After briefly testing the free agent waters this off-season, Jorge de la Rosa re-signed with his 2010 team. On the surface that signing shouldn't do much for his value one way or the other, although staying with the team that hosted his breakout season(s) might speak to his comfort level in the thin air of the Rocky Mountains. More important than the landing place for de la Rosa is the fact that he seems to be a pitcher willing and able to adjust.
After four middling seasons to start his career, de la Rosa went to the Rockies in 2008 and immediately started using his slider more than twice as much as he had, at the same time minimizing his curveball usage. It was a smart move as his K rate spiked and his xFIP plummeted. 2010 seems to have been another adjustment year for Jorge, as he started to turn a lot of his fastballs and curveballs into changeups, boosting his O-Swing% by a lot and his swinging strike % a hair.
Jorge definitely has some red flags as a fantasy pitcher--he has definite control issues and has shown an inability to strand runners over his career--but he's also shown that he can strike out batters at an elite rate (9.39 K/9 in '09) and get ground balls more than 50% of the time (52.3% in 2010.) Don't be surprised if 2011 is the year that he can approach 200 strikeouts while dropping his ERA under 4.00.
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