YOUR Colorado Rockies, Part II: Electric Bugaloo

Part II in the series chronicling the Rockies potential 2009 lineup. Check out Part I. WWCD = What Will Clint Do.

1. CF - Ryan Spilborghs
   The departure of Willy Taveras means that Spilly and his awesome facial hair are officially taking over in center field. Also, the Rockies are left without a prototype lead-off man. Spilly is an upgrade over Taveras offensively, as he'll get on base more and produce more extra base hits to start games. He is average defensively and will cover far less ground than Willy in center field. This is a trade the Rockies are obviously willing to make. I say this assuming that the front office realizes that Taveras is even gone.
   WWCD: Clint Barmes


2. 1B - Todd Helton
   While his power has clearly decreased since the Mitchell Repor-- uh, I mean stomach virus a few year ago, Helton is still the best contact hitter and OBP guy on the squad. He'll be a part of roughly 83 double plays if he hits in the 2-hole, but Rockies fans will take that if it comes with a .300 average and 100+ walks.
   WWCD: Troy Tulowitzki


3. 3B - Garrett Atkins
   Clint Hurdle is a fool if he doesn't hit Atkins third. I say this knowing he will probably bad Todd Helton third. Because he is a fool.
   WWCD: Todd Helton


4. RF - Brad Hawpe
   Again, the young-ish lefty deserves a chance in the middle of the order. Give him the opportunity to succeed and see what he does.
   WWCD: Atkins


5. SS - Troy Tulowitzki
   The 5-spot might be the ideal place for Young Tulo to blossom into a productive RBI guy for the Rockies. There's less early-game pressure than hitting #2 and historically there's a lower expectation to produce than there is in the 3 or 4 slot. He might not be ready to bat any higher than this and he's too good to bat any lower.
   WWCD: Hawpe


6. C - Chris Iannetta
   I reference the stats listed in Part I: "Ianetta hit .391 with a .506 OBP with RISP and 2 outs last year. Conversation over."
   WWCD: Spilborghs


7. LF - Ian Stewart
   Right now the Rockies don't have anyone listed as a left fielder, which leads one to assume the position is up for grabs. Stewart proved his bat belongs in the bigs last year, so if he can prove he can catch fly balls in left, he would round out a dangerous top 7 in the batting order for the Rockies. Being a slightly above-average third baseman, he should be able to make the transition fairly easily.
   WWCD: Iannetta


8. 2B - Clint Barmes
   Again, for lack of a better option, Barmes will probably be the guy to win the job coming out of spring training.
   WWCD: Leftfielder who isn't as good as Ian Stewart.

Starting Rotation:

1. Aaron Cook
   WWCD: Cook


2. Jeff Francis
   WWCD: Francis


3. Jason Marquis
   The Rox went out and got Jason Marquis last week, who is the dictionary definition of a number 4 starter... which means he's a number three starter on this team. The Rox are hoping for a repeat of his 2004 season when he went 15-7 with a 3.71 ERA in 201 innings. They also hope for a repeat of losing to the Red Sox in the World Series. Having done that already, Marquis seems like a logical pickup.
   WWCD: Marquis
   
4. Ubaldo Jimenez
   Baldy, if you're reading this, stop it and go practice throwing the ball over the plate.
   WWCD: Jimenez


5. Greg Smith
   WWCD: Smith

The Bullpen:

• Lefty Specialist - Alan Embree
  What did I say last time? "All of the Rockies lefty pitchers are starters or long-relievers. Dan O'Dowd, go get yourself an Arthur Rhodes." Lo and behold O'Dowd signs Alan Embree, also known as the white Arthur Rhodes. Totally unspectacular signing, but much needed.

WWCD: Embree

• Setup Man - Manny Corpas
  WWCD: Corpas
  
• Closer - Huston Street
  It's looking less and less like the Rockies are going to flip Street, which is great. I have high hopes for Street this season and think that he'll be a reliable closer for the Rockies in 2009.
  WWCD: Street

Rockies Sign Embree; Add Facial Hair, Terrible Wardrobe To Bullpen

The Rockies blew the doors off of the winter meetings yesterday, signing journeyman and WORLD SERIES CHAMPION Alan Embree to a one-year deal. Rumor has it that a trade of Willy Taveras to the Washington Nationals is imminent.

