I wonder if O'Dowd wants Stewart back?
How are the Rockies fairing so far in 2012 vs some of the players they didn’t re-sign or traded away this past offseason?
Catcher
The Rockies have combined to hit .223/.264/.473 (.304 wOBA), 9 home runs and 0.5 WAR
Chris Iannetta has only played in 26 games with a .197/.312/.395 (.309 wOBA), 3 HR and 0.4 WAR
Third base
Rockies: .236/.298/.356 (.283 wOBA), 3 HR and -0.1 WAR
Ian Stewart: .206/.288/.351 (.277 wOBA), 4 HR and 0.1 WAR
Right field
Rockies: .279/.320/.481 (.344 wOBA), 7 HR and 0.4 WAR
Seth Smith: (37 games) .238/.371/.366 (.331 wOBA), 3 HR and 0.4 WAR
Starting pitching
Rockies: 207 2/3 IP, 7.02 K/9, 3.68 BB/9, 1.26 HR/9, 4.98 ERA, 4.57 FIP, 2.0 WAR
Ubaldo Jimenez: 46 IP, 5.48 K/9, 6.26 BB/9, 1.17 HR/9, 5.09 ERA, 5.60 FIP, -0.2 WAR
Jason Hammel: 43 2/3 IP, 8.45 K/9, 2.89 BB/9, 0.62 HR/9, 2.68 ERA, 2.95 FIP, 1.2 WAR
Kevin Millwood: 49 2/3 IP, 6.34 K/9, 3.62 BB/9, 0.36 HR/9, 4.17 ERA, 3.35 FIP, 1.0 WAR
If Dan O’Dowd was looking to upgrade at the catcher position, he did not. Iannetta is providing just as much offensive production as the Wilin Rosario and Ramon Hernandez are for the Rockies. Iannetta was a favorite around these parts last year and when he was traded for Tyler Chatwood the confusion set in. Chatwood has thrown a grand total of eight innings for the Rockies this year and is currently pitching in AAA. In other words the Rockies traded away a guy who is playing just as good this year as the current players for a AAA player. Loss.
Stewart was bad last year, I know. I also know he wasn’t given a fair shake at third by Jim Tracy last year either. Now the Rockies have no one at third (Jordan Pacheco is NOT the answer) and Stewart is out producing the current Rockies third basemen while playing in Chicago. Oh, and since April 30th Stewart is batting .268/.369/.482 in 17 games; he is heating up without the worry of being sent to AAA. The Cubs hit him fifth or sixth everyday and he is starting to respond. What did the Rockies get in return for Stewart? The Rockies did get Tyler Colvin (and DJ LeMahieu). Colvin has obviously been pretty good for the Rockies this year. I would say the trade is even at this point but I have a feeling we will look back at this trade at the end of the year and the Cubs will have the better side.
In right field is the Rockies big money offseason signing: Michael Cuddyer. When comparing those who have played right field for the Rockies this year versus Smith the Rockies have more power (in more games) and a better average but Smith carries a pretty lofty on-base percentage (and we know Billy Beane loves a good OBP). If we look at pure value Smith has been worth as many wins in 2012 in fewer games than Rockies right fielders. The Rockies traded Smith for Josh Outman and Guillermo Moscoso. We saw how awful Moscoso was in two starts this year and Outman has been hurt. As of now this is another trade the Rockies lost. Add in the expensive Cuddyer contract and it is even worse.
Banging on the starting pitching isn’t almost even fair at this point: the Rockies pitching has sucked. I could take almost any pitcher in baseball and their stats will look better than the Rockies starting pitching stats. Except Ubaldo. What a fall. From being compared to Bob Gibson through the first half of 2010 to being awfully close to pitching his way out of baseball nearly two calendar years later. How much longer can the Cleveland Indians continue to start a guy with an ERA over five? And according to FIP he should actually be WORSE! The Rockies easily won this trade and if Drew Pomeranz and Alex White develop into pitchers that contribute for even a few years the trade between O’Dowd and Indians GM Chris Antonetti is going to look like one of the biggest heists in recently memory.
Take this for what it is worth: comparing small sample sizes, but it is interesting how it is pretty apparent that O’Dowd hasn’t improved this team over the roster from last year. Not at all.
(I don’t like worrying about the closer. I think the importance put on a guy to get three outs in the ninth inning when his team might be winning by as many as three runs is ridiculous. But Rafael Betancourt has a 3.00 ERA in 15 IP and has one blown save in eight save chance while Huston Street has a 0.93 ERA in 9 2/3 IP and has converted all four save opportunities.)
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5 comments
Simone
May 19, 2012 at 6:08 PM (UTC -6)
It’s so funny…everytime the Rockies lose now I just play “Another one bites the dust” by Queens on YouTube.
I think my neighbors are starting to think i’m gay from all the Queens songs i’ve been playing. LOL!
TroyF
May 20, 2012 at 9:00 AM (UTC -6)
I’m NOT defending DOD here. Please don’t tell me I am. But I do find a couple of problems with the post above.
