How our Rockies seasons have been under Jim Tracy and what happened to some players we don’t have now on our team Read more
ʞaught looking I had another blog post ready, but I’ll postpone it to another day. But today is supposed to be a great day. I managed to get [..]
I’m sorry this is late. I had some issues with work, sleep, and this news that broke so late on Monday that caused me not to present it on time. I guess better late than never
From the Clubhouse
Welcome to Spring Training. As the first day of the day wrapped up, Troy Renck published the article on Jim Tracy’s “indefinite contract”. This news was actually not so great to hear for Rockies fans and also sort of a non-issue in general. So what does this mean to everyone?
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I apologize, but I’m going weekly in February. I don’t have enough content to post twice a week until spring training starts. It’s better this way.
From the clubhouse
As I blogged last week, the latest trade was that Jeremy Guthrie had been traded to Colorado in place of Jason Hammel and Matt Lindstrom. This deal is worth $8.6 million, which is the cost we would be paying for both Hammel and Lindstrom. Guthrie would be a 1 year deal, hitting free agency after this year ends.
I’m quite mixed on this trade myself, but if you put this trade on a scale, it’s leaning a bit negative. It’s not that I don’t think this deal itself is bad. But my concern is more about the team itself. The fact of the matter is, Mr. Dan O’Dowd has made a lot of trades this year, and if he really wants to save his job, much less give the Rockies a chance of contending. With all the trades he’s made, I’ve questioned some moves. Sometimes it was for an hour, like when Netta was traded, before we got Ramon Hernandez. (I still miss Netta). Other times, it’s lasted for days. Maybe this is lasting for a week now.
If you just put this trade down based on the players itself, this is a good short term deal. Guthrie is 32. He has the experience. He also has the potential to bring the wins to the Rockies. Hammel in his last 2 years has been slipping. In fact, last year, he was demoted to the bullpen because he could not start well. Then again, we had problems with all of our starting pitchers at one point or another last year. Matt Lindstrom, unfortunately, was tied in to balance the cost. It’s a cost neutral move.
If you go into the clubhouse, you have to look at the team. What did you do with this move? Of course, there’s no guarantee as to who would be in the rotation/bullpen since we have a lot of starters fighting for spots. But an informal poll asked to several tweeps, including Mark, Brian and Bert and Krista before this trade happened had included Chacin, Pomeranz, White, Hammel, and a few question marks on opening day (no particular order, but Chacin was starting). Jorge De la Rosa would probably take White’s spot when he is ready from Tommy John surgery. Lindstrom would be in the bullpen. With this move, it is widely anticipated that Guthrie would take Hammel’s place, and change the rotation around. If he is as good as everyone is suggesting, that is a great move.
Now the bullpen, that’s a different story. We got rid of Huston Street, making Betancourt the closer. Losing Lindstrom hurts. And if we take in account that Hammel could be in the pen instead of the lineup, that’s another hurt. But there are plenty of question marks as to who will be in our pen. I still shudder when I hear Escalona comes up to pitch. I don’t have any confidence in him despite his youth. I also don’t want to see Jim Tracy run Matt Belisle to the ground. Sure, some of the starters may end up moving to the pen. But we don’t have the expertise like Joe Beimel, or the likes of other experienced players. And this is what makes me nervoud. I would like to win, but not abuse players that aren’t suited for their position
Sometimes, a change of view is enough. Something that looks good initially may not fit a whole picture. In O’Dowd’s case, some of his trades make sense for now, and others for the future. The question is, will it work for him?
As a footnote, Dave Krieger just said on KOA that he says Guthrie will be the opening day starter, but Pomeranz will be the #1 by the end of the season. Interesting view.
This post attributed to Bert @bertjanb, Mark @townie813, Brian @gorox1983, Sackor @supahfly328, Krista @astoria922, Dave Krieger @davekrieger
Under Further Review
Old news but Alanna Rizzo will not be on ROOT Sports covering Rockies. She’s going to MLBN. In addition, Tom Helmer was fired from ROOT Sports. I wanted to go to the rally held for him on Sunday at Blake Street Tavern. But with my work schedule and sleep, I overslept. 
It sounded fun.
Sliding home
Mark has a list of abbreviations not to say about this year’s Rockies. One was DL, the Disabled list. The others:
@druidlove Sorry, I will try to stay away from that acronym as well as E4, CS, RISP and THS.
