Twenty four seasons as a franchise, and the Rockies have only been over .500 seven times, in the postseason 3 times, and never have had a team ERA under 4.20. However, they haven’t hit below .265 as a team since the 2011 season. Being in the National League, pitching is the key to winning and reaching the postseason. Even struggling with hitting, if an NL team has strong pitching, they will most likely play in October. The AL, on the other hand, is almost the opposite; this season being evidence of that, as the power hitting of Texas and Boston gained them enetrance into the Postseason. So, in order for Colorado to turn their franchise around, they need to pitch.
As the past few years have indicated, bullpen is key to winning in the postseason. Former Padres manager, Bud Black, is one of the great pitching/bullpen connoisseurs in the game today. With the manager slot open in Colorado, and the Rockies having no problem producing runs, hiring Black could be the move that changes the franchise. When Black was the Padres manager, the bullpen had the lowest ERA 3 times, and the pitching staff as a whole had an ERA below 4 five times, including leading the NL in the category twice. However, his team lacked offensive production. Imagine if Black had great offensive support for his pitching staff.
The Rockies clearly can score big, so Black wouldn’t have to worry about that, however, Bud, no matter how good he is with a pitching staff, would have to do some work to get Colorado to a point where their pitching can make a difference. But, luckily the Rockies finally have an abundance of young arms that are ready to shine; they just need a brilliant mind to get them there.
Bud Black won a Wordl Series ring with the Angels in 2002 whose pitching staff had an average age of 28, and Black helped a young John Lackey have a great rookie campaign and Jered Washburn win 18 games in his second full season as a starter. As a well known players manager, Black is certainly one of the best available guys to sculpt the young arms of pitchers like Jon Gray, Eddie Butler, German Marquez, etc.
For maybe the first time in Rockies history, there is an abundance of pitching talent in their farm system that is major league ready. Guys like Jeff Hoffman, Kyle Freeland, and Antonio Senzatela could all impact the major league squad in 17′ while joining rising stars in Tyler Chatwood and Chad Bettis. There have been talks of selling and trading this offseason for Colorado, but why do that when the Rockies have young studs in Trevor Story and David Dahl, veteran stars in Cargo, LeMahieu, and Arenado, already mentioned promising young pitching, and a great ball park with a supporting fan base. All they need now is a manager; and like the baseball world has seen before, Colorado cant keep up in the playoff race late in the season because either the manager miss manages the pitching staff or the staff doesn’t have enough talent, so why not give them promise and hire Bud Black?
