I can’t believe baseball actually thought it was a good idea to have TWO off days after the All-Star Game. One, it ruins the trivia question “what day of the year has no games being played among the four major sports?” (it now has to ask which two days…) and two it just ruins my life! I want baseball and I want it as much as possible. Two days off is killing me.
To pass the time I decided to give away some worthless awards that no one votes on except myself. They are completely meaningless but I need to think baseball. If you think I am way off base, please, feel free to call me names in the comments section below.
MVP: Has to be Carlos Gonzalez. It is closer than you might think, though. Dexter Fowler, according to Fangraphs, is worth the same number of wins in 2012 as CarGo. Fowler has played better defense (albeit still poor defense according to Fangraphs) and ran the bases better than CarGo, but CarGo has hit the ball better, slightly.
Best Hitter: CarGo takes this one, too. Of those on the team with at more than 200 plate appearances he is tied for first in on-base percentage (tied with Dex), first in slugging (Tyler Colvin has a higher slugging percentage but only 200 plate appearances – I needed to weed him out to make my argument more impactful, sue me), first in batting average, first in wOBA and first in wRC+. CarGo also leads the team in home runs, hits, RBI, runs scored and stolen bases. Surprise, the guy can hit and play baseball. Good.
Biggest Disappointment: We have our first category that could draw many different opinions. The name that jumps to my mind first is Jhoulys Chacin. I expected him to help lead the Rockies pitching staff in 2012 in innings and strikeouts and didn’t expect anyone else to come close. I honestly thought Jeremy Guthrie would put up innings and maybe come close to innings pitched to Chacin but Chacin would easily put up better quality innings.
I think it is safe to be disappointed in Troy Tulowitzki simply because he just cannot stay healthy. I understand many injuries of his are because he was hit with a pitch or other injuries that are out of his control but since his first full season with the Rockies in 2007 he has played in 150 games or more only twice and played fewer than 130 three times now (including this year). Need to figure out a way to keep this guy on the field.
Guthrie can certainly be viewed as a disappointment, he did start on Opening Day, after all. Todd Helton might be a disappointment but his age was starting to show in recent years and it is really showing this year. Michael Cuddyer was the Rockies big offseason signing and he hasn’t done anything to impress me. Name a Rockies pitcher other than Rafael Betancourt and Matt Belisle and there might be a good reason to include them in a disappointment list.
Best Pitcher: After talking disappointments and then giving away the award for Best Pitcher…this award is probably for the pitcher who has sucked the least. I think it has to be Belisle. According to WAR on Fangraphs he leads the Rockies pitching staff with Juan Nicasio coming in second (and Nicasio hasn’t pitched in like a month!). Which starting pitcher is honestly deserving?
***Shocking stat alert***
Of the 11 pitchers to start for the Rockies in 2012 only one of them has an ERA below 5.18 and that is Drew Pomeranz. Every other pitcher to start for the Rockies in 2012 carries an ERA over 5.18 (Jeff Francis owns a 5.19 ERA). Seven of the 11 pitchers have an ERA over 6.00 (well, five, but Christian Friedrich’s ERA is 5.98…close enough).
With Pomeranz spending time in the minor leagues the Rockies best pitcher of the first half of 2012 was Belisle. Maybe Pomeranz can overtake him in the second half?
Best Surprise: Give me Fowler. I thought he would be a major contributor to the Rockies in 2012 but I didn’t expect this. Add in the games Jim Tracy has played with him by batting him as low as ninth in the batting order during interleague play and Fowler has done nothing but excel.
Among center fielders who qualify (AL and NL) Fowler ranks fourth in OBP and slugging and his weighted on-base average and runs created are good for fifth. Due to his poor fielding metrics he is ranked eighth in WAR but I find that hard to believe. Based on his basic batting statistics there are only three or four center fielders in all of baseball who have been better than Dex in 2012 (Mike Trout, Andrew McCutchen and Curtis Granderson have all been really, really good*).
How good could this kid be if he had unwavering confidence from his manager?
Biggest Frustration: Marco Scutaro. I didn’t expect Scutaro, and his slow heartbeat, to be a major piece of the Rockies puzzle and success in 2012, but I certainly didn’t expect him to be so negative to the team. The guy might be fantastic in the clubhouse, some kind of veteran presence who played with the Boston Red Sox (you know, the tumultuous team in 2011 that got the manager fired who had taken a “cursed” team and won two World Series with them) but on the field he has been a disaster. From stepping off of second base without calling timeout to get tagged out to just flat out not finishing a play and allowing a base runner to steal a base to poor hitting he has been bad. Really bad.
Among all qualified second basemen he is right around the middle or slightly below the midpoint in batting average, on-base and slugging. According to Fangraphs he is in the bottom third in WAR and somehow his base running and fielding are not negative. He hasn’t been good.