— Mark Townsend (@Townie813) February 11, 2012
That list would be: Error on 2nd base, Caught Stealing, Runners in scoring position, and Tracy horseshit.* haha, I don’t want to think of any of this.
*Tracy horseshit: a term used to describe the blunders of Jim Tracy. He uttered the word ‘horseshit’ after a game in 2009 televised directly on what is now ROOT Sports.
I purposely skipped writing on Thursday. Too much Super Bowl talk made it possible. So, I’m writing with a preparation for baseball, and some late breaking news that I’m going to discuss.
Whose house? Our House!
So, to prepare for this fine baseball season, we need to stockpile up the essentials. Beer? check. Sunflower seeds? Check. Peanuts? check. Cracker Jack™? check. Hot Dogs? check. Hot dog buns? check. Ketchup, mustard, relish, whatever you put on your dogs? check. MLB At Bat? still waiting.
For 3 consecutive years, since I got my first iPhone, I’ve downloaded this fine app. In the first year alone, it was the 2nd popular app in the App Store. I loved it, and feel that it is the best app for baseball lovers out there. Last year, MLB expanded to other mobile systems Android and Blackberry. I have a friend on Android confirm that that the version is virtually similar to iPhone version. The BlackBerry version isn’t so feature complete. But for $15/year (they release a new app each year), you get so much for your value. In fact, whether your team is local, or across nation, or even on another galaxy, I’d recommend spending the money for it early, and enjoy whenever you can.
As MLB first developed it on iOS, I’m going to be biased on it. I’m going to assume Android matches iPhone version. I’m going to buy it again this year, but there are a few features I’d love to see in At Bat this year. Here’s my checklist:
* NO BLACKOUT RESTRICTIONS on video feeds. If you want to boost mlb.tv revenue, allow mobile versions (not ipad or PC) the capability of blackout free viewing–even if you include a fee to unlock blackouts. As you’re on mobile, you’re more likely out someplace where you cannot get to a TV, or in places like Buffalo Wild Wings, you can’t hear what they’re saying on TV. Voila, mobile app can deliver it to your ears. It also increases revenue for most mobile carriers (hush AT&T, I know i’m on unlimited. 
) so it’s a win-win. 
* Added push notification. Only options for push within app are start, end, and every 3rd inning. I’d like to know if I cannot listen, to at least know when a score happens in the top of the 2nd. Or when the Cubs collapse in the bottom of the 7th, making it a 15-7 game.
Other than that, I believe the app is great. With one exception last year in regression to check-in, the app upgrades well, and adds more features with each upgrade. Besides, it’s a lot better than NBA League Pass (which is hugely overpriced).
This portion thanks to Bert @bertjanb and Brian @gorox1983 for contribution.
He did what?
As late breaking news broke out this morning, yeah, this is not so great news with most fans. This morning, Jeremy Gunthrie from the Baltimore Orioles comes to Colorado in place of Jason Hammel and Matt Lindstrom. While the dust is settling, EY Jr. is not part of the trade, as originally reported. Sure, we have plenty of starters to trade up, but Matt Lindstrom is a good bullpen, which remains weak overall. And so far, everyone except one feels the same way: “WHY?” One thing, Gunthrie is still debating his salary demands (which are high) in arbitration. Two, why give up bullpen as well? Even if Hammel were to start in the ‘pen, now you’ve just shot off your foot on one that just has an open cut. Three, I don’t know if O’Dowd was drinking during the Super Bowl watching the Giants win or the Pats lose. Whatever he had, I want some so I can fly to NYC from here.
I won’t go to the extreme as saying the O’s are the AL equivalent of the Astros (nothing can compare to the Astros last year ) But, to have him for one year at most doesn’t make sense. It’s best speculation that O’Dowd is in his contract year, and in making this trade, he hopes to gain another 3 year GM contract for putting out a winning team.
Time to step off the purple-tinted pedestral, and get Rock Solid.
A lot of tweeps contributed here, just going to mention usernames only: @audinco, @bertjanb, @gorox1983, @Rockkstarr11, @Yanks428, @nt_eagle
Sliding home
I couldn’t say it better Erik:
New 2012 #Rockies Promotion:Fans throw First Pitches (all 50k of them) AT Dan O’Dowd!#FireODowd
— Erik M. Teller (@nt_eagle) February 6, 2012
A light week, not a lot to report, so I’m going to suggest something I heard last week from one of my podcasts… let me get to it!
