Its been a long offseason, and while my trip and coverage of Spring Training helped me not get too bored without baseball, it is nice that the Regular Season is only hours away hours away. I mean, seriously it has been like seven whole months since the Rockies last played a Regular Season game, let’s go guys! While the Rockies have not made any huge moves, and have stayed safe by not getting rid of too many players, they have still made a significant amount of moves around their roster. Some of the biggest moves have come to the Rockies’ rotation and bullpen.

I want to start my ROCKIES 2012 SEASON PREVIEW coverage off with a look at the man who will be involved in every play tomorrow as the Rockies take on the Astros. He is a pitcher, and the Rockies’ number 1 at that. I think that the Rockies new starter, Jeremy Guthrie may be the most important pick-up for the Rockies this offseason. Guthrie is coming to the Rockies from the Baltimore Oriels, where he has played many of  his major league games. To illustrate his amount of games with the Oriels and Cubs, I can pull out this quote from Guthrie; “My first two starts will be in parks I’ve never been to, let alone pitched in, so there will be a lot of new experiences”. So, Guthrie may have not had to deal with changing teams in the Majors before, but it seems to me that Guthrie is adjusting well. Guthrie is already set to be the Rockies’ number 1 starter, and to pitch tomorrow. Guthrie is a fun character with a great sense of humor and a great man to have around.

This offseason, the Rockies have focused a lot on getting good clubhouse chemistry, and Guthrie is a great guy to help all the pieces fit together. Guthrie seems like an all around good guy. Oh wait, have I complimented Jeremy Guthrie yet? As you can tell I like the guy. With the Oriels he played good, he has a great personality, and is the Rockies’ first starter. But there is one thing I am forgetting to say. You would not want to have to fill Jeremy Guthrie’s shoes.

He has a lot of them. In fact, Jeremy has so many, he has his on vault for them; that’s right, his own personal “Shoe Vault”. He once even did a video interview with MLB Network from in his vault of shoes. Guthrie has in his possession of hundreds of Nike shoes, and it doesn’t seem like he will need to stop buying them if he continues to have success in MLB.

While Guthrie may be an avid Nike collector, he also showed off another cool piece of apparel at a Rockies game this Spring Training. He pitched well for a large Saint Patrick’s day crowd while showing off a green glove. It was a cool glove, and the bases were also green for the special day, while even the Dodgers broke out “Dodger green” (has anyone said that before?) uniforms to go with the theme. A picture I took at this game shows  Guthrie’s green glove, and a green first base on the diamond a Salt River Fields at Talking Stick.

The Rockies did win this game with a walk-off bomb from Tim Wheeler, so it seems the Rockies did have a bit of good luck from Saint Patrick.

So, given Guthrie is the Rockies’ number 1 starter he will be starting Opening Day at the age of 31. But by the time his next start rolls around, Guthrie will be 32. Guthrie, whose birthday falls on Sunday, will face off against the Astro’s Wandy Rodriguez as he starts off the Rockies’ 2012 Regular Season in Houston Texas. Some fans may be sad that the Rockies don’t open at home this year, but on the other hand, this may be the last season the Rockies face the Astros for a while, as the Astros are scheduled to move to the American League next year. About the Rockies’ pitching staff in 2012, even Guthrie said; “Its kind of a recipe for success, hopefully, and one that can go for a few years in a row.”

Guthrie has been relatively successful in his good time in the Major Leagues, as last year he pitched for a 4.33 ERA and a 9-17 record. His last season with the Oriels was not ideal, but I bet he can do better, perhaps with a change of scenery. Just to put that in context next to the Rockies, If Guthrie had been a Rockies pitcher last year, he would have had the second-lowest  ERA on the team but the second-highest Total Wins.

But I’ll try to give him the benefit of the doubt. After all he has a Shoe Vault, Green Glove, great personality and a strong arm. It will just be nice to see Guthrie on the mound tomorrow as he shows off the best piece of apparel he may wear tomorrow, a Rockies uniform. The best of luck to you, Guthrie!, rockingroxfan