Renck vs. Keeler: How bad are Rockies? Like ’62 Mets? ’24 White Sox?

Renck: However bad you think the Rockies are, they have been worse. Fans have been recently schooled on futility as the Rockies careened to consecutive 100-loss seasons. That was supposed to be the abyss, the pavement. But for three forgettable weeks, the Rockies have pulled off the manhole cover and scurried around with the rats in the sewer. At 4-17, this team is truly awful. But how bad can it get? Will the Rockies challenge the 2024 White Sox and 1962 Mets for the most losses all-time?

Keeler: Careful, my friend. Them’s fightin’ woids! Not that you’re wrong. It’s that you’re talking to a White Sox fan, and nobody — I mean, nobody, not even Dick Monfort’s poxed Rox  — does dumpster fires the way a Jerry Reinsdorf organization does dumpster fires. I have seen what 120-plus losses look like, up close. Yes, the Rockies have pool noodle bats up and down this lineup. But they still have about six regulars with more juice than what the Pale Hose trotted out at this time last year. Or, for that matter, the dreck the ChiSox are trotting out this year.

Renck: The clues with this team are everywhere. The players are too young, too old, or too awful. The general manager who chose them and the coaches who lead them have been worse. One — hitting instructor Hensley Meulens — has already been fired. Clint Hurdle will improve the offense, but to what degree? The reason the Rockies can flirt with 120 losses is because they profile horribly for Coors Field. The Rockies have featured plenty of putrid teams, but started dropping 100 games per season because they lack contact (league-high 234 strikeouts) and power (15 home runs, third lowest) to take advantage of their home ballpark.

Keeler: Watching the ChiSox — for fun! FUN! — turns you into an expert on bad baseball. As bad as this offense is, especially in the context of their home park, hitting isn’t the barometer of long, painful, historic losing streaks. It’s pitching. If you’ve got it, you’ll luck into the odd win during a long road trip or somehow salvage a 2-8 fortnight instead of 1-9 or 0-10. Conversely, if you don’t have starting pitching that can stop the bleeding, look out below. I can’t believe I’m typing this with a straight face, but I believe the Rox might have just enough pitching — assuming Ryan Feltner finds the strike zone again and Chase Dollander doesn’t get shell shock from his first summer in The Show — to avoid the kind of streaks that set you on the path to historic infamy.

Renck: The Rockies are on pace for 31 wins, which would pass the futility set by the White Sox (121 losses) and Mets (120). Their lack of impact prospects — they desperately need Zac Veen and Jordan Beck to pop — obsession with aging reserves, Kris Bryant’s endless back issues, collection of fifth starters and unproven relievers leaves them stalking history. Why? Have you seen the National League West? Or the National League? The Rockies must get Brenton Doyle and Ezequiel Tovar healthy and get hot at home, where they are 3-6, to get on a 50-to-55-win trajectory. Regardless, the Rockies will become the first NL team since the Astros (2011-13) to lose 100 games in three straight seasons. It’s bad. And we haven’t said anything about their 1990s Taco Bell commercial-inspired City Connect uniforms.

Keeler: The Rockies do baseball the way Taco Bell does “guacamole.” Bryant is a nice guy whose body has given up on him, which you’d think would inspire GM Bill Schmidt to do the same. If you’ve got a case for 120 losses, it’ll be because of the division — there’s just no reprieve. Anywhere. Too much Dodgers, too much Padres, too much Giants, too much Diamondbacks, too much pressure on kids to perform right out of the gate. A hundred losses feels like a given. Doyle and Tovar are worth the ticket price. But if they can’t go? I’m with ya. Look out below.

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