To lead you into the MLB season Stoop Sports’ MLB staff is embarking on a 30 day journey, where we will give you pre-season profiles of all thirty teams. Each writer was given the artistic liberty to format their previews to their liking. Enjoy, and happy spring training!

Teddy Chassin-

The Rockies’ 2012 season was an unmitigated disaster, as just about everything that could’ve gone awry, did. At 64-98, not only were the Rockies last in the NL West, but they had the third worst record in all of baseball.

Troy Tulowitzki, easily the team’s best player and one of the best players in the sport, was injured for most of the season and limited to 47 games. His injury was a major blow, but what caused the Rockies to spiral into oblivion was their abysmal pitching.

Their staff’s collective 5.22 ERA was good for dead last in all of baseball…by a lot. The situation was so bad that in June, manager Jim Tracy (who was canned after the season) tried to go to a four man rotation, limiting every pitcher to around 75 pitches a game. With a situation so bad, some may applaud Tracy’s effort to try anything possible to shake things up, but Tracy’s idea didn’t do a whole lot to rectify the issue. That’s why he’s out of a job.

The question is, is there anything that indicates the Rockies will fare better in 2013? With no major offseason moves, unless you count trading RHP Alex White, the Rockies will be trotting out a very similar team to their 2012 model.

It’s not all doom and gloom however. Troy Tulowitzki, hopefully playing a full season, will at least make Colorado worth watching They also have starters Jorge De La Rosa and Jhoulys Chacin coming back from injury. Both pitchers have proven to be useful in the past, and are at the very least much better than just about anyone who took the hill for the Rockies in 2012.

The Rockies best prospect is third baseman Nolan Arenado. He has a chance to make the team out of spring training, and possibly take over the third base job permanently. Arenado was ranked 52nd in Baseball America’s most recent top 100 prospect list.

With Tulowitzki, De La Rosa, and Chacin all coming back the Rockies should improve on their 2012 record. Then again, that doesn’t mean much.

Prediction: 73-89, 5th place in the NL West

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