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The Eight-Hole

Given the Rockies recent struggles at the plate, discussing who should hit eighth might seem a little out of place.  Let’s be honest – when a team scores more than three runs only once over …

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3 Up 3 Down: Much Ado About Tulo

The Rockies dropped to third place in the NL West after finishing their home stand a disappointing 2-4 and following that up by losing 2 of 3 in St. Louis.  The pitching struggles came from …

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Cuddy v Beltran

Prior to the 2012 season the Colorado Rockies were looking for an outfielder to replace the Seth Smith/Ryan Spilborghs combo in right field. The best player available was Carlos Beltran who had just made a …

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Hate the Dodgers? Sure. Hate Matt Kemp? Nope.

There are plenty of Rockies fans who hate the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Rockies don’t really have a rival, in my mind, so depending on which fan you ask you may get a different response …

The Eight-HoleThe Eight-HoleThe Eight-HoleThe Eight-Hole

May 16

The Eight-Hole

Categories:

Rockies, Todd Helton

by Kevin Jordan

Eight hole hitter?

Given the Rockies recent struggles at the plate, discussing who should hit eighth might seem a little out of place.  Let’s be honest – when a team scores more than three runs only once over their last eight games (and nearly get no-hit twice), the last thing they should be worried about is who should be hitting eighth.  But a recent question asked by a reader whether or not Todd Helton should hit eighth led to a couple of interesting ideas about what the eighth hitter should be (not necessarily who).  One person suggested a guy who can drive in runs, another suggested a high on-base percentage guy who can turn over the lineup, a third suggested it doesn’t matter as long as the productive hitters are grouped together higher in the order, and I suggested a speed guy.  Each of these has its merits, but how do we know which one is the best choice?

To answer that, it’s important to know which situation is the most likely to come up and which of these philosophies applies.  I went through all of the Rockies games played through 5/13 this year (38 games) and counted how many times each situation occurred, i.e. number of outs, number of base runners, and where those base runners were.  Below is the number of occurrences for each situation.

 

Bases Empty

Man on 1st

Man on 2nd

Man on 3rd

0 out

1 out

2 out

0 out

1 out

2 out

0 out

1 out

2 out

0 out

1 out

2 out

39

28

21

5

18

8

0

3

4

0

2

5

1st and 2nd

1st and 3rd

2nd and 3rd

Loaded

0 out

1 out

2 out

0 out

1 out

2 out

0 out

1 out

2 out

0 out

1 out

2 out

2

2

3

0

0

4

0

1

1

0

0

3

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May 13

3 Up 3 Down: Much Ado About Tulo

Categories:

Troy Tulowitzki

by The View from 132

The Rockies dropped to third place in the NL West after finishing their home stand a disappointing 2-4 and following that up by losing 2 of 3 in St. Louis.  The pitching struggles came from unexpected sources with Matt Belisle, Jhoulys Chacin, and Rafael Betancourt all recording losses.  Despite Nolan Arenado’s arrival and Todd Helton’s return, the offense also collapsed; averaging just 3.2 R/game over the last three series (4.8 R/game for the season).  Troy Tulowitzki was held out of 3 games due to leg soreness and his absence contributed to Rockies struggles at home – both in run scoring and run prevention.  Here, we take a closer look at Tulowitzki: his playing time, back-up, and future.

1. Are the Rockies too cautious in their handling of Tulowitzki’s recent injuries?

Brendan: No.  Tulo is a major difference maker for the Rockies and it is critical to keep him healthy for the entire year.  If keeping Tulo healthy for August and September means that he can only log 120 games, then that is the cost of doing business with the best shortstop in the game.  As a fan, it is always disappointing to watch a game (especially at the ball park) only to find that Tulo is being held out of the lineup for something as lame as “leg soreness.”  However, I believe that the Rockies are right in taking the long-view with Tulo and doing everything possible to keep him healthy.  The Rockies are a noticeably better team when Tulo is on the field, and I for one would rather see him sit out twice a week in May and June if that will help keep him in the lineup later in the summer. Read the rest of this entry »

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May 11

Cuddy v Beltran

Categories:

Michael Cuddyer, Rockies

by Travis Lay

It's hard not to like Cuddy as a fan. He is great with the fans and hustles his butt off in the field and on the bases. But would Beltran have been better for the team?

Prior to the 2012 season the Colorado Rockies were looking for an outfielder to replace the Seth Smith/Ryan Spilborghs combo in right field. The best player available was Carlos Beltran who had just made a big impact with the San Francisco Giants after being traded mid-season from the New York Mets. Many Rockies fans wanted the team to go after Beltran and figured he could be had for cheap since he has been known for being an injury risk. Instead the organization signed Michael Cuddyer to a three year 30 million dollar deal.

Many thought that Cuddy was overpaid and when the Cardinals signed Beltran for two yeas and $26 million you can count me as one of the fans who thought the Rockies made the wrong decision. Don’t get me wrong, I have loved the energy and enthusiasm Cuddy has brought to the team but if playing time (Cuddy being more reliable than Beltran) was one of the reasons the Rockies signed Cuddy over Beltran, I am guessing that hasn’t turned out to be correct.

