San Francisco Giants: NL West Power Rankings

Rank #5: The Colorado Rockies

Sep 1, 2014; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Rockies right fielder

(19) is congratulated for his walk off RBI single to win the game in the ninth inning against the San Francisco Giants at Coors Field. The Rockies defeated the Giants 10-9. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

The Rockies are in last because they made no moves this offseason, because they have had four-straight losing seasons  and have not smelled postseason baseball since 2009. Colorado has had no issues producing runs and offense, but who wouldn’t if their home stadium was a mile high? Much like the Diamondbacks, the Rockies have had a pitching problem.

The Rockies have not had a steady starting rotation for some time now, and is s big part of the reason why they have struggled over the past four seasons. The Rockies this past season used nine different starting pitchers in their rotation, none of which had an ERA under the 4.00 mark. The lowest ERA of the nine pitchers was Tyler Matzek, who had a 4.05 ERA to go with his 6-11 record and 1.39 WHIP in 19 starts.

Jul 23, 2014; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Rockies pitcher

(29) during the fourth inning against the Washington Nationals at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

The Rockies also had only two pitchers with a winning record, one of whom was the only pitcher with ten or more wins in Jorge De La Rosa. De La Rosa went 14-11, with a 4.10 ERA, 1.24 WHIP and 139 strikeouts last year in 32 starts. The only other pitcher with a winning record was Jordan Lyles, who went 7-4, with a 4.33 ERA, 1.37 WHIP and 90 strikeouts in 22 starts.

While Carlos Gonzalez, Charlie Blackmon, Drew Stubbs, Troy Tulowitzki and Justin Morneau can hit all they want, the starting pitchers cannot provide enough to keep the other teams from scoring just as many runs as they can. Giving up as many runs as you have scored will never win games a consistent basis.

Until the Rockies can have a productive starting rotation set in stone, they likely won’t find much success. It would also help if that starting rotation could have all the pitchers post an ERA under three.

Much like the American League West, it will be interesting to see how things shake out in 2015 in an NL West populated with the reigning World Series champions, as well as the new look Dodgers and Padres. Can the Giants win the division title? Or will Los Angeles and San Diego be too much for them to handle?