Whose House? Our House!
One thing I had heard was “What would you change in baseball if anything?” Many suggestions came up, and I’ll bring a few to light. I won’t cover the controversial DH rule, since it’s a polarizing issue, and I already covered it on Thursday.
1. Contract the number of teams and/or games. No thanks to either. If anything, I’d have to endorse expanding to 32 teams, just so we can get rid of the interleague issue next year. As to the games, we all agree that having the World Series go into November is ridiculous, contracting the games is not a solution. I heard a ridiculous plan for having days off on a couple days a week, which is stupid. Also there’s July and August, when baseball is virtually the only sport played. It makes sense that having a game daily is in the best interest for the sport.
2. More instant replay. Yes! but not to the point where we’re disputing balls and strikes. When we do that, it takes up too much time. But for close calls, borderline fair/foul calls, trapped balls, etc, we now have the technology to do it efficiently. The current limited instant replay is a success, since it takes about 1 minute max. Replay is going to be expanded to certain calls, and I feel close encounters at the plate should be included.
3. More umpire accountability. HELL YEAH! Should I make that in 100 point red font? Seriously, there needs to be more visible actions for some of the ridiculous things certain umpire actions. For example, we don’t need to see Joe West going to the dugout goading players just to get them ejected. A good rule is that if you know the umpire’s name, he’s probably doing a bad job (and probably shouldn’t deserve to stay in the sport).
4. TV broadcasting the postseason. Yeah, the TV schedule doesn’t make sense. Most of the times, there is a huge east coast bias whereas the other teams have game times at ridiculous start times (like early in the day on the weekdays or start late night on weekdays.) Sometimes it’s hard to avoid it, but there could be other ways to do scheduling (especially when you can minimize days off, or other “harder” constraints currently in the schedule.)
A couple minor things include the draft, and the active roster especially in September. I have no opinion on either, which shows how great it is. But maybe the latter has somewhat of an impact, given that 40 men in September since it helps only those fighting for a spot in postseason. Those already locked in, and those already eliminated could use it for fringe players to get more play time. I heard about locking a 25-man play roster, this may be a good thing.
So what would you change, if anything in baseball?
This post not brought to you by anyone in particular today
Under further review
Not a whole lot of news to bring up, but Yu Darvish signed with Texas and Prince Fielder broke news by signing with Detroit.
Sliding home
I’d add this from Krizia (@kriztweetsalot) but her tweets are protected. But she tweeted out a line from a great baseball movie:
anyone ever tell you that you look like a penis with a little hat on?”
Ah, love A League of Their Own
Ask most baseball fans if they want to improve the game, and you’ll no doubt come across 3 polarizing issues: Postseason, instant replay, and the designated hitter (DH) rule. The first two are slowly being implemented. It is the latter that is a polarizing issue even today. And unfortunately, it will take the Commissioner of Baseball to put it to rest.
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I’m going to start by a tweet I mentioned to Bert:
@bertjanb Right. So far, instead of playing Texas Hold ‘em, it’s more like O’Dowd’s playing “Go Fish”
— Frank ? druid (@druidlove) January 22, 2012
I’ll put this into perspective: I can’t wait until Spring Training starts. This signifies to me that we’re ready for baseball, and that our roster is pretty much set. (Actually, it’s hardly set at this point, but this is the set of players we’ll get a better look, and see if they really pan out, or are on the 25 or 40-man rosters.) The hot stove league does make me nervous. But it makes me more nervous when a GM is in his contract year after having a team with high expectations bite the dust. Just when I think something is set, I turn my back and something changes. This happened with Seth Smith last week, and then Slowey was traded on Saturday.
So, let me make a list of our current Rockies roster, and Spring Training invites updated as of Sunday. I’ll put them in 4 groups:
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I like it when a topic comes up on a last minute’s notice… So let me get to the root of the subject
I guess it’s no secret that the Rockies have signed Jamie Moyer to a minor-league deal (Spring Training invite). And already the critics on both sides are out.
The critics are out because of his age: he’s 49 years old, and wants to pitch again, after being sidelined in 2010 due to Tommy John surgery. He had an open scouting session session last year to try to prove to teams that he can still pitch. Sadly, no one cared, and maybe 2 media organizations (ESPN was one) showed up. Everyone pretty much sluffed him off probably because he’s “too old”.
