The Numbers

2001 record: 73-89, .451 (tied for 21st overall) 2001 expected record*: 82-80 Runs scored: 923, 1st in NL Runs allowed: 906, 16th in NL Run differential: +17 (13th overall) Starters' ERA: 5.48, 16th in NL Bullpen ERA: 4.90, 16th in NL Payroll (Opening Day): $71 million (13th overall) Local broadcast revenue: $18.2 million (14th overall) Attendance: 3.166 million (5th overall) 3-year record: 227-259, .467 (tied for 19th overall) 5-year record: 387-423, .478 (20th overall) * based on runs scored and runs allowed

2001 in review
What went right?
Coors Field continued to produce staggering offensive numbers. No National League team came within 75 runs of the Rockies in 2001. Larry Walker managed to stay healthy for 142 games, winning a batting title while driving in 123 runs. Todd Helton finished second to Walker in the race for the batting crown, and the first baseman's 1.116 OPS trailed only the league's Holy Trinity of Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Luis Gonzalez. Juan Pierre was a smashing success as the leadoff hitter, earning a .378 OBP with 46 steals and just 29 strikeouts. Mike Myers, Jay Powell, Dan Miceli and Justin Speier provided reliable middle relief.

What went wrong
The money spent to bolster Colorado's pitching staff disappeared into thin air. A strong start from Mike Hampton had fans talking about a Cy Young, but neither he nor fellow signee Denny Neagle emerged unscathed from their first season at altitude. Despite signing Hampton and Neagle, re-signing Gabe White, and trading for Scott Elarton in August, the Rockies' ERA climbed from 5.26 in 2000 to 5.29 in 2001.

In retrospect, the critical decisions were:
1. Committing $121 million to Hampton. The Rockies learned a lesson from the Darryl Kile fiasco, but it turned out to be the wrong lesson. Kile's failure was blamed on breaking pitches that didn't break at altitude, turning potential pop-ups and fly-outs into souvenirs. With the Mets in 2000, Hampton led the league by allowing the fewest home runs per nine innings. The logic behind signing him was that a pitcher who kept the ball on the ground wouldn't be as severely affected by Denver's altitude and Coors Field's spacious outfield gaps. Few expected Neagle to survive Coors Field, but Hampton's second-half struggles paint a bleak picture for future free agents and Rockies pitching prospects.

2. Trading Neifi Perez. The popular shortstop was exactly the kind of player Colorado could have overpaid by dint of inflated statistics. Those numbers shone when compared to other NL shortstops, but take away the home-park advantage and he was entirely average. Trading Perez also opened the door for rookie Juan Uribe, one of the farm system's top prospects.

3. Letting Jeffrey Hammonds leave. Larry Walker's injuries meant Hammonds actually played more right field than left field in 2000, but the Rockies didn't have a consistent bat in left last year. Hammonds regressed mightily after leaving Colorado, but nobody replaced the 1.116 OPS he posted at Coors Field. Reggie Sanders has been mentioned as a possible addition this winter, but the Rockies are reportedly unwilling to offer him a multi-year deal. Alex Ochoa and Todd Hollandsworth may be left to fill the void.

Looking ahead to 2002
Three key questions
1. Who plays third base? Colorado hopes to land John Valentin to man the hot corner. When Valentin, 34, represents a team's best hope, they're not in a good place. Other possible acquisitions include Chris Stynes, Chris Truby and Shane Halter. Say what you want about the Coors Field factor, Vinny Castilla and Jeff Cirillo provided the Rockies with reliable offense and defense at third for the last seven seasons. Truby is an intriguing option if Houston chooses to deal him, but the Rockies are rolling the dice with whatever move they make. Late note: The Rockies acquired Teodd Zeile to play third.

2. Can the Rockies settle on a starting rotation? GM Dan O'Dowd has done an impressive job of assembling candidates, but there are never any guarantees with young pitchers. Barring a trade involving Neagle, he'll join Hampton and John Thomson at the top of the rotation. Thomson, 28, finally showed more than just promise, posting a 3.20 road ERA in six starts, and Colorado would gladly take a repeat of his 4.64 ERA in eight home starts. Scott Elarton, Shawn Chacon, Jason Jennings and Denny Stark will fight it out for the remaining two spots. Brian Bohanon could get a look, but it's not clear if he'll be back. Newcomer Dennys Reyes could factor in the mix, but the abundance of starters means he may begin the year in the bullpen.

3. Will the reshaped bullpen remain effective? A few relievers emerged last year as bright lights amidst the wreckage of Colorado's high-priced pitching staff. Dan Miceli, Jay Powell and Justin Speier were acquired after the start of the season, and all three posted sub-4.00 ERAs in their time with the team. Left-handed hitters somehow hit better than right-handed hitters against southpaw specialist Mike Myers, but he still managed a 3.30 ERA in 40 innings. Jose Jimenez blew five saves but posted a 2.70 road ERA in 20 innings of work. Now, Powell and 2000 success Gabe White are gone, and Myers is rumored to be on the block. Miceli is also a free agent but appears set to return after being offered salary arbitration. Unless newcomers Reyes, Brian Fuentes and Jose Paniagua mesh with the returnees, Colorado's already woeful pitching could conceivably worsen.

