One day after he was named the Colorado Rockies' fifth starter to start the season, Esmil Rogers will take the mound against the Texas Rangers on Friday night. Opposing him will be Derek Holland, also named to his team's rotation on Thursday. This decision came after the Rangers decided that phenom Neftali Feliz was more valuable, at least at the moment, as the team's close than in the rotation
Holland saw extensive time with the Rangers in 2009 (33 games, 21 starts) and then had two trips to the majors in 2010. He spent all of September with the Rangers and pitched in six postseason games. During the regular season, Holland put up a 4.08 ERA, which is in tune with his 4.02 FIP and an improvement on his 4.40 xFIP. The latter two numbers are directly concerned with what outcomes Holland can be directly attributed to as a result (strikeouts, walks, hit by pitches and home runs). Can he put up those numbers in a full season remains to be seen, but he could turn out to be a solid back-end rotation guy.
With Rogers as the Rockies fifth starter, there aren't a whole lot of questions left with the roster for Opening Day. The main one, though, is will Jonathan Herrera overtake Jose Lopez and man second base on April 1? And just below that is, who will be Chris Iannetta's backup: Jose Morales, Matt Pagnozzi or Jordan Pacheco? Morales was the favorite entering spring training, but Pacheco has definitely placed himself in the equation. Pagnozzi is a true backup and Pacheco could play elsewhere on the diamond.
[UPDATE] The Rockies' lineup:
CF Eric Young Jr.
2B Jonathan Herrera
LF Carlos Gonzalez
SS Troy Tulowitzki
1B Todd Helton
3B Jose Lopez
RF Seth Smith
C Chris Iannetta
P Rogers
Game time is scheduled for 7:40 p.m. MT