Boy

What happened to the starting rotation?

At the beginning of this year, the Rockies thought that their starting pitching was going to be a major strength for the team. The bullpen was going to be the question mark.

Like so many other things over the past few years at Coors Field, that was a misconception.

Joe Kennedy, the Rockies' opening day starter, had complained to the manager to be the number one guy. Jason Jennings, who turned out to be the number two guy, said the same thing. Boy were they wrong about that whole "being good" thing.

In the first game of the year, Kennedy was chased out with his tail between his legs. He didn't get the W, a rare case of justice in the exceedingly strange world of starting pitcher won-lost records. It was a sign of things to come. Kennedy won four games over sixteen starts, never going to the bullpen or being demoted. His ERA was equal to the goal of a Bronco red zone trip: 7 points. The young Uncle Charlie specialist was dealt to the Oakland A's, and he now works in relief.

As for the other contender for the number one job, Jason Jennings was decent in the early-going, but then tanked in May and June. Just as he was getting into a groove, J.J. broke his finger trying to take out a would-be double play turner. After the All Star Break, his ERA was just 3.00.

The number three starter for the Rox is the highest-ranked remaining pitcher for the team. Jeff Francis has had a predictably up-and-down rookie season. As you'd expect with a rook, Francis has shown flashes of brilliance, and even has sustained them for two and three game stretches, but has also looked absolutely horrible when he can't locate his pitches. His lack of overwhelming stuff demands pinpoint control for him to be very effective, and on days when he can't keep the ball down, The Franchise struggles in a horribly ugly fashion.

This leads us to the former number 4 starter: Shawn Chacon. After one year of an ill-advised switch to the closing role, the Rox decided to do something odd; the starting pitcher would start. Chac was easily the Rockies' most effective starter for much of the year. He injured himself sliding into a bag (on the opposite limb that Jason Jennings did), but aside from the time he missed, the Greeley native was the closest thing the Rox had to an ace. His 4.09 ERA was the best on the Rockies starting pitchers by almost an entire run. Despite his age, his ability, and his home-grown nature, the Rockies dealt him to the Yankees for some prospects. Let's not forget that the Yankees don't have anything resembling a farm system, so these prospects will not pan out.

In the fifth slot is Jamey Wright. Wright has been consistently bad, with few exceptions. There have been abberant zero or one-run starts when The Big Handsome pitched very well, but really he's been just a little better than Joe Kennedy. His 5.85 ERA speaks for itself.

Spot starter turned every-fifth-day guy BK Kim has been the Rockies' second or third best pitcher since Chacon was dealt. Somehow, some way, the walk-happy native of Korea has wiggled his way out of jams en route to a very solid 4.68 ERA as a starter. His methods include, but are not limited to: Walking batters, hitting batters, striking batters out, poorly fielding bunted balls, and throwing wild pitches that bounce off of the backstop, immediately rebound back to the catcher, and allow him to get out of the inning unscathed. B.K., statistically, is the Rockies' best starting pitcher with the recent departure of Shawn Chacon.

Zach Day, Jose Acevedo, and Soo-Yun Kim are all vying for the fifth position in the rotation.

So, theoretically next year's rotation could be:

Jennings
Francis
Cook (could be ace, could be second or third)
Kim/Wright/Day/Acevedo/Kim/Young/Caravajal (pick two)

That's no good.