Jorge de la Rosa‘s situation this offseason came down to the simple philosophy of supply and demand.
The number of quality starting pitchers available this offseason was in short supply, so the demand for the limited amount of these pitchers goes through the roof because teams are desperate for any arms they can find these days.
De la Rosa, at best, is a No. 3 starter on a decent to good club. Yet, because of the short supply on the market, there were about six to seven teams interested in his services.
After weighing his many options, de la Rosa choose to stay with the Colorado Rockies.
The Rockies re-signed him to a two-year, $21.5 million contract. The contract also includes a $10.5 million player option for 2013 and an $11 million club option for 2014.
In my free agent primer, I had de la Rosa as the biggest bust of this winter. I wrote at the time that “de la Rosa was a ham n’ egger for years, has one good year in Colorado (2009), and now might get $30–40 million over three or four years? No thanks.
Sure he throws in the upper-90′s, but he has made 30 plus starts just once in his career and has way too many control issues for my liking.”
I was right about the dollar figure he was going to get and my thoughts on him haven’t changed since I wrote the column back in early November.
He toiled in mediocrity with the Milwaukee Brewers and Kansas City Royals for five years before being traded to the Rockies in the spring of 2008.
In three years with the Rockies, de la Rosa has a 4.49 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 4.1 BB’s/9 and 8.9 K’s/9 in 436.2 innings pitched.
He had his best season in a Rockies uniform two years ago; a 4.38 ERA and 193 K’s in 185 IP.
De la Rosa is a great tease: He’s a lefty that averages 93 mph on his fastball and has a legit slider and change; however, his potential has outweighed his productivity at the major league level.
He’s the type of pitcher who will strike a batter out out on three beautiful pitches and then walk the next two on nine.
When I talk about de la Rosa, it sounds like I am talking about Oliver Perez.
However, de la Rosa hasn’t reached a Perez level of pitching yet. That was a compliment to de la Rosa by the way.
I have seen Perez have meltdowns of epic proportions. I have watched de la Rosa a lot over the years, and I haven’t seen completely meltdown—at least not yet.
The Rockies are going to pay de la Rosa at least $32 million based on what they think he can do rather than what he has done. Those signings rarely work out.
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