In a day when younger is better, people liken age more as beer instead of wine. Nobody likes skunky beer. Even Budweiser dresses its beer with a “born on date” instead of an expiration date (Thanks Mr. Foam Finger Vendor Man™) But even a brief chat with Brian (@gorox1983), 40 seems to be a magic number for most sports, as it seems to be, according to his tweet:
@druidlove yeah… and the MLB and the NHL are much more likely to have a 40 year old player than the NBA or the NFL..
— Brian Smith (@gorox1983) January 19, 2012
Yeah, it’s true that baseball is likely to have 40 year olds, especially since it’s not as intense of a sport as football. (And with the DH, that argument makes it easier… but it’s another topic.) So, you can imagine I’ll feel sad the day Todd Helton retires. He has been as famous of a Rockies landmark as the Statue of Liberty is to the US. So when our oldest pitcher to date hasn’t turned 28 (with JDLR in the mix), the need for some veteran experience helps. And I like the minor-league deal because even if Moyer isn’t really up to it in the majors, having him in the Springs isn’t a bad thing either.
Speaking of age, I was glad to hear Dan O’Dowd say on Monday that Nolan Arenado will not be starting on the Rockies in the beginning. His reasoning makes sense: he was concerned with the maturity of the player. Maybe he has the stuff to come up, but he didn’t want to move up Arenado early if he isn’t mentally ready, and I think that’s wise. You just don’t move a player from high-A to MLB. I think there are 3 players on the Rockies that probably suffered from being promoted so soon… and as a result, don’t have any options left.
Talking with Cari, she felt her team is getting younger–the team is migrating towards “babies”. I see the same with the Rockies. Sure, we’ve moved players to the majors from AA (Fowler, Tulowitzki). But they have the long term talent and maturity to survive. Not everyone is mature enough to start in the major leagues.
So, while youth is better, the experience helps. A balance of both helps even mediocre teams on paper become leaders.
Today’s tweet brought to you thanks to Cari (@carisports) and Brian (@gorox1983)
Before I continue, news broke on Monday just after I blogged that Seth Smith agreed to a 1 year dear, avoiding arbitration. Then hours later, he went to Oakland for 2 pitchers: Guillermo Moscoso and Josh Outman. Okay, I think our pitching situation is done.
I was happy to hear this tweet from Kirsten (@sillychurro2) and Troy Renck (@troyrenck):
“@TroyRenck: Here’s link to Tulo and Helton video from #Rockies‘ media access today: bit.ly/ygOQVq”
— Kirsten Sandefur(@sillychurro2) January 19, 2012
And… it’s only 30 days till Spring Training (Pitchers & Catchers report). Baseball is in the air.
I couldn’t resist this tweet from Brian, who managed to bring sports and politics in a classic tweet:
these refs can go to hell along with the SOPA
— Brian Smith (@gorox1983) January 19, 2012
On Thursday, I had this nice conversation with Jessica (@AvsAngel14). I’d recommend following her if you don’t mind a nice woman who knows more about sports than you do. Anyways, our conversation sparked an interesting topic I’m bringing up, and my first off-topic of the year.
Each sport in North America has a different system on teams, players and progression. For example, Major League Baseball has its famous farm system and nested levels. The NHL has a similar system, though it’s not as pronounced. Actually it’s more of a mess but I’ll get into it later. The NBA and NFL don’t have any such system, instead they relegate their farm system be the colleges, and use a draft (or lottery in the case of the NBA.) The lesser known sports don’t really have any system, since there are less players/teams involved (and a lower fanbase) so I’m not going to talk about them.
For the most part this seems to work in 3 of the 4 sports. Hockey is more of a mess on the lower levels, because you not only have college hockey teams like DU and CC, but you also have a bunch of minor league professional teams as well. One of my favorite teams, the Colorado Eagles, is an interesting case. From their inception in 2003 until 2011, they played in the Central Hockey League. If I had to compare it using baseball terms, this is an independent AA-league. With the massive sellouts (over 350 if we count this year, basically every home game since they opened), this was a contributing factor for the Eagles to switch to the ECHL as of this season. The ECHL is one of 2 official farm teams under the NHL CBA, and is also classified as a AA league. (The other is the American Hockey League (AHL), and is AAA-caliber.) As such, I’m learning what it is like to be a real farm team, seeing players move more often, whether it’s to our affiliates (Winnipeg Jets & St. John’s Ice Caps), or to other teams, and how that affects our bench. So this is one way players move up and down in hockey.
