He's not going anywhere, unless O'Dowd just hates Denver, which might be possible.
Over the weekend, Dan O’Dowd went on a political style campaign tour to make sure everyone listening knows that the state of the Rockies’ pitching is Coors Field’s fault. That’s the way it seemed anyway. First, the great Jerry Crasnick of ESPN published a story about how Coors Field is playing like Coors Field pre-humidor days. At least, that’s what Dan O’Dowd claimed to Crasnick. (It’s worth noting that I also had a piece on the Rockies for ESPN that was published as a side post to Crasnick’s. It’s about defense, which I’ve written about on here plenty of times, but it might be worth a read anyway.) And secondly, DOD gave a rather gas inducing interview to KOA’s Rockies Dugout on Saturday, which was recapped here by Chris.
These two interviews left me with the impression that the Rockies’ beleaguered GM is frustrated, disappointed, a little angry, flippant, and most of all completely without answers as to how to turn this thing around. They were not confidence inspiring interviews, to put it lightly.
Dan O’Dowd, the Monforts, and Jim Tracy need to stop using Coors Field as an excuse. Do they have an uphill battle because of the conditions of their home park? Almost certainly, but it’s pretty foolish to spout off about how Coors is back at pre-humidor offensive levels when you ignored the importance of GB% and defense this past off-season. We may not know everything there is to know about playing baseball at altitude, but we do know a couple of things for sure – you have to play excellent defense and it really helps to keep the ball out of the air as much as possible. I don’t know if O’Dowd was out to disprove this or what, but the additions of Guthrie and Cuddyer seem to indicate that he doesn’t believe those two things to be true. Essentially, he claims that he hasn’t been able to figure anything out about Coors during his decade plus tenure as GM. Of course, us peons can’t understand that, but DOD assures us that’s because we don’t live Coors baseball like he does.
Not to mention, even if the home stadium is playing like it is 1995 again – which I don’t believe for the record – you have to stop talking about it. This is the hand they’ve been dealt. The stadium is new and beautiful and probably the number one reason why their attendance is so solid despite the team being pure garbage. They can’t put a dome on it and they aren’t moving from Colorado. Tailor the team to fit, and instead of bemoaning how tough Coors is on the pitching staff, start talking about how it is a tough place for opposing teams to play. When the Rockies are at their best, it’s because they murder opponents at Coors. Their mindset needs to change from “Woe is us. It’s so hard here” to “Opponents hate coming to Colorado because they can’t win here.” The kind of defeatist attitude displayed by Tracy and O’Dowd lately is the poorest kind of leadership, which might be the number one problem currently faced by this organization.
Now, let’s move on to CarGo….
Last week, there was some talk out of New York about trading for Carlos Gonzalez. I dismissed that talk as meaningless chatter from Yankees fans thinking they can just have whatever player they want. However, on Saturday night, I received an e-mail from Jamey Newberg, the man behind the extremely popular Newberg Report, which is the go to source for all things Rangers – big leagues and minors. It was about CarGo and if it had come from most blogs, I would’ve laughed it off and sent some sort of ridiculous trade demand, e.g. Harper, Strasburg, and Gio straight up for CarGo. However, Newberg is different, so it got my attention.
Let’s start off by saying this: CarGo isn’t going to be traded. So, all of this is just lip service. It’s meaningless chatter. If it were coming from the Rockies side, like it was last year with Ubaldo, then there would be something to it. That’s not the case. But, what probably has or will happen is that teams will be calling the Rockies. They might be calling about Scutaro or Belisle and merely gauging their interest in trading Gonzalez, but they will be calling quite a bit over the next month. Inevitably, the Rox will be asked about CarGo. They are sellers. That’s how it works in July.
Now, I understand why everyone is so angry about these rumors. CarGo is pretty awesome, on the field and off. Not only that, he is locked up to a great deal and is one of the few bright spots on the team this year. However, whenever the phone rings and an opportunity arises to make your team better, you have to remove emotion from the process and at least listen to what’s being said on the other end. If a trade proposal were placed on the table and we truly knew that by trading CarGo the Rockies could quickly turn themselves back into contenders, that’s a trade that needs to be made. The good news – or depending on how you look at it, bad news – is that there is very little chance of a trade like that ever being proposed, like probably actually a 0% chance. Baseball doesn’t work like that.
I think most Rockies fans are a little spooked after the house cleaning that took place last year and that’s why there is so much fear that this will happen. But, the truth is that rumors of great players on awful teams being traded are rampant every year around this time. Most of the time, nothing comes of it, but a blockbuster went down here last year so the rumors are carrying a little more weight with people than usual.
To begin with, there are very few teams that could afford to give up the package of players it would take to get CarGo. The Rangers might be one of those teams, but even the package Jamey presented on his site Sunday morning wouldn’t be close to enough. I told him it would take their number one prospect (Jurickson Profar, a SS who could play 2B here), a solid big league starter, another starter that is on the verge, and at least two big time arms in the lower minors. But here is the deal – no team is going to walk into a trade that lopsided. Ever. In addition to that, while I think the Rockies can be awfully foolish, I don’t believe they are foolish enough to trade their best player for a bunch of developing pitchers, especially since they have been complaining about their own inability to develop pitchers lately.