Stats Corner
Larry Walker (above) won the NL batting title in 2001, finishing with a .350 batting average. With that, he has now hit .350 or better in four of the last five seasons. After going a combined 7-2 with a 2.69 ERA in April and May, Mike Hampton slumped to a combined 7-11 record and a 7.07 ERA in June, July, August, September and October. With their 923 runs scored, the Rockies became the first team in National League history to score at least 900 runs in three consecutive seasons. Juan Pierre tied with the Phillies' Jimmy Rollins for the NL lead in stolen bases with 46.

Can expect to play better
If Mike Hampton isn't better than a 5.41 ERA and 122 strikeouts in 203 innings, the Rockies might as well stay home for the summer. A sub-4.00 ERA would be nice, but realistically a 4.40 ERA in 220 innings would suffice. Whether or not Coors is a lost cause, Hampton must improve on his 5.10 road ERA. One cause for concern: Kile posted a 5.20 ERA in his first year with the team before sliding all the way to a 6.61 ERA the next year.

Can expect to play worse
Juan Uribe is a terrific prospect, but the 21-year-old shortstop's bat wasn't expected to be this good this fast. Uribe hit .300 in 69 games with the Rockies, including a .269 average and hit five of his eight home runs on the road. On the down side, he struck out 55 times while walking just eight times. Pitchers will learn to keep him chasing if he's not going to work the count.

Projected lineup
CF Juan Pierre
2B Jose Ortiz
RF Larry Walker
1B Todd Helton
LF Todd Hollandsworth / Benny Agbayani
3B Todd Zeile
SS Juan Uribe
C Ben Petrick/Gary Bennett

Rotation
Mike Hampton
Denny Neagle
John Thomson
Shawn Chacon
Scott Elarton

Closer
Jose Jimenez

A closer look
The numbers column at the top of this page lists Colorado as the National League's most adept run scorers. Slugging their way to 923 runs and a plus-17 run differential should have translated to a better record than 73-89 (82-80 according to their Pythagorean winning percentage). Why the difference between expected and actual success? Buddy Bell and Colorado's pitching staff get plenty of blame, but that vaunted offense failed on a number of counts.

The Rockies scored 76 more runs than any other NL team, 105 more than anyone but Houston, yet 10 NL teams scored more road runs. Colorado scored 59.6 percent of their runs in Coors Field's cozy confines. No other team in the league scored more than 55 percent of their runs at home, and only St. Louis and Montreal topped even 53 percent. The Rockies scored just 4.6 runs per game on the road; throw out three outbursts of 14-or-more runs and the number drops to 4.17. It's unreasonable to expect a pitching staff with such an inordinately tough task at home to post road numbers in a class with the Diamondbacks, Braves and Mets. Too many numbers? Put it this way, mediocre hitting and average pitching aren't going to win many road games.

Todd Helton, Ben Petrick and Juan Pierre were the only Rockies with at least 200 at-bats in either of the last two seasons to post road averages within 30 points of their home averages. Neither Helton nor Pierre was able to duplicate the feat in the other season. Only Petrick's pedestrian .244 home average last season earned him entry to the club. Extend the search beyond the last two seasons, and the field is littered with players like Kurt Abbott, Henry Blanco and Darryl Hamilton routinely hitting 100-plus points higher at home. So what are fans to do this year if youngsters Petrick, Pierre, Jose Ortiz and Juan Uribe struggle on the road? Are these players' abilities overstated based on inflated home statistics, or do they have a legitimately difficult task in adjusting to baseball at lower altitudes? It may be a little of both; in the end, the franchise is too young to provide much more than anecdotal evidence.

Dante Bichette, Vinny Castilla and to a lesser extent, Andres Galarraga are often mentioned as examples of Coors Field's propensity for creating paper superstars, but that talk isn't entirely fair. Neither Bichette nor Galarraga suffered as much as expected after leaving Coors. Bichette hit .298 with an .895 OPS in his final season in Colorado (1999) and .294 with an .827 OPS the next season. His overall home run total dropped from 34 to 23, but his road total dropped from 14 to eight home runs, suggesting age had as much to do with the decline as altitude. The story is similar for Galarraga, whose OPS actually rose after leaving Coors, from .974 in 1997 to .992 in 1998.

On the other hand, Jeff Cirillo and Jeffrey Hammonds were both established hitters on the right side of 30 when they arrived in Colorado, yet both saw their road numbers plummet. Cirillo hit .315 in 620 road at-bats his last two seasons with Milwaukee, but he hit .239 on the road during his first season with the Rockies (and .403 in Denver). In 2001, those splits closed to .266 and .362 respectively, but that's still an enormous gap. Hammonds hit .298 in 299 at-bats the two seasons prior to joining Colorado, noticeably higher than his home average for those years. His road average dropped to .275 with the Rockies. Even more telling was Hammonds' 1.116 home OPS in Colorado, compared to a .740 road OPS. Hammonds remains an enigma, but would Cirillo receive nearly the respect he does had his career begun in Colorado?

Believe it or not, the Rockies aren't scoring enough runs at Coors Field. However much a change in altitude hurts, Colorado's good hitters are still better on the road than their mediocre peers. Getting Helton to repeat 2000's road numbers would be nice, but last season's road numbers will suffice if surrounded by similar efforts. Hitters like Brian Giles, Cliff Floyd or Ivan Rodriguez ought to be targets, even if the cost includes Hampton. As others have suggested, Dan O'Dowd needs to build for more offense, not pitching and defense. An investment in hitting not only further strengthens the team's home-field advantage, it gives the offense more wiggle room away from home. Until then, this team won't get much more than frequent flyer miles out of their road trips.

Graham Hays is a fantasy games editor at ESPN.com