After watching Beltran hit another home run against the Rockies and Cuddy on the bench I figured I would check to see who has played more games since the start of 2012. My hunch is that Beltran has been on the field more often. Read the rest of this entry »

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May 08

Hate the Dodgers? Sure. Hate Matt Kemp? Nope.

Categories:

Around Baseball

by Travis Lay

There are plenty of Rockies fans who hate the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Rockies don’t really have a rival, in my mind, so depending on which fan you ask you may get a different response to the question “which NL West team is the biggest rival to the Rockies?”

I bet you get a lot of folks who say Arizona who remember Eric Byrnes and 2007 like it was yesterday. A lot will say the San Francisco Giants because of their recent dominance in the division. And everyone hates big spenders like the New York Yankees, so what happens when a mega-spender is in the same division? Hate the Dodgers. The Padres? Well, no one hates them because they never win.

But as much as you might hate the Los Angeles Dodgers and think Matt Kemp is silly for dating Rhianna at one point (a bigger character flaw, if you ask me, than playing for the Dodgers), you have to like him for this.

Ready the full article on Yahoo!.

 

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5 comments

May 06

Chris who?! Some WAR stats

Categories:

Carlos Gonzalez, Dexter Fowler, Nolan Arenado, Troy Tulowitzki

by Travis Lay

Take all of this for what it is worth – a real small sample size – but it is pretty apparent that the Rockies have a few studs and thankfully they finally made the switch at third base. All stats (pictures) come from Fangraphs.com. (Click on them to make them bigger)

The first picture is comparing all of the Rockies who have played third base this year. Arendao has been a whiz at third with his glove making spectacular plays and his bat has already outpaced the likes of Chris Nelson in a weeks time and half as many plate appearances. (BTW, Nelson was traded to the New York Yankees for a player to be named later.) Even if Arenado doesn’t hit another home run all season he has hit more than Nelson will for the rest of the year – and maybe the rest of his career? Look at those differences in wRC+ and the fielding metric in WAR!

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May 03

3 Up 3 Down:New Faces in New Places

Categories:

Nolan Arenado, Rockies, Roy Oswalt

by The View from 132

Roy Oswalt

One month is officially in the books and the Rockies are in first place in the NL West with a 17-11 mark.  Importantly, the Rockies are 8-8 on the road with a +8 run differential including 6 road wins against divisional foes.  The team made some interesting personnel moves prior to commencing interleague play this week: Roy Oswalt was signed to a minor league deal, Chris Nelson was traded to the Yankees, and Nolan Arenado made his much anticipated major league debut.  Here, we discuss the Oswalt signing, what we expect from Arenado, and if it is time to revise season expectations.

1. What does the Roy Oswalt signing mean for the starting pitchers?

Brendan: Better depth. I believe that an organization needs to have 7 or 8 pitchers capable of starting to make it through a whole season.  Between injuries and poor performance, 5 pitchers are never enough.Add Oswalt to the Chatwood-Pomeranz-Friedrich-Cook back-up quartet and the Rockies are looking at a whole staff of reserves.  Oswalt struggled last year with the Rangers, posting some of the worst numbers of his career (5.80 ERA; 1.525 WHIP).  Even more troublesome is the fact his ground ball rate has been in decline over the past several seasons (0.99 to 0.85 to 0.82) resulting in elevated H/9 and HR/9 (12.1 and 1.7, respectively).  The numbers are ugly, but my biggest concern is that Oswalt’s presence will take a rotation spot away from deserving young player like Pomeranz or Chatwood.Even with the early success, the Rockies need to use this season to see what they have in the young guys to make decisions going forward.  Despite my concerns, I like the signing and it is exciting to watch the Rockies actively try to improve their most obvious weakness. Read the rest of this entry »

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May 02

An April Surprise

Categories:

Rockies

by Kevin Jordan

Mets players "warming up" and playing catch in the snow. Thanks to Thomas Harding for the picture.

Besides the eternally optimistic (and smoke-blowing) Dick Monfort, did anyone think the Rockies would end April on top of the NL West?  Heck, did anyone think they would even be at .500, much less 16-11?  This was a 98-loss team whose biggest off-season acquisition was a middle reliever.  Even die-hard Rockies fans were predicting another season in which the team would flirt with 100 losses, never see the right side of .500 or sniff first place after the first week.  In case you haven’t been following the team, here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly from the first month of the season.  You can decide which is which.

The biggest move of the offseason wasn’t a trade, free agent signing, or contract extension, it was the backstop being moved six feet closer to home plate.  This was done with hardly any media attention and will serve two purposes – one to get the fans a little closer to the action and the other to help negate the myriad of wild pitches and passed balls expected from Wilin Rosario.  The down side of this move is Dinger’s head looking that much larger to whoever is pitching the ninth inning.

