Monday, April 5, 2004 - Page updated at 12:00 a.m. Pacific
 

AL West AL Central AL East NL West 1. San Diego Padres 2. Arizona Diamondbacks 3. Los Angeles Dodgers 4. San Francisco Giants 5. Colorado Rockies NL Central NL East Baseball '04 main

5. Colorado Rockies
 
He's here: 3B Vinny Castilla, LF Jeromy Burnitz, 2B Aaron Miles, LHP Joe Kennedy, LHP Shawn Estes, SS Royce Clayton.

He's outta here: 2B Ronnie Belliard (Cleveland), RHP Jose Jimenez (Cleveland), LHP Darren Oliver (Florida), LF Jay Payton (San Diego), RHP Justin Speier (Toronto), 3B Chris Stynes (Pittsburgh).

Ranking the rotation: 5th in the division, 27th overall. Jason Jennings is the ace and needs to bounce back from last year's sophomore slump. His problems weren't at hitter-friendly Coors Field (8-1 last season), but on the road. Three former Mariners, Shawn Estes, Denny Stark and Jeff Fassero, are looking for spots in the rotation.

Written in Stone: The Rockies, as usual, don't appear to have any coherent plan, except that whatever they do, they've decided to do it more cheaply than in the past. A few certainties: Todd Helton will mash the ball like few others, and Larry Walker will battle injuries like few others. Jeromy Burnitz is a likely candidate to become the latest player to inflate his statistics at Coors Field, a phenomenon he can discuss with eager light-air returnee Vinny Castilla. New shortstop Royce Clayton, however, couldn't hit at the top of Mount Everest. The Rockies, as usual, will go as far as their pitching will take them, which is why they have a reservation for the cellar.

Lineup card

P Hitters Avg. HR RBI 2B Aaron Miles* .304 11 50 SS Royce Clayton .228 11 39 1B Todd Helton .358 33 117 CF Preston Wilson .282 36 141 3B Vinny Castilla .277 22 76 RF Jeromy Burnitz .239 31 77 LF Kit Pellow* .300 20 65 C Charles Johnson .230 20 61

TH Starters W-L ERA SO LH Shawn Estes 8-11 5.73 103 RH Jason Jennings 12-13 5.11 119 LH Joe Kennedy 3-12 6.13 77 RH Scott Elarton 4-4 6.27 20 RH Denny Stark 3-3 5.83 30   TH Closer W-L ERA SV RH Shawn Chacon 11-8 4.60 0

*Minor-league stats