Colorado Rockies: 5 storylines that will make or break the 2022 season

Can the Rockies starting rotation stay healthy?

In 2019 and 2021, the Colorado Rockies were not a good baseball team. The strengths in their last two full seasons have been their starting rotation. But of their starters, how many seasons have they had 30+ starts? One. That’s it. One. That came with Germán Márquez in 2021 with his 32 starts. He faltered down the stretch too (a 6.12 ERA after the All-Star break).

They need to get 120-130 starts from Márquez, Kyle Freeland, Antonio Senzatela, and Austin Gomber. They don’t have the depth right now to weather an injury to one of them, let alone two or three.

Perhaps, Chad Kuhl will step up or Peter Lambert or Ryan Rolison will step after they are healthy again and off the IL. However, if they are in contention, the rotation might be something that they should look at addressing before the trade deadline.

Will the Rockies bullpen be serviceable?

From the start of the season through July 31, the Rockies bullpen had an ERA of 5.40, which was dead last in baseball.

From August 1 through the end of the season, they had an ERA of 4.17, which was 17th. It’s part of the reason why the Rockies went .500 in that span (28-28). Ideally, they will be even better than that in both areas but it’s a step in the right direction.

Alex Colomé should help with this at the end of the bullpen but they need a lot of their guys to pitch well, as they did at the end of the season.