TUCSON — In the Rockies’ perfect world, Jason Hirsh and Franklin Morales will fill the final two spots in the rotation.
Now for today’s reality check:
Hirsh was limited to 19 starts last season because of a broken leg, and Morales, for all his potential, just turned 22 and could need more seasoning in Triple-A.
Thus the Rockies’ annual dip into the free-agent bargain bin. What’s that? OK, go ahead. Call it the scrap heap. As long as you call it what it has been for the Rockies: successful.
General manager Dan O’Dowd and his staff have shown an uncanny ability for finding players who contribute after being shown the door by other organizations.
Most have been hitters — Todd Walker, Todd Hollandsworth, Kazuo Matsui and Jeromy Burnitz among them. The amazing part is that many have been pitchers, too.
Shawn Estes, Darren Oliver and Josh Fogg were looking for a job, any job, when the Rockies came calling. Each wound up in the Rockies’ rotation.
Now come Josh Towers, Kip Wells and Mark Redman, the Rockies’ three latest reclamation projects. If history is our guide, one will be a significant factor in the Rockies’ season.
Redman played a cameo role for the Rox last season. Towers was 5-10 with a 5.38 ERA for the Blue Jays, giving him 100 career decisions in the big leagues.
“This isn’t a guy who doesn’t have experience,” Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. “He’s not going to blow up the radar gun. He pitches similar to how Fogg attacked hitters. It’s about command, it’s about location, it’s about changing eye levels.”
Wells, who turns 31 in April, led the league with 17 losses last season, a number that belies his past scouting reports.
“You see him some nights so good, you wonder why he hasn’t had more success,” Hurdle said. “He’s at a point in time in his career where he’s got to put his foot down. He needs to find a way to make his pitches and compete and get outs and win games.”
If so, he has come to the right place: Coors Field, assuming they pay the electric bill and the humidor is humming.
“It’s become a fair place for pitchers to pitch,” said Hurdle. “Unfortunately we won’t get over that stigma for a while. There are still thoughts out there about what it is and what it isn’t. It’s a place where you can get outs, a place where even flyball pitchers can dip their toe in the water and have some success.”
Follow Jim Armstrong’s daily sports commentaries on The Jimmy Page during the week mid-day. And read his columns on Sundays at .
He can be reached at 303-954-1269 or jmarmstrong@denverpost.com.
