To be fair, neither were very good in 2025.
Earlier this week, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post published one of his occasional mailbags. (Here’s a gift link for you. The entire column is worth your time.)
In it, he was asked an interesting question from Tyler in Windsor:
For Paul DePodesta and new GM Josh Byrnes, what’s more important: Building a top-10 offense or a top-10 pitching staff?
I’ve been pondering it this week, and so far, I’m not sure. So, I throw that question to the Purple Row night owls: Which is more important for the rebuilding Colorado Rockies, pitching or offense?
In case you’re interested, here’s Saunders’ answer:
Tyler, that’s a great question. Let me start with a reality check. Because of Coors Field and baseball at altitude, I don’t see the Rockies ever having a top-10 pitching staff. A top-10 offense? For sure, they have done that several times before.
As for what’s important, right now, the priority has to be upgrading the pitching. There were too many games lost last season when the starting pitching was so bad that the Rockies really never had a chance. Bad starting pitching sucked the life out of the team. Consider: Colorado starters had a 6.65 ERA. That’s the worst since ERA became an official statistic in 1913. The Rockies were outscored by 424 runs. That minus-424 run differential surpassed the previous modern record of minus-349, set by the 1932 Boston Red Sox.
In the first inning, the Rockies’ opponents scored 142 runs. The Rockies scored 53. Ouch. Colorado’s first-inning ERA was 3.61, and hitters raked them at a .322 clip. Double ouch.
I’m leaning toward pitching, but I could be persuaded that’s wrong-headed. Leave your thoughts in the comments.
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Category: General Sports