Carlos Gonzalez is here and will be for a very long time, unless he decides he wants to leave. So, let’s just take it easy. He’s ours. Those greedy, rich bullies in the AL will just have to go find their own Little Pony.
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10 comments
1 ping
JD
June 25, 2012 at 3:09 PM (UTC -6)
Never underestimate the stupidity of O’Dowd.
One thing’s for sure – we shouldn’t trade anyone with value while he’s still GM, because he’ll get pennies on the dollar.
Logan Burdine
June 25, 2012 at 3:11 PM (UTC -6)
No doubt about that. He’d botch this one badly.
Seth
June 25, 2012 at 5:10 PM (UTC -6)
I am with you guys on this one, Odowd will find some way to screw the pooch if they do decide to trade Cargo but I truly dont believe they will nor does Cargo want to leave….yet.
Michael
June 25, 2012 at 6:34 PM (UTC -6)
Cargo and Tulo are not getting traded anytime soon, not because our front office understands their value but because they are still so cheap. Tulo doesn’t cost more than 10 mil until 2013 and Cargo doesn’t cross that threshold until 2014. Until they get into the 15 mil a year territory these contracts are absolute steals.
Troyf
June 26, 2012 at 4:49 AM (UTC -6)
Something I have not seen mentioned on the OIdiot comments. . .
He talks about how they have not been able to develop ane ace in the time he has been here. You think it may have something to do with passing on guys like Lincecome and Kershaw so he could take Reynolds? How can we blame Coors for moronic decisions like that. And no, this is not second guessing, everybody thought the pick sucked when it was made.
The only thing that pisses me off more than the comments is that they somehow. MAke Tracy look good. Tracy still cannot figure out OBP and continues to screw over one of the est players on the team on a day to day basis. These guys are such morons. All of them.
Pete
June 26, 2012 at 3:31 PM (UTC -6)
Please stop talking about the possibility of trading Cargo or Tulo. It’s crazy stupid and needs to stop. These are the players you trade FOR to build your team around. Once you have them you don’t trade them AWAY until they stop producing for a few years a la Helton. If you keep crazy rumours active long enough, Monfort, O’Dowd or Tracy may hear them and begin to think it is a good idea. Let’s kill this topic NOW.
Pete
June 26, 2012 at 3:39 PM (UTC -6)
Also, I keep hearing from other sources there is possible interest in Gutherie, Scuturo and maybe even Cuddyer. Can’t we start suggesting trades for them that will help our guys? I’ll start: Rumour has it that Detroit really, REALLY wants to upgrade 2nd base and thinks Scuturo would do the trick. Let’s jump on this and put a package together and go after Porcello or another of their fine young pitchers. I’m suggesting Porcello because he is pitching poorly now and might be tradeable, he’s young, Apodaca can easily fix whatever is wrong with him, right?
Logan Burdine
June 26, 2012 at 3:40 PM (UTC -6)
Too late, Dac is out as of this afternoon.
Shake Weight
June 28, 2012 at 11:23 AM (UTC -6)
I would have to add that another thing that absolutely murders you at Coors is walking people. If there are going to be more hits on the average, then putting people on base is going to kill you. The Rockies have the 3rd most walks in the NL (next to the cubs and padres) and 5th in the MLB (royals and blue jays). It seems like tossing in 21-year-olds to figure it out on the mound might not help to pound the strike zone as Tracy has been crying for all season.
And I 100% agree that the Guthrie/Cuddyer moves show that DOD has no idea how to build a team suitable for the altitude. You are seriously going to bring in a notorious fly ball pitcher and pay 10 mil for a crappy defensive outfielder? Nice. I also found it amusing when i looked up the Guthrie trade and saw that he had to toss in Matt Lindstrom along with Hammel. Also Nice.
Final point–yes the pitchers will have inflated statistics like ERA/WHIP etc. at Coors, but that doesn’t mean that we have to lose the games. The other team is also playing at altitude. Matt Belisle seems to be figuring it out. Go manage a little league team with your pitch counts in your time off after you get canned, DOD. If you don’t know how it’s going to turn out, I’ll tell you–LOSS, LOSS, LOSS, lucky win, LOSS, LOSS, LOSS, LOSS.
Logan Burdine
June 28, 2012 at 1:25 PM (UTC -6)
Hey, Shake Weight! I miss you, buddy! This softball All-Star break is for the birds.
Agreed on the walks. Location is probably the biggest problem with the staff. Just can’t give it up for free.
Tuesday Rockpile: It Is Not Coors Field's Fault • Colorado-Rockies.fans-talk.com
June 26, 2012 at 5:33 PM (UTC -6)
[...] Crying over Coors and not trading CarGo – Blake Street Bulletin ” Blake Street Bulletin – by Logan Burdine [...]