1) Ian Stewart
OK, so he has had a nice 17 game stretch in May. His triple slash is still what you have it up there as. You want horror? Try this triple slash: .130/.254/.222 That’s Ian with runners on base this year. Or how about this 0-5 with 5 strikeouts. That’s Ian with the bases loaded. Now I do not think we necessarily “won” the trade. Colvin is going to cool off, there is no way he can sustain this average with 2 bb to 23 K. But Ian had to go.
Beyond that, we all know what the plan at third was/is this year. Have Nelson, Pacheco, etc hold the fort until the kid is ready. We all understand that as a baseball move, right?
By the way, Pacheco isn’t the answer, but he’s A LOT better than what he’s shown. His BAPIP is .238. Last year it was .301. Look for a hot streak soon.
2) Ianetta
This one REALLY frustrates me. I have zero idea why they did what they did. Why not keep Ianetta and bring up Rosario? Whatever. Still, how can you call the move a “loss?” Hernandez is making a whopping 3.2 million a year. Ianetta makes 3.5 millioin this year and has a 5 million option next year. So if they are equal in terms of WAR, then the Rockies come out WAY ahead in getting a 22 year old prospect out of the deal. Chatwood is a 22 year old kid. From everything I’ve read, at worst he should be a long reliver in the big, but most think he can be a back of the rotation starter. Again, it’s not a net loss in the short term and in the long term it’s a clear win. The only way it isn’t is if Ianetta outperforms Rockies catchers by a good margain.
By the way, Rosario has also dealt with a lot of bad luck. BABIP of .205. Even with that, take a look at his month of May. A .735 SLG and an OPS of 1.033. The average still sucks, but he looks like the real deal to me on offense. (I think he should be our long term 1B, but that’s for another time)
Other than that, I agree with most of this. Cuddyer was a poor signing, even if I like the guy. He’s not worth his contract now and 2 years from today the contract will look especially bad.
The pitching is a disaster, though I really think if we just stick with the kids, things will turn out better. Friedrich, White, Pomeranz, Nicasio, Chatwood, etc. I think patience is important with these guys. I believe at least 3 of them will be long term pieces of the rotation and three of them (Nicasio, Pomeranz, Friedrich) have a shot at being top 3 starters. So much has been made about the pitching that I don’t think people realize just how bad we are offensively.
I know the fire sale is coming soon. I just hope the “firings” happen before that.
Pete
May 20, 2012 at 12:24 PM (UTC -6)
I agree totally with your article. It is too early to go player by player and decide who is or isn’t better, but of all the trade activity that took place last year and in the off season, most of it produced a net loss of value. Simply put, we gave away much more than we got. Then, in an off season where we needed to address some significant holes in the lineup, we ignored two of them, patched the hole at second, and declared ourselves better because of “club house chemistry” or some such nonsense. Third base? Totally ignored. Starting pitching? Mostly ignored, but throw in an older mediocre veteran and declare him the “ace”, then promote several minor leaguers into the rotation who haven’t been much above average at AA or AAA, and declare us ready to compete. And, of course, why stop there? Why not go out and pay for an expensive free agent to add to our large pile of outfielders that we can’t find playing time for now. And we continue to pretend that Helton is an elite first baseman when that hasn’t been the case for years. ARRRRGH! We are wasting the 5-7 core years of Tulo and Cargo at the height of their careers together. We have to surround them with good and great players NOW, not start over and be crappy for five years. This is very frustrating.
Pete
May 21, 2012 at 10:00 AM (UTC -6)
TroyF, I agree that we have some promising hitters and some arms currently in the minors, but the other thing the trades did was leave us totally vulnerable on defense. Stewart is superb with the glove and his absence has affected not just third, but I fear short as well. Tulo now has more ground to cover as our current third sackers simply have less range than Stewart by far. Tulo’s errors may be connected. Pacheco will not be more than avg defensively at third, and he has work to do to get there.
Catcher is even worse. I think Iannetta was a little better defensively than Hernandez, but even if you call them even, Chris is a lot younger, Ramon isn’t going to get better or even remain the same, he looks and acts old. Rosario is exciting to watch at bat, but his defense is brutal and I really think he has “stone hands”. The ball constantly clanks off his glove, every game, every pitcher. Even Montero looked smooth compared to Rosario behind the plate in the seattle series, and the critics feel his catching isn’t good either. Rosario has to hit big time to make up for his defense, it is awful.
The trades just seemed to make us older, slower and worse defensively. Maybe down the road some of the pitchers will work out, but I fear we can’t waste the time waiting for that to happen.
Troyf
May 21, 2012 at 7:07 PM (UTC -6)
I can deal with just about any criticism of dod, but I cannot stomach the Stewart love. The guy is horrible. He has had 1400 plate appearances and he cannot hit.
Ok, do he can field, I do not give a crap. He cannot hit. He never will hit.
I understand defense is part of the game, but the real reason to destroy DOD and the rest of the idiots in the front office is the age of this team. Helton, Scutaro, Hernandez, Cuddyer, Moyer, Guthrie. . . How many flipping 33 or over guys do we need?
The housecleaning should have already started. We are now the third worst team in the game (and there is zero doubt in my mind the Twins and Cubs would throttle us now) Man alive, this team sucks.