Rockies continue to reel on the mound

Since their inception more than two decades ago, the Rockies have yet to discover the formula for effective pitching in Denver, where the unforgiving altitude has frustrated each and every one of the club's efforts to develop a front-line ace.

It isn't for lack of trying. Over the last 23 years, the Rockies have selected pitchers with 18 of their 30 first-round picks in the annual amateur draft. Still, the Rockies haven't had a single pitcher stick around long enough to accrue even 20 wins above replacement. They're also one of two teams in the expansion era that haven't watched one of their pitchers make more than 210 starts.

A cursory glance at the most accomplished pitchers in franchise history reveals, frankly, a collection of overwhelmingly average pitchers who weren't terribly accomplished.

This season? More of the same. The Rockies rank second-last in baseball in park-adjusted earned run average and have already used 10 different starters through the first four months of the campaign. Eddie Butler, the 46th overall pick in 2012, owns a 4.77 ERA with a 1.79 WHIP across 12 starts. Jonathan Gray, whom the Rockies selected with the third pick two years ago, is still toiling away in the Pacific Coast League.

Hoffman, Castro offer new hope for Colorado

So when general manager Jeff Bridich decided to ship his talented but aging (and expensive) franchise icon to Toronto on Monday night, he insisted the Blue Jays send back a pair of youngsters – Jeff Hoffman and Miguel Castro – who could reverse this stretch of futility that has persisted since the early 1990s. Though their development will be fraught with the same challenges that faced every other pitching prospect to pass through Colorado, the two youngsters offer new hope for a franchise whose most celebrated hurler remains, unambiguously, Ubaldo Jimenez.

Hoffman, a 6-foot-4 right-hander, was a candidate to go first overall in last year's draft before Tommy John surgery interrupted his junior season at East Carolina University and ultimately allowed the Blue Jays to gobble him up with the ninth selection. Although elbow woes postponed his minor league debut until just a few months ago, the 22-year-old was still identified this winter by Baseball America as Toronto's third-best prospect before ever throwing a professional pitch.

Promoted to Double-A New Hampshire earlier this month after just 11 outings in the Florida State League, Hoffman's brief professional résumé features a 2.93 ERA thus far, and though some reports haven't been as effusive of late, it was just months ago that Baseball Prospectus lauded his potential as "a future front-of-the-rotation power arm for multiple seasons to come."

Castro, meanwhile, elicited comparable praise after his masterful performance in spring training afforded him a spot in Toronto's bullpen mere months after he was plying his trade in High-A (and before he had thrown a pitch at even Double-A). Not surprisingly, his first trip around the majors was sobering. The 20-year-old was shipped back to the minors after managing a 4.38 ERA with a 1.70 WHIP over his first 13 relief appearances with the Blue Jays, who, despite his youth, still briefly anointed him as closer in April before sending him down for more seasoning.

Blessed with a plus-plus fastball and the makings of two above-average secondary offerings, though, Castro demonstrated – at age 20, mind you – the ability to survive against major league hitters, and further refinement could turn the 6-foot-5 Dominican into a legitimate difference-maker in Colorado.

As for Reyes ...?

Jose Reyes, the lone brand name in Colorado's haul, is poised to replace Tulowitzki at shortstop following two-and-a-half volatile seasons in Toronto. According to some reports, the Rockies may attempt to flip Reyes, though the $48 million he's guaranteed through 2017 could complicate those plans.

Reyes's inclusion in the deal, however, was more business than baseball, a necessary financial concession on Colorado's part in order for the Blue Jays to unload two of their top prospects while also taking responsibility for the $96 million guaranteed to Tulowitzki over the next five seasons.

Porous defense and waning plate discipline notwithstanding, though, Reyes still remains among the game's top shortstops despite his recent decline. Over the last two seasons, in fact, only five shortstop have provided more wins above replacement than Reyes, whose ability to hit for a high average (.285) and steal bases efficiently (16/18) have remained intact this summer as other skills have faded.

If the Rockies are prepared to eat some of his contract, Reyes could be moved to a contender for even more prospect capital – another move that would bring the Rockies closer to the future Bridich envisioned when he parted ways with Tulowitzki on Monday night.