What other awards would you give out? Who would win them? Do you have differing opinions on my awards listed above? Let us know in the comments below.
I will leave you with this note: for those who became Rockies fans sometime around the end of the 2007 season you will not be happy to know that even if the Rockies win 21 of 22 to end the season, but stay on their current pace until game 140, they will still finish the season with 76 wins and 86 losses. If they continue on this current pace without the miraculous finish they will only win 63 games in 2012 and lose 99. Awfully close to losing 100 games in 2012. The Rockies have never lost more than 95 games in a season and have never finished with a winning percentage under 40% (currently at 38.8%).
*Yes, I know Josh Hamilton also plays some center field and he is pretty darn good, too. But he also plays a lot in the corner outfield spots.
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10 comments
Anonymous
July 12, 2012 at 11:32 AM (UTC -6)
Tyler Colvin for surprise?
Travis Lay
July 12, 2012 at 1:31 PM (UTC -6)
Yes, Colvin has been a heck of a surprise. I keep expecting him to fall off but so far he has been fantastic.
BA Baracus
July 12, 2012 at 1:10 PM (UTC -6)
What about Tyler Colvin for biggest surprise. Also I was quite surprised when Tracy put all of his best players in the field at one time including Colvin and Fowler in the outfield and Cuddyer at 1st. Basically anytime I think Tracy or O’Dowd make a right move you could call that the biggest surprise.
Biggest frustration would have to be Tulo for me and his body wasting all that talent on the DL. Monforts are up there too, for the unwillingness to fire anyone that is truly horrible at their job.
Question for you– Would you rather null both trades and still have Hammel and Stewart or have what we received for both in Colvin and Guthrie? I’d probably go with no trades at all given those 2 scenarios.
Travis Lay
July 12, 2012 at 1:34 PM (UTC -6)
Wow, great question.
Hammel, Lindstrom and Stewart (who is on the DL) or Guthrie, LaMahieu and Colvin (I think there was a third in that Cubs trade)?
Hindsight is 20/20 and I think at this point I would take the former because Hammel has been so much better than Guthrie. There are a lot of variables, though, too. Like would Tracy stick with Stewart? Would he be hurt? Before the season started I was indifferent with the Guthrie for Hammel/Lindstrom trade but was disappointed with the Stewart trade.
To answer: before the season I would have chosen neither trade if it was both or none. Now? Man, that’s tough, Colvin has been so good. I would probably stick with the trades, shockingly enough, due mostly to how much better Colvin has been than Stewart this year – assuming Stewart gets hurt either way.
BA Baracus
July 12, 2012 at 1:51 PM (UTC -6)
Are Colvin’s home and road splits drastic or normal?
Logan Burdine
July 12, 2012 at 1:58 PM (UTC -6)
Drastic, but that’s just because he’s been so good at home. His road splits aren’t bad at all.
Simone
July 13, 2012 at 3:29 PM (UTC -6)
Hopefully we can get rid of O’Dowd and Tracy before spring training 2013 and can have a shot at a winning record in the next season.
I think the team could be good if it would look like this:
1. EY jr (2B)
2. Dex (CF)
3. Tulo (SS)
4. CarGo (LF)
5. Cuddy (1B)
6. Rosario (C)
7. Colvin (RF)
8. Still nobody that plays 3B at the MLB level…hopefully we can find a solution (Pull the trigger on David Wright please)
9. Pitchers
————————————————————————————————————–
Now on to pitching….
1. Buy a good pitcher
2. Chacin comeback?
3. Can Nicasio stay healthy and be reliable?
4+5. White and Pomeranz…will the Jimenez trade pay off?
Any thoughts?
Btw: I really like Anibal Sanchez…not too expensive either. Any chance?
derek
July 31, 2012 at 8:47 PM (UTC -6)
its not O”dowds fault its Tracy’s and the Montford’s fault. O’dowd has no money to use because the Montford’s wont give him any money. Tracy is horrible manager, probably the worst in the league. He has no emotion towards the team and is a awful stratigist.
Dennis
July 16, 2012 at 1:51 PM (UTC -6)
No offense, Simone, but I don’t think EY, Jr. is a major league player. At best, he is a good addition as a pinch runner on a good team when the roster expands to 40. For the Rockies, he is just taking up space. And if we’re going to use Rutledge at second base until the end of the year, as we should, then I have no problem with Chris Nelson at 3rd. Put Pacheco at first, Colvin in right field, and get rid of Cuddyer.
Mike
July 17, 2012 at 10:15 PM (UTC -6)
Biggest frustration? The incompetence of the upper management. They did not even actively get rid of Apodaca, who fired himself, and they continue to praise the equally if not more incompetent Jim Tracy, who is not only the worst tactical manager in baseball, but also has no idea how to handle talented players, if the Dex story is any indication….