Colorado Rockies: The bullpen is nothing to worry about – yet

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The $18 million elephant in the room is Wade Davis. His ERA is 11.57 in 9.1 innings pitched since June 12. But much of that damage was done in his disastrous meltdowns against the Padres on June 14 and 16, when he was bitten by the same bug as every other pitcher at Coors Field. Since then, he’s given up zero earned runs in five of six appearances, the glaring exception June 27 versus the Dodgers when he gave up four runs and a three-run dinger to Kike Hernandez that sealed a brutal 12-8 loss.

Closers are always the victims of selection bias, and a few rough outings cratered Davis’s reputation among many Rockies fans. Davis is bound to blow another save, but expect him to be more reliable than not, especially if he can rediscover a small part of his once-lethal command.

And finally, look at the bullpen just a season ago. Rockies relievers went through an atrocious stretch from June 1-28, 2018, posting a 7.86 ERA, by far the worst in baseball. But after that, the bullpen recovered for a 3.65 ERA (and a more impressive 3.59 FIP), seventh in baseball and fourth in the National League.

That kind of bounce-back might be a lot to ask from this bullpen, especially as more is asked of relievers while the rotation struggles to turn in quality starts. But the bullpen will recover from another June Swoon and adjust to pitching on hot summer nights at Coors Field. Hopefully that means the team can address more pressing issues at hand.