2008 Colorado Rockies Baseball Preview

It was an exciting drive to the finish last season as the Colorado Rockies (90- 73) managed to earn the Wild Card spot and go all the way to the World Series where the Boston Red Sox swept them. Doing that again will be, if not impossible.

Colorado’s present rotation is good but perhaps not good enough. Lefty Jeff Francis (17-9, 4.22 ERA, 165 SO) is the most accomplished starter on the staff. He has two and four seam fastballs, a sweeping curve and an effective changeup. Righty Aaron Cook (8- 7, 4.12 ERA, 61 SO) is a tough sinkerball pitcher. If he can stay healthy, he’ll contribute more than he did last season. Ubalo Jimenez (4- 4, 4.28 ERA, 68 SO) is a young pitcher with a lot of potential. His fastball runs from 94- 99 mph. His arsenal includes a power slider and curveball. The bullpen features Manny Corpas (4- 2, 2.06 ERA, 19 SV, 58 SO) and Brian Fuentes (3- 5, 3.08 ERA, 20 SV, 56 SO). Fuentes is the setup guy, while Corpas is a two-pitch closer.

The club led the league in batting average (.280). Left fielder Matt Holliday (.340 BA, 36 HR, 137 RBI) is a franchise hitter. He can smoke fastballs and curves. Right fielder Brad Hawpe (.291 BA, 29 HR, 116 RBI) has a good eye and is capable of crushing the ball. First baseman Todd Helton (.320 BA, 17 HR, 91 RBI) may have lost some bat speed but is still an effective hitter.

The infield is darn good. Second in turning double plays, the infield includes SS Troy Tulowitzki, who had a dynamite rookie year at short and at the plate. Second baseman Marcus Giles is very fine at turning the DP. Catcher Yorvit Torrealba call a fine game.

GM Dan O’Dowd has done a fine job cultivating the farm system and scouting Latin American players. Manager Clint Hurdle certainly kept his team focused in a crazy race to the finish. Don’t forget, the Rockies were 6.5 games out of the Wild Card on September 15. They won 13 of 14 and went to the post season, finishing one-half game out of first-place and tied with San Diego for the final playoff spot. They beat the Padres 8- 7 to go onto the post-season. Can that type of history possibly repeat itself?

Read more on the Rockies other NL West division competitors like the Arizona Diamondbacks, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, and San Francisco Giants.

For more info on the Rockies check out the MLB official page for Colorado.