Speaking of moves, the biggest player move the Rockies made was trading starting pitcher Alex White to Houston for middle relief pitcher Wilton Lopez.  On the surface, this seemed like an incredibly stupid trade, as Alex White is only 23 years old and very recently a highly ranked prospect.  On the other hand, Lopez is a middle reliever whose arm may or not fall off, depending on who you ask.  As it turns out, White will miss the entire season and some of 2014 due to Tommy John surgery and Lopez has been anything but the groundball-inducing, run preventing monster he was being touted as.  Lopez is currently sporting a 6.17 ERA, 1.80 WHIP and been shellacked for 21 hits in 11 innings.  You be the judge on who’s gotten the worse end of the deal so far. Read the rest of this entry »

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Apr 30

Chris who?

Categories:

Chris Nelson, Nolan Arenado, Rockies

by Travis Lay

Nelson was a liability in the field for the Rockies

In 71 plate appearances in 2013 Chris Nelson had a total of three extra-base hits and none of those three went over the fence.

In 664 plate appearances with the Rockies in total, spanning four seasons, Nelson had hit 13 home runs for the Rockies.

For all of the talk in the Root Sports broadcast booth about how good Nelson was at third base or how he hit for a high average, none of that is or was true. 664 plate appearances is basically one full season for a player who plays every day and hits at or near the top of a lineup. While it is hard to look at 664 plate appearances that span four seasons as one single season it can tell us what Nelson is, as a player: average. And when I say average I mean for a second baseman.

In those 664 plate appearances Nelson’s triple slash was .279/.322/.416. If we put those numbers against the numbers of the third basemen who qualified last year for batting titles Nelson’s average would rank 10th out of 19 players, his on-base percentage would rank 15th out of 19 and his slugging would rank 14th out of 19. Pretty average, right? If we do the same but compare against second basemen he ranks 10th out of 23 in average, 15/23 in OBP and 9/23 in slugging. Much better hitting profile as a second basemen. Read the rest of this entry »

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Apr 27

3 Up 3 Down:On the Road Again

Categories:

Drew Pomeranz, Jeff Francis, Jhoulys Chacin, Juan Nicasio, Tyler Chatwood

by The View from 132

The Rockies finished their snowy home stand with a tidy 6-3 mark capped by a thrilling extra inning win over the MLB leading Braves. Although the Rockies managed to hold on to first place in the NL West, the week was not without adversity: Jeff Francis continued his transformation into the baby-faced Jamie Moyer, Jon Garland was roughed up for the first time this year, and the injury bug bit JhoulysChacinand Todd Helton. The Rockies are 3-4 on the road against division foes this year,as they head out on another NL West road trip where they finished with an 11-25 mark last year.Here, we discuss Chacin’s injury, Francis’s future, and what we are expecting as the Rockies head west.

1. How concerning is JhoulysChacin’s trip to the DL?

Brendan:Somewhat. All the reports have said that he is fine and the oblique is not the issue, which is a huge relief. I expect Chacin to return quickly and I do not think that this will be a lingering problem once the weather warms up. Although the long-term outlook is good, the short-term is worrisome. Chacin has been dominant so far and losing him puts more pressure on the whole staff, but I think it is really on Nicasio. DLR has pitched well enough to be a top of the rotation starter and Garland-Francis-Chatwood are clearly back end guys at this point. That leaves Nicasio as the guy who needs to step up from the latter group to the former. His fastball is electric, and when he is commanding the zone he can be very good. Command, however,has been the problem, and the lack thereof has resulted in elevated pitch counts and early exits. Thankfully, Chacin should be back at full strength relatively quickly, but in the meantime I’m nervously looking at Nicasio to pick up the slack and get some quality starts. Read the rest of this entry »

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Apr 24

“Crafty” Rockies pitchers toss BP in the cold

Categories:

Jeff Francis, Jon Garland, Rockies

by Travis Lay

DFA?

Yesterday I was stuck listening to the Rockies games on the radio or watching on MLB At Bat or MLB Gameday. Work interfered with the first game and then my kid got in the way of the second game. Both semi-decent excuses for not watching, right?

Ya, I don’t think so either. I’ll do better next time.

What was with Walt Weiss letting Jeff Francis bat in the bottom of the fourth inning and then not even walking him out to the mound in the top of the fifth? What a waste of an out and by far my biggest pet peeve while Jim Tracy was managing. Let’s hope that was the first and last time that Weiss does this.

Anyway, while listening to the radio Jerry and Jack kept referring to Francis as a “crafty lefty”, aka, he sucks. When a broadcaster refers to a pitcher as “crafty” they are just avoiding saying that he sucks and that he basically throws soft toss softball. When Francis’ tops out in the mid-80′s with his fastball even the cold weather can’t keep hitters in the park. Jon Garland basically throws the same stuff so the Atlanta Braves saw a soft toss, ground-ball inducing (on a good day) lefty in the first game followed by the same type of pitcher, but from the right, in the night cap. Read the rest of this entry »

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