In Colorado's Coors Field, pitching dissolves like a sand castle at high tide. The Rockies still had to try to build layers in their bullpen this winter. The team should have a spectacular offense, with so much depth that masher Trevor Story might bat sixth or seventh. Colorado also might have the best collection of young starters ever assembled by the franchise.

The relief corps was a mess last year, however, with the majors' worst ERA, at 5.13. Opposing hitters had a .797 OPS against the Colorado bullpen -- or, in short, it was as if other teams sent a bunch of Buster Poseys (.796 OPS) to the plate.

So the Rockies have spent in ways that other teams would not spend. If you were to poll MLB executives and ask them about the most shocking signings of the winter, No. 1 might be Colorado's decision to give up the eleventh overall pick in the draft and $70 million to sign Ian Desmond to play a position he has never manned before at first base. The No. 2 shocker might be Colorado's $19 million investment in left-hander Mike Dunn. "With all of the lefties [available] on the market, I'm not sure I'd give that kind of money to [Dunn]," said one evaluator at the time the deal went down.