Reason for optimism: At age 24, Nolan Arenado emerged as the next great Rockies position player.
Reason for pessimism: When Tyler Chatwood is being counted upon to improve a pitching rotation, you've got problems.
Years ago, the Rockies' use of a humidor to store baseballs went a long way toward reducing the video game-like home run totals common at Coors Field, but the scoring environment continues to skew an entire league's statistics. That's because the huge playing surface in Denver, by far the largest in the majors, still rewards contact hitting and, conversely, is a hellscape for pitch-to-contact pitchers. It also means that fielders with range and the ability to convert batted balls into outs should be prized in Colorado above all other venues.
Yet Colorado's human resources department, for reasons unknown, seems to covet soft-tossers with questionable control and poor fielders.