What started as a snowball became an avalanche and it eventually buried the Rockies.
We’re talking about the bullpen, which finished with a 6.77 ERA and a .300 batting average against. Only the Philadelphia Phillies (7.06, .312) were worse.
The Rockies lost right-hander Scott Oberg, their best reliever and potential closer, before the season began because of a reoccurrence of blood clots. Wade Davis, the incumbent closer in spring training, suffered a shoulder injury in the first week of the season and was released near the end of the campaign.
Right-hander Bryan Shaw and lefty Jake McGee — who along with Davis were part of Colorado’s $106 million bullpen expenditure prior to the 2018 season — were gone before the season began.
All of that forced manager Bud Black to mix, match and experiment with his late-game relievers. He tried hard-throwing right-handers Jairo Diaz and Carlos Estevez. That worked for a while but they ultimately imploded. Despite his firepower, Diaz finished with a 7.65 ERA and a .365 batting average against. Estevez, so dominant early on, lost command of his fastball and slider, resulting in a 7.50 ERA and a .317 average against.
There were success stories, to be sure.
Right-hander Daniel Bard, seven years removed from his last action in the majors, was a mostly reliable closer by the end of the season, notching six saves in six opportunities and posting a 3.65 ERA. His remarkable comeback from his battle with the yips made him the comeback story of the year. Bard is 36, but his fastball touched 99 mph and his slider was nasty. He’s a positive going forward.
As is right-hander Yency Almonte, who displayed poise and excellent stuff as he went 3-0 with a 2.93 ERA.
But in this era of baseball, a deep bullpen is necessary for success and the Rockies didn’t have it.
“We are going to need everybody,” Black said more than once in 2020. The problem was, he ran out of trustworthy relievers.
Right-hander Jeff Hoffman, for example, never found a comfortable role once he was switched from a potential starter into a reliever. The result was a 9.82 ERA and a .352 batting average against over 21 1/3 innings.
The bullpen served up 1.66 homers per nine innings, the third-highest rate in the majors, and its 1.67 WHIP was second-highest. Rockies relievers stuck out 7.73 hitters per nine innings, ranking 29th in baseball. Those numbers illustrate big problems.
Black, however, appears to have faith that some of Colorado’s hardest throwers can turn things around. Estevez is the prime example here. He’s a pitcher with great stuff who has not learned how to master his skills.
“The thing that has stood out for me is that he’s become a little emotional when things have gone awry in his inning,” Black said. “I think he’s gone from a guy that I thought was developing as a pitcher, to, at times, becoming a thrower.
“I think he sort of reverts to that when things have gone sideways for him. He tries to overpower the fastball; tries to make the breaking ball too nasty, and you can’t do that.”