With the departure of Brian Fuentes, Embree is now the go-to lefty specialist in the Rockies bullpen. Embree has had a serviceable if unspectacular career amassing a 4.55 ERA over his 15-years of service. Embree now joins Huston Street in the Rockies bullpen, both of whom played the last couple of years in Oakland.

Taveras is rumored to be traded for Nats starter Tim Redding, meaning Ryan Spilborghs has all but won the starting centerfield spot.

It's really amazing to watch this team at work in the off-season. I mean, where else but in Colorado are the months of November and December more exciting than the regular season?! I would much rather be here, with the excited feeling of sitting at a Caribbean Stud Poker table in Vegas, than have the blasé feeling of contentment knowing that perennial Cy Young contenders C.C. Sabathia or Frakie Rodriguez would be joining the squad. Seriously, I'm wicked excited.

Grimace Returns

I read this morning that the Rockies have brought back Don Baylor, this time as a hitting coach.

Baylor was the team's manager from day one in 1993 until 1998. His totals with the Rockies were 440-469, giving him a success rate of about 48%. Let's compare that with our current fearless leader, Clint Hurdle. Hurdle's current managerial record is 516-597, about a 46% victory rate.

So why exactly did this happen? Is the front office trying to put the pressure on Hurdle by having a man with a slightly better, but still medicore, winning percentage looming over his shoulder? Do they genuinely think that Baylor will be able to help the team out? Did they simply miss his gentlemanly nature around the club house? Did they lose a bet?

This is the second "major" move the Rockies have made this off-season. And the second head-scratcher. Most fans would like to see their team taking active steps to move forward. To grow their team into a contender. To get their team in the newspaper so other people outside the zip code know they exist. Instead the Rockies have dumped their best player and hired a guy they fired 10 years ago. Nice.

Dear Rockies,

WTF?

Patiently Waiting For You To Make Some Gad'dum Sense,
JB

Holliday Season

TJ said:

And that my friends, is the business of baseball. If this were Football, Basketball, Hockey or even Major League Soccer, Holliday would have been signed to a long term deal years ago. But if the Rox are gonna compete in the NL West, pitching is vastly more important that the long ball. So IF the Rox actually picked up a decent starter and a decent closer, we are already miles ahead of last years poor first half.

What an interesting move for Oakland. This is the team that let Giambi and Tejada go years before steroids allegations surfaced. They let Barry Zito go to SF and promptly lay an egg. They let Tim Hudson go and they traded Dan Haren to Arizona. And yet, Holliday is the guy they actually go after. Kinda makes you wonder if the big fish got away. What really sucks is the fact that Oakland will be able to make the offer the Rockies had hoped to make: Take less money and we will build a core of young talent around you. But if the A’s picked him up just to shop him around, what a fantastic move on their part. The Yankees, Red Sox, and especially the Angels will get a much better look at him and his numbers should improve by playing in the pitching weak AL west.

Anyone remember Matt’s speech after being named NLCS mvp? It went along the lines of “Thanks to the Good lord and my teammates..”. That just doesn’t sound like someone who is going to spend his thirties dealing with the east coast media. So I am holding out hope that the A’s trade him, he wins a world series, and somehow decides to come back to Colorado. For those who subscribe, the lord has been known to work in mysterious ways….

I say:

I’ll take a little more cynical view of the situation… Over the last several years the Rockies front office kept saying “bear with us, we’re doing something here.” Many of us were skeptical, but when things came to fruition in 2007 it made O’Dowd and Monforts look, if only for three months, like they knew what they were doing. I think many Rox fans were more disappointed in how 2008 went than the players and management. That’s just the impression that I got from player reactions throughout the regular season and how the front office has handled the beginning to this off-season. Matt Holliday was a the face of this franchise. He’s in Nike ads with the likes of LaDanian Tomlinson and might be the most recognizable Denver celebrity other than Melo. That doesn’t necessarily win ballgames, but attention tends to attract more talent, TV stations, and butts in the seats (all that equals revenue, kids!).

