This is the glove that will replace CarGo in the field. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
With the Colorado Rockies 10 games behind the National League West leading San Francisco Giants and Carlos Gonzalez hitting the disabled list today due to tendinitis in his wrist the Rockies hopes, however small, of making the playoffs are gone.
CarGo tweaked his wrist yesterday against Tommy Hanson and even though he flew with the team to Arizona he ended up on the DL and Eric Young Jr. is back in Rockies uniform for tonight’s game against the Diamondbacks. It is not yet known how long he will be out of the lineup but his absence is going to be costly.
About a month ago I wrote that CarGo might be nothing special at the plate but since I wrote that piece (not saying there is any correlation, but I wouldn’t be surprised if CarGo is a faithful reader of mine…) he is batting .364/.426/.645 and has been the Rockies best batter. In the field he has been his usual Gold Glove self and at the plate he looked like the MVP-caliber player from 2010.
Now the Rockies will be forced to use Ryan Spilborghs more regularly and if you need a stat to quantify the drop in production: CarGo has a WAR of 2.5 in 2011 according to fangraphs and Spilly is actually costing the team wins when he plays because he has a WAR of -0.3.
Now the Rockies are on the road for the next nine games and all of them come against the NL West. The Rockies are five games under .500 on the road and four games under .500 against the NL West in 2011. Since 2008 the Rockies are 115-104 in the second half and some think that those nine games over .500 make them a second half team…I disagree. Take out 2009 when they were 16 games over .500 and they are actually under .500 in the second half three of the past four seasons combined. Think what you will but they weren’t making a run this year and now with CarGo missing at least the next two weeks, including this very important road trip, the season is finished.
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7 comments
1 ping
John
July 23, 2011 at 8:31 AM (UTC -6)
I have noticed whenever someone writes something vastly negative on this site, nearly every time the Rockies come back the next few days and look encouraging. Keep up the negativity guys, it may give the team hope.
To say the season is finished is, well, un-American. The great thing about baseball is the fact that all of the Cinderalla stories, and even the stories when David doesn’t come all the way back against Goliath. Obviously the chances of the Rockies making the playoffs are basically gone but you have some great things to cheer for if you are a true fan. Helton competing for the batting title at age 37 and the development of our younger players is as important for me to watch now as racking up the wins. And Hey! Aaron Cook won last night so anything is possible…In all seriousness keep the hate train coming.
Logan Burdine
July 23, 2011 at 8:56 AM (UTC -6)
And when we write something positive, is that when they look awful? I try to write about reality and right now the reality is that this is an underachieving team that is four games under .500 and nine games out of first. It’s not like we want to be negative, but in case you haven’t noticed, it’s been kind of a negative year.
Also, we’ve been worshiping at the feet of Helton all season, so I don’t know why you would use him as an example.
John
July 24, 2011 at 5:45 PM (UTC -6)
Hey I don’t disagree with what you are writing I just find it interesting in how it’s seemed to correlate. However, to say the playoffs are gone is just foolish…2.2% according to baseball prospectus is about infinitely better than none. I’m just saying that in a world full of hyperbole to say we have NO chance of making the playoffs is just inconsistent writing style. When you bring up numbers like WAR, numbers like the record in the second half, etc. and then come to a matter of fact opinion is inconsistent.
The reason I spoke about Helton is to say that I will enjoy watching him and therefore the season is not over for me as a fan…Never said you disagreed with this fact. Hope that clears that fact up.
I didn’t really realize that a small paragraph in critique of a blog post would get so vehemently defended like I was in the dark about an underachieving team. I even joked about how Aaron Cook finally won a game…That is not a comment made by someone who thinks the team really has a definitive shot at the post season.
Logan Burdine
July 25, 2011 at 9:27 AM (UTC -6)
Geez, it was just a counter. I didn’t like being called a hater, but it’s all good. Many commenters have said much worse than that.
Travis Lay
July 23, 2011 at 2:33 PM (UTC -6)
Heck, I even found a lot of negative in last night’s win! A cup half empty season is my view.
Simone
July 23, 2011 at 7:02 PM (UTC -6)
It’s just painful…and I don’t understand why. Tracy seems to be in love with Wigginton who plays awful defense. So he’s got Stewart beat on offense (not by much) but he’s costing us a ton of runs. He cost us at least 2 runs already tonight, but Tracy wants to keep playing yo-yo with his players.
Also, how long are we going to have to watch Hammel lose games for us? Hello Rockies organization…are you purposely trying to get the Rockies back to the mediocre years? Again, I don’t understand.
What a waste of a year, i’m calling it…i’ll be surprised if the Rockies end up .500
LR
July 24, 2011 at 7:36 PM (UTC -6)
Here’s the thing – The Rox have been over-rated from the beginning. Would love to see them climb back into the race but it’s likely not in the cards. CarGo is too much too lose, third base is a black hole, Ellis has been good, UBaldo not.
Can we please stop calling the Rockies a second half team? |
September 19, 2011 at 10:01 PM (UTC -6)
[...] late July I wrote that the Rockies playoff chances were over. There is a small contingency of people around the sporting world that think the Rockies are a [...]