But like I discussed with Jessica, the NHL has other ways to acquire players: colleges have also been seen as sources, and some skip it altogether, like young Matt Duchene. Some colleges seem to be in rebuilding mode every 2 years because they then get absorbed by NHL (though Jessica admitted CC hardly has a problem with losing players.) But it makes the NHL a real mess, as they get players through the draft, but also their development teams, and outside free agents, without protection for other minor teams/leagues. Is there a good solution?
I asked if we use a European-style system, where instead of moving players, we move teams based on performance. If you’re not familiar with this, I’ll take the Swedish hockey leagues as an example since I spent 6 years there. They had 6 different levels, and the “Elitserien” was the highest level with 16 teams. The 2 worst teams have to earn their right to remain up with the 2 best teams of the lower level. It’s like a playoff of the worst teams. If you were to compare this on a player level, it’s like a MLB player that does well will get a good look by the Yankees. But if a player doesn’t do well, they’d be lucky to get a look by the Royals. An extreme case, but I think you get my point. I found that in this case, a farm team to a “Classic” elite team found itself in Elitserien, while the classic team dropped, which was funny and ironic at the same time. This type of system puts emphasis not only on players, but also on management to perform if they want to stay up. It’s an interesting system.
Unfortunately, it wouldn’t work in the NFL or the NBA because there is nothing except the college “amateur” level. (I could have seen the NBA splitting itself like this before the lockout happened.) It would also not be feasible in MLB for many reasons. MLB already has an excellent farm system built in by Branch Rickey, and has systems to prevent it from ‘leeching’ from other leagues and countries like Japan. (It also has 2 leagues playing with slightly different rules.) I’d like to see the NHL try it, but I believe they are too big to manage it now. In fact, sports in North America are a huge market now.
Let’s just play ball…
Today’s post brought to you thanks to Jessica (@AvsAngel14) and Erik (@nt_eagle)
Okay, the latest, if you go by my twitter timeline, is that the football season has ended… Oh, I’m sorry, that’s Denver Broncos and Tebow’s season ended. Thank God, as he was more popular than Osama bin Laden’s death. Now, can we have baseball?
Other than football, it’s been a relatively quiet week. Rockies haven’t had any action, though Carlos Gonzalez says his arm is fine, and Charlie Blackmon is smarter. … and Renck still issues concerns about the pitching rotation. But otherwise, nothing new… except that Pomeranz is also calmer with the dropped disturbing the peace charges.
In hockey, the Avalanche lost a home-and-home series with Nashville this week (the away game was dropped in overtime). But they managed to win Saturday in Dallas. They have a busy schedule this week, with 3 of the next 4 games this week on the road against Phoenix (Monday), LA (Saturday), and Anaheim (Sunday). The only break is Wednesday’s home game vs. Florida.
The Eagles won Wednesday at home vs. Utah, but split the last weekend series at Bakersfield, losing Friday and winning Saturday. This week they play today at Las Vegas unusually early (3:05pm MST), and then the weekend series at Ontario Reign.
I really hope for more baseball news this week… there’s only 33 days left till Spring Training starts. (Pitchers & Catchers report)
My final quote comes from Krista (@astoria922). It’s priceless:
@druidlove I think that game was bad. And in all honesty, I think the the entire season was one huge clusterfuck.
As usual, I had another topic hijacked by breaking news. I have to admit, I was having a hard time writing it, so it was probably best that the breaking news came up. That way I could relegate my first topic to a secondary topic. So let me go on with the main topic:
News broke last night that a local high school, Mullen, has terminated Dave Logan and his coaching staff from their football team. This came as a shock, as if it came out of the blue. Well, it did. If you google either Mullen or Logan up, you will certainly find links to the Denver Post or 9News article about the firing. And you know what the reason was? He couldn’t be a full-time staff member with the school.
Now, coaches can get released by retirement, poor record, or other behavior/ethics issues. Maybe a conflict with certain staff members or athletes will also do it. But to say that a coach is released because he had too many obligations, even though they have virtually not been changed for years is lame.
