key subtractions: None

Current depth chart: Madison Bumgarner, Dereck Rodríguez, Derek Holland, Chris Stratton, Andrew Suárez, Jeff Samardzija, Drew Pomeranz

The same pitching staff from 2018 will return, with the addition of old friend Drew Pomeranz who hopes to bounce back to his All-Star form. But the quality of Madison Bumagrner – who will turn 30 in August – remains the nagging question, even if he stays off the dirt bike. Opponents slugged .571 against his fastball in 2018, and when he increased his curveball usage his numbers suffered across the board. There will be a lot of pressure on Mad Bum going into a contract year.

Unfortunately, Johnny Cueto might as well be a “key subtraction” – he is not expected to pitch until late in the season, after last year’s Tommy John surgery followed three years of pitching with “pain that felt like someone stuck a knife in my elbow and stabbed it over and over again.” Yikes. Get well soon, Johnny.

But the Giants have a sneaky amount of depth at the pitcher position – you just have to look beyond the uninspiring Derek Holland, Chris Stratton, Jeff Samardzija and Andrew Suarez.

It sounds like Dereck Rodriguez “will be one of the five” after a breakout 2018 (2.81 ERA and 1.13 WHIP in 19 starts ) and an encouraging spring. Top pitching prospect Shaun Anderson could make his first big-league start if he pitches well in the minors. And while Tyler Beede’s cup of coffee in 2018 was pretty bitter, his simplified approach and increased velocity has people impressed at Giants camp.

The poor Giants staff won’t get much run support from a woeful offense, and that will mean some very low-scoring outings at Oracle Park this year. But Rodríguez could garner national attention, and Pomeranz could easily rebound after a miserable 2018.

San Diego Padres

2018 Starters: 5.09 ERA (27th), 4.71 FIP, 5.07 innings/game

Key additions: Garrett Richards

Key subtractions: Clayton Richard

Current depth chart: Joey Lucchesi, Eric Lauer, Robbie Erlin, Jacob Nix, Chris Paddack, Bryan Mitchell, Brett Kennedy

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The Blue Jays acquired Clayton Richard (who had the most 2018 starts in San Diego with 27) and Friars faithful are probably relieved – Richard had a woeful 5.33 ERA and ratio of 1.8 strikeouts-per-walk. The only external acquisition was Garrett Richards from the Angels, who has great stuff but is coming off Tommy John surgery and will possibly make his Padres debut later this season.

So, the Padres will suffer through another year of subpar starting pitching. Joey Lucchessi had an acceptable rookie campaign – 4.08 ERA, 4.31 FIP and a 26.5 percent strikeout rate – but he is hardly inspiring as the number-one guy in the rotation. Then there’s Jacob Nix (another rookie) who was mostly dreadful in his nine starts last year – 7.02 ERA, 1.54 WHIP and a 4.5 K/9 rate, the lowest of any NL pitcher who threw at least 40 innings.

Eric Lauer might be more promising. His introduction to the big leagues was rough – 7.67 ERA and .408 BABIP in his first seven starts – but Lauer posted a 3.17 ERA and .301 BABIP in his final 16 starts. According to Baseball Prospectus, Lauer mixed in a cutter and changed the grip on his slider, giving him a “more well-rounded arsenal that gives hitters a greater variety of looks to stew over.” He could end up at the top of the depth chart later on.

But the Padres finished with a very different rotation in 2018 than they started with – heck, Jordan Lyles made eight starts for them – and we can expect the same in 2019. San Diego has a tremendous farm system which could send some younger arms into the mix, especially as the team hopes to break out in upcoming seasons. Chris Paddack is impressing in the Cactus League and could quickly crack the rotation, possibly being an Opening Day starter.

Sure, this rotation won’t be scary in 2019. But the Padres might give us glimpses of a very promising future – another reason why the Rockies need to get everything they can out of their current contention window.