Rockies’ Freeland: ‘It can’t be okay to lose’
At least someone is saying it in Denver. Colorado Rockies’ left-handed pitcher Kyle Freeland might be forgetting which organization he plays for.
Freeland, 29, might not be expecting to win with the Rockies this season, but the seven-year veteran understands what it takes to have a competitive team.
“First and foremost, it can’t be OK to lose,” Freeland said during a phone interview with The Denver Post. “Over the years we have talked about it, and we have kind of become complacent with ourselves.”
“We’d be like, ‘Yeah, well we lost a tough game.’ And then we’d be like, ‘Just move on and go get them tomorrow.’ That can’t be OK. We have to kind of wear those on our sleeves and realize that we shouldn’t have lost a tight game, or that it’s unacceptable when we get blown out. That stuff can’t be OK in our minds.”
Hey, I can respect the attempt. You can’t just expect to win games without having some change of attitude.
It’s hard to field a competitive team when ownership is as complacent and unwilling to spend as the Rockies are. When your owner comes out before the season and claims the team “could play .500 ball” there are clearly problems in your organization that are much deeper than the attitude of the team.
Freeland’s career up to this point
Freeland has had a difficult tough few seasons playing at Coors Field. The left-hander was very strong for his first two seasons in the league, putting up a 3.39 ERA in 61 starts in 2017 and 2018.
From there, Freeland’s career has begun to spiral out of control. He was sent to the minors in 2019 to try and fix a 6.73 ERA season. Since then, he hasn’t been very good, sporting a 4.43 ERA over the last three seasons. Either way, he hasn’t been as bad as he was in 2019, but he still hasn’t lived up to the potential of his first two seasons.
Even with his recent struggles, Freeland agreed to a five-year contract with Colorado in 2022.
It’s quite difficult to pitch in Coors Field. The altitude is something home and away pitchers have been dealing with since the Rockies were conceived in 1991.
I hope for his own sake that Freeland is able to right the ship. He has a lot of talent.
This isn’t the year for the Rockies. The NL West is stacked and they were way too quiet this offseason to genuinely improve from what they were last year.
May beautiful Coors Field see a half-decent Rockies squad again soon. I can tell you it won’t be in 2023.
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