It’s no secret that the 2012 Rockies have had a ton of bad luck (and bad everything else) in their pitching staff; some would say they’ve already capsized. Here’s a look at some historic aspects of their struggle.
Every 2012 MLB team but Colorado has at least one pitcher with at least 128 innings, and another with 100+ innings. The Rockies have none with 100. Their leader has 90.2 IP — but that’s Jeremy Guthrie, now with KC. Their #2 man has 84.2 IP — but that’s Christian Friedrich, who hasn’t pitched in 3 weeks and recently had a CT scan that revealed a vertebrae stress fracture.
So Colorado’s active IP leaders are starter Jeff Francis and reliever Josh Roenicke, both at 72.2 IP. At their current pace, neither will reach 100 IP this year.
But maybe that’s unfair to Francis, whose season debut was June 9. If we project him forward at the same rate he’s compiled per team-game since then, he’ll get another 48.1 IP, which would take him to 121 for the season. On the other hand, he has a 6.07 ERA and no contract beyond this year, and September call-ups are 10 days off. (Then again, do they have any prospects who haven’t yet been pressed into service?)
In any case, it’s a pretty safe bet that no Rockies pitcher will log 128 innings this year.
- Except for the 2012 Rockies, every other team in MLB history that played the full league schedule had at least one pitcher with 128+ IP, including all other 2012 teams. That includes the 19th century, and the seasons shortened by strike or by war.
(Five 19th-century teams — the 1891 Milwaukee Brewers of the American Association and 4 teams of the 1884 Union Association — played only a fraction of the league schedule and had no such pitcher. Also, the UA was not really a major league, but that’s another matter.)
Incidentally, I used 128 IP because that’s the current total of Minnesota’s leader, Scott Diamond. Every other team had a pitcher with at least 130 IP, and Diamond presumably will join them.
But wait, there’s more:
No Rocky has thrown a complete game, and with their current experimental 85-pitch limit, nobody is likely to do so. That’s not unique in itself; four previous teams had no CG, plus this year’s Cubs and Brewers don’t have one yet. But: No 2012 Rocky has gone past 7 innings so far, and again, their current policy almost rules it out; their last 7 IP start was on June 4, and nobody’s gone beyond 6 IP in 6 weeks.
- Except for the 2012 Rockies, every other team in MLB history had at least one 8-inning start, including all other 2012 teams.
One more thing: Their current Wins leader is reliever Rex Brothers, with 7. The leading total among their starters is 5, by Friedrich — but again, he seems unlikely to advance that mark. That leaves Francis, who has 4 wins. Where he’ll end up is anyone’s guess, but the Rockies have averaged one SP win per week since the All-Star break; Francis hasn’t won more than 6 since 2007; and there’s that 6.07 ERA. And no other active Rocky has more than 2 wins as a starter.
- Except for the 2012 Rockies, every other MLB team since 1901 had at least one pitcher with 15+ starts and 6+ wins, including all other 2012 teams.
So, yeah, it’s been a rough year all around for Colorado pitchers, not to mention the coaching staff and the bullpen catchers. Management deserves credit for trying something different, because hardly anyone ever tries anything different these days, and why the hell not? But it probably will only deepen their impression on the history books.