Colorado Rockies: Which players should be on the All-Decade Team?

Outfield

The first two selections for the three-man outfield is a no-brainer: Charlie Blackmon and Carlos Gonzalez. Chuck Nazty and CarGo put up ridiculous numbers over the course of the last 10 years, but the decision for the final outfielder is rather difficult.

Four decent seasons of Dexter Fowler, three mediocre seasons of Gerardo Parra, or two and half good seasons of Michael Cuddyer.  The decision goes to Cuddyer because it is difficult to pass on his 2013 season in which he won a batting title swatting .331/.389/.530 with 20 HR, 84 RBI, and 74 runs scored.

Colorado Rockies

Starting rotation

This decades’ rotation can’t start without the franchise leader in wins Jorge De La Rosa. In nine seasons with the Rockies, De La Rosa won 86 games, including 60 this decade. That also includes his 2013 season in which he went 16-6 with a 3.49 ERA.

Like most future Rockies “aces” of the rotation, Jhoulys Chacin showed a lot of potential early on but never could sustain it. Chacin had three good seasons with the Rockies but also three bad ones mixed in. A 38-48 record in 109 starts with a 3.78 ERA isn’t the greatest of stats but on a good day, he was a difficult pitcher to hit.

He only pitched in one and a half seasons for the Rockies this decade, but Ubaldo Jimenez‘s 2010 was so masterful that he can’t be excluded from this list.  In 2010, he went 19-8 with a 2.88 ERA, finishing third in the Cy Young voting, was the starter in the All-Star game, and threw the only no-hitter in franchise history. He was traded to Cleveland midway through the next season but it is still the greatest season by a Colorado pitcher.

Jon Gray hasn’t become the “ace” they envisioned when they selected him third overall in the 2013 draft out of Oklahoma but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been good enough to make the list. In five seasons, the “Gray Wolf” has gone 43-33 in 114 starts with a 4.46 ERA with 670 strikeouts in 641.1 innings.

To round out the starting five, the decision came down to German Marquez and Kyle Freeland.  Marquez has been more consistent in his four seasons over Freeland’s three, but like Ubaldo’s 2010, it is difficult to overlook what Freeland did in 2018. A 17-7 record and a franchise-best 2.85 ERA with a fourth-place finish in the Cy Young voting is to good not to give Freeland the nod.