Dave Logan was a wide receiver who played for the Cleveland Browns. After his football career ended, he landed a career behind the mic at 850 KOA, where he is to this day. But he also coached 3 high school teams in the Denver area, and taken each of them to champions. Apparently, neither Clear Channel, nor the schools had a problem with his dual nature before. And the fact that the Denver Post reports him doing it out of love (and not money) made it even better.
Yeah, I heard the interview with the school this morning on KOA, and it seemed like they just wanted to get rid of him. Though the school admits it was not anything wrong ethically, the attitude they took through this just seemed cold. In Colorado, Mullen was probably a recognizable name for sports. They just shot themselves in the foot. The man will get a chance elsewhere, though I wouldn’t be surprised if he took some time away from coaching for a bit, and just focus on his radio show. The school, on the other hand, alienated students, parents (who pay to enroll their family), and the public in general.
This part of my blog is not sponsored. This is my personal opinion. But the rest of the blog is brought to you by the people listed below………….
Now to the post I was going to make today, though I’ll condense it a bit. I’m here to argue that twitter was meant for baseball. And there are a bunch of wonderful folk on here that I’d like to give a shoutout.
Unlike most sports, which are time-based (and action happens fast), in baseball, actions are turn based (usually upon when the pitcher pitches the ball.) So you can tweet that Tulo created a 6-4-3 double play, or that Albert Pujols doubles to center, but it’s harder to tweet a delayed tripping call in hockey. Baseball is also live, so it’s not like you can spoil something like you can for a sitcom that may be on a tape delay for Mountain/Pacific time zones. And, unlike football (which is also turn-based), MLB was one of the first sports to adopt twitter. So, you see a common hashtags for talking about your favorite team like #Rockies, or #stlcards (St. Louis Cardinals–to avoid the ambiguity with the Arizona Cardinals of the NFL). In fact, MLB incorporated a twitter client into its At Bat app by late 2010, at no additional cost.
And thanks to Twitter, I have known many fans of baseball, both male and female… Rockies fans, and others (classy fans), who I’d like to dedicate today. (This is your #followFriday, humor style):
- @audinco: The one who knows how to turn the word Tracy into a swear word.
- @sillychurro2: Who thinks the Rockies SS tastes excellent, with cinnamon.
- @Townie813: who should think about applying for Tracy Ringolsby’s job
- @gorox1983: The only one who I think could get in a row with Joe West and have HIM ejected
- @303wes: The one who could surf the Wave riding around Coors Field. (and I still disapprove of the Wave done at ballgames.)
- @Ms_Apayne: I could see her being Annie in Bull Durham.
- @PoseidonsFist: has just replaced Tom Helmer in the ROOT Sports pregame booth.
– @edwscott: Was spotted kissing Alanna on the Jumbotron between innings.
– @ColoSportSpaz: Received a ball from the batboy with a proposal signed by Jordan Pacheco
– @cjensen23: was seen on the field throwing the first pitch
– @roxfan97: was catching the first pitch
– @rusty1026: Received a hug by Dinger
– @rockieswoman1: Took the place of Alanna Rizzo
– @rockiebelieveR: set off the fireworks with Helton’s Grand Slam
– @Rockkstar11: the on-field announcer for the Frontier Airlines catch game.
– @RockiesReview: Replaces Drew Goodman in the ROOT Sports booth
– @lecroy24fan: who now owns ESPN, and changed Baseball Tonight to put on quality broadcasting
– @msroxrock: Spotted on the Jumbotron tweaking the butt of Carlos Gonzalez as he heads to the dugout.
The saying goes: if I do tease you a bit, that means that I like you.
2 hockey teams played this week:
* The Colorado Avalanche lost on Tuesday at home to Nashville. They are currently playing today on the road at Nashville, where as of this writing were winning 2-0
* The Colorado Eagles won at home yesterday 5-1 vs the Utah Grizzlies. They have a weekend series at Bakersfield tomorrow and Saturday.
I had another topic I was going to use, but I’m moving it to Thursday, in light of another article.
According to Google Maps, it is 1775 miles from Coors Field to Cooperstown, New York. It would theoretically require 28h of travel time (realistically, it’s more like 48h). Also, make sure you bring your piggy bank, since you’ll be paying tolls in Indiana and Ohio. But don’t tell that to the Rockies. Almost 20 years later, and they still couldn’t even buy a vote to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, if that was possible. And it being that far away, is probably either in a big void, or too high for the writers to look up.