More importantly, Holliday was the cornerstone of the rebuilding movement and proof that if we stayed the course, we could develop our own talent. A couple of years ago people were already worrying about the day that we would have to give up homegrown talent that exceeded our mid-market price range. The hope was that rather than see the players just take off for free agency, we could at least get some decent talent in return. My problem with the trade is that there isn’t anyone remotely close to the star power of Holliday coming from the A’s. True, pitching is more important than hitting, especially in the NL West, but mediocre pitching is more of a liability. I would like to have seen the Rox do a 2-for-1 or 1-for-1 trade for better pitching talent. The bottom line is that the Rockies lost their best player and replaced him with three middle-of-the-road players that might wind up doing more harm than good. I hope, as fans, we don’t give these guys (players and front office) a pass for 2007. Instead we should be holding them accountable for going back to practices that had this franchise in the crapper just a few years ago (The Jeromy Burnitz Era).

The line to say that trade sucked starts here.

Philadelphia No Longer Stands

The Phillies won the World Series last night. Good for all of us, I say. One less east coast city that can bitch and moan about not winning a championship.

One thing I don't yet fully understand is the rioting after winning a sporting event. I can understand a riot after losing; even players throw gear and smash up locker rooms after a tough loss. But after a win? Sure, go out and celebrate! Dance in the streets! Pee in the alleys! Drink til you puke blood! I just don't understand the euphoria that comes from tearing down a street sign. "I TOTALLY JUST FUCKED UP SOMEONE'S MAPQUEST TRIP TOMORROW! WOO, GO PHILLIES!" (To all you doubters out there: I've actually torn down a road sign before, not because of a sporting event. It's not too exciting).

That being said, I would love to see a pro sports team completely trash their own stadium after winning. Just get fucking blitzed and start fights with each other. And the whole thing should be televised so we can see the progression from the gay-porn champagne showers to bludgeoning each other with broken bottles and baseball bats.

Anyway, if fans are going to riot, Americans really need to take some notes from the soccer hooligans across the pond:



Throw a scooter next time Phussies.

Make It Rain

The thing I love about baseball is that you never ever know what the hell is going to happen. It seems like such a monotonous sport: A dude throws the ball 150 times and sometimes the other dude swings and every once in awhile someone gets to run around the bases. How can something that seems so boring on the surface present us with so much drama?

Up until Monday night, the Rays/Phillies World Series wasn't really worth watching. Ever sice Game 5 of the ALCS, the Rays have looked more like the Kevin Stocker-led Devil Rays of old than the Longoria/Upton Long Ball Experience that we've seen over the last month. The Phillies are one of those east coast teams that no one really cares about unless they're from Philly. Don't get me wrong, I respect Philly fans and I think they deserve a championship, but the team doesn't have the personality and mass appeal of the who-are-these-kids-with-mohawks Rays.

So with the Phillies ahead in the series 3-1 and Phillies ace Cole Hamels on the mound, Rupert Murdoch made a call to his homey Zeus. Before you could say November sweeps, Fox was airing a mess of a game in Philly.

The craziest part about the whole situation was that the powers that be (Bud Selig and both managers) knew what weather was coming and that the game would go nine innings, even if it took multiple days. The result was the sport's first ever suspended World Series game and a wholly enjoyable train wreck.

Tonight they will finish the game (I assume), and Fox will air roughly one hour of baseball after the thirty-minute time slot purchased by Barack Obama. It would be safe to say that the ratings for tonight's game innings will be higher than the portion aired on Monday. This never-before-seen situation has not only given semi-fans a reason to watch the game, but it has also given the media a couple of days to hype up the drama surrounding what will be the pivotal game of the Fall Classic.