As I read Denver Post article delivered by Troy Renck (@troyrenck), it got me thinking. I was thinking that maybe all of us Rockies fans are looking at the wrong people to get in the Hall of Fame. What if it is someone we could identify as a leader in disguise?
Right now, the Rockies still face an uphill battle to convince people that we play real baseball at Coors Field. Since 2002, the humidor was introduced to manage the manufacturer’s specifications for baseballs. That mean yes, we actually have the correct equipment. Take that New York! Sorry, I get on my soapbox and see red instead of purple every time someone accuses us of either cheating (like the San Francisco Giants in 2010), or tries to compare Coors Field with the Moon. It’s like discriminating against Rosa Parks, or saying that all Muslims are terrorists, or that Californians are a bunch of elitists snobs. Not only are these bad stereotypes, it’s wrong and (in certain cases) illegal. Please do your research, and you’ll find a bunch of 1-0 games, and even a pitcher by the name of Ubaldo Jimenez who had success at reducing Coors Field’s reputation to being a regular hitter’s ballpark.
Yet, the only ones who have tried to pave their way in are those among the Blake Street Bombers, and this was in the 90s, before the humidor. Therefore, they are all subjected to the east coast bias. None of them may make it, though Larry Walker is on the ballot this year. He will probably stick around one year, but the future isn’t great, even if we consider that Renck thumbed down Walker on this year’s ballot. Yet, I’ve heard writers with voting privileges say they will never vote for anyone who has played for Coors Field, which is a bigotist view and sad as a member of the KKK, or Occupy Wall Street. The next person with any chance to make it would be Helton, when he retires within the next couple years.
But what if I suggested that the first person would be an unlikely source, and wouldn’t represent the Rockies directly? How about Jason Giambi? Yeah, this would be a huge shock on many levels. Before I begin, I’ll just say I didn’t look at his numbers before I considered this. But I will say that he has a few advantages: He has a few great years on other teams. He also is one of the only players from the so called ‘steroids era’ who doesn’t have a controversy around him, despite admitting to using them. And while it has no impact on candidacy, he has a great attitude, and contributor to others in the game. Now, the negative: 1. Steroids are always negative, no matter what. 2. he doesn’t put up great numbers, especially in the Rockies portion of his career. 3. He has been on the Rockies, a team that still gets negative votes for existing (thank you East Coast bias). Now, while I don’t think he’ll get in, I can always try.
Well, at least we can still hold faith that the Toddfather will be the first, and can finally show ESPN he is a legitimate candidate… Just don’t board the bus to Coopersville yet. It’s not ready to go.
PS. According to Andrew Fisher, Giambi’s numbers aren’t sufficient to warrant Hall of Fame status, regardless of his steroid use. But one can always dream?
Before I continue with the action in sports, I would like to thank Dave Krieger for his time chronicling the Rockies. From this tweet by the Denver Post:
Columnist Dave Krieger leaving Denver Post for KOA radio dpo.st/wWenfj
I’ve heard him on KOA since mid-last year, and he is a great personality. I believe he already fits in with Dave Logan on the Dave Logan show (3-7pm daily). Good luck.
I’ll first start with the Colorado Eagles: A quiet week, as they were home this past weekend vs. Las Vegas Wranglers. They easily took the Friday game, but had a memory lapse in the Saturday game, allowing 4 unanswered goals within a 2 minute duration. Let’s hope this never happens again. Next game is home vs. the Utah Grizzlies Wednesday 7:05pm. Listen in on 107.9FM in NoCo*, or station KPAW on iHeartRadio.
The Colorado Avalanche, like their NoCo cousin, also split a weekend pair of games. But their 4-game road trip starting with the New Year’s Eve game looks nicer losing only 4-0 on Saturday in St. Louis. They come home to take on Nashville tomorrow night starting at 7pm.
How the Broncos made it to the playoffs is one story. How they did on Sunday is another. And the world overwhelmed twitter again with a 29-23 overtime win by the Broncos. To bring this back to a Rockies point of view, today’s Rockpile from Purple Row describes how I feel.
And finally, @TracyRingolsby and @TroyRenck both just reported that former starting pitcher Aaron Cook is going to Boston on a minor-league deal pending a physical. Good luck.
My final quote comes from Ryan @MileHighKid23
Games like today are why I invest almost irrational amounts of time in my teams and in sports in general. That was special.
