Despite all the injuries to speedy position players.

(Dex, Tulo, Cargo, EYJ)

Even while missing a crucial starting pitcher in lefty Jorge de la Rosa.

Still without their 2009 closer, 35-save righty Huston Street… the Rockies soldier on.

Colorado Rockies History 401 :  Playing Possum or the Great .500 Deception

Colorado has managed a 22-22 record just over a quarter of the way into the season.  Many have wondered, with all the pre-season hype that accompanied this team, why the Rockies have struggled.  Chalk it up to experience.

The Rocks have failed to lose or win more than three games in a row this year.  They have incidentally metered out a perfectly uninteresting first fourth of the season without breaking a sweat.  They have, by virtue of their historical early-season sucking, managed to not dig themselves an enormous 5-10 game hole.

In fact, their only two 3-game streaks came back-to-back as they gutted out three Coors Field wins versus Washington, then hit the road and lost a two-game stint to the Cubs before dropping the first of two in Houston.

And that little piece of history brings us full circle…

It was exactly one year ago today that the Rockies were 18-26 after losing the first of three home games (all losses) to the LA Dodgers.  That dreadful home showing against the NL West’s elite club portended great changes in Rockieland.

Clint Hurdle, the Rockies’ manager for 7+ seasons, was abruptly dismissed and replaced with bench coach Jim Tracy.

Sportswriters and fans alike wrote off the season as finished.  Hurdle declined to stay in the organization as a front office role player.  And overnight, despite the ‘interim’ tag associated with his managerial title, Jim Tracy took control of the Colorado Rockies.

The team responded by winning two of three over the Padres in the latter half of their homestand, then took their 20-29 2009 record on a fateful trip to Houston for a 4-game series against the 20-29 Astros.

In the last game of that San Diego series Jorge de la Rosa pitched another foul outing and dropped to 0-6 on the season.  The first game in Houston, Aaron Cook dropped to 3-3 with a loss.  Game 2 at the Astros the Rockies lost a heartbreaker in 11 Innings when Miguel Tejada hit a solo home run off Colorado reliever Josh Fogg.  And as a final ringing insult, Jason Marquis, the Rockies’ only winning starter in the first part of that ’09 season, got creamed for three first inning runs on the way to a 6-4 Game 3 loss.

Then, like the crack of a bat, the Rockies turned their season around.

The story goes something like this.

10-3 @ Houston, 11-4 @ St. Louis, 10-1 @ St. Louis, 7-2 @ St. Louis, 5-2 @ St, Louis

The Cardinals were a dominant 31-23 going into that series, and the Rockies swept the whole 4-game set in St. Louis with a sort of righteous and overwhelming chorus of hits.

Colorado followed that performance with a tight 3-game sweep of the Brewers in Milwaukee, winning two of the three by a single run.  Some versatile winning on the road.

Then came a homestand versus Seattle, Tampa Bay & Pittsburgh, where Colorado sandwiched one 12-4 loss to the Rays between three wins over the Mariners, three wins over the Pirates, and two squeaker wins over Tampa.

By the time the Rockies rolled out of town for their annual trek along the California coast (Anaheim, Oakland, Los Angeles), they were a respectable 36-33.

Now, this lesson in Rockies history is good for posterity’s sake.

More than that, though, it is an important reminder that the Colorado Rockies work in a definitive cycle…

They stink it up in April & May, wait for the weather (and the bats) to warm up, and make mincemeat of opponents throughout June.

So certain is this information that it’s in the Farmer’s Almanac.  Migrating birds are called from 600 miles away by the faint ringing of late-inning crowd noise emanating from Coors Field on warm nights in late May.  The Mayans even predicted the last five years of Rockies history in their little known Calendario de Béisbol, accurate to within 5 games on a 162 game season.

And so, we know that it’s coming.  Like the tides, it’s coming. ‘Junetober’ is nigh upon us.

And this time, the Rockies are not 8 games below .500 and considering a mid-season overhaul.  No, this time the Colorado Rockies are just waiting for all the pieces to be in place.  Waiting for J-Dealer.  Waiting for Mr. Street.  (Waiting, perhaps, for Jim Tracy’s 1-year anniversary as the Rockies’ manager this Saturday night versus the Dodgers.)  Watching as Jeff Francis rises phoenix-like from the ashes and hints at a future rotation featuring three bona fide #1 pitchers.

So this time, when the bats come around, even the East Coast sports media may notice.

The Black-chinned Hummingbird certainly will.

Rocktober is Colorado history.  Junetober is the present.  The Rockies are ready to prove themselves a perennial contender by virtue of their ‘strong’ start, and a time-honored tradition of warming up with the weather.

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In this 2010 MLB season, one is at a loss when trying to analyze and explain the Colorado Rockies.

Sitting at 20-21 and 4 games back in the highly competitive NL West (the Padres, Dodgers and Giants all are within 1.5 games of one another), the Rockies can find some small consolation in knowing the bulk of their home games and divisional schedule remain. But the season is a quarter of the way through and time is running out for this team to find its identity.

Listing and repeating the numerous paradoxical offensive and pitching statistics at this point would be redundant.

Behind an offense that has shown a propensity for front-running, games have become fairly simple affair.

If the starting pitching is solid and the Rockies can find an early lead, they win. If the starters struggle or the defense shaky, the Rockies offense is incapable of coming from behind from even the smallest margins, if they are even allowed the opportunity by the bullpen to attempt a comeback.

Saberticians are of no use in trying to diagnose the woes of this ballclub, for the solution lays not within lineup juggling, bullpen matchups or stats about who has a higher 2-out basehit percentage, but with the fundamental premise of playing as team.

Night after night, the Rockies players look singular… un-unified and even robotic at times.

Though the game of baseball is based on individual matchups, the juggling of the lineup has clearly led to a lack of understanding of player’s roles within the offense. Carlos Gonzales, the team’s best offensive player at this point, has hit leadoff, 3^rd and 5^th, sometimes all within a week. The lack of hitting consistency can clearly be traced to the middle of the order where Todd Helton and Troy Tulowitzki share a troubling stat… the two have only combined for 3 home runs.

The pitching has been there, at times and even on days when staff ace Ubaldo Jimenez isn’t pitching.

Yet, injuries, weather delays leading to doubleheaders, and roster juggling have led to a strange brew in the rotation and bullpen and the lack of a defined closer is becoming glaringly apparent. The defensive play in the field can almost at this point be classified as a detriment. One of the top fielding teams in baseball the last couple years; this year’s Rockies seem to lack the sizzle of a slick fielding team. Balls are miffed, muffed and bouncing into the outfield and the team’s fielding leader, Tulo, appears to be pressing.

All of the aforementioned issues are particularly magnified on the road.

Watching the games in the late innings, one can almost feel the Rockies grit their teeth in anticipation of the error in the field or mistake over the plate that will break a tie or balloon a one-run lead into several.

Yet, despite all of the above, there is hope. Hope in the form of the possibility of a return to 2007 form by the now healthy Jeff Francis.

In the form of the best pitcher in baseball, U-Ball, who is having a year that is reminding people of Bob Gibson in 1968. In the form of Taylor Buchholz, Huston Street and Jorge De La Rosa, all of whom are projected to return from the disabled list in the next 3 weeks to finally add stability and potency to the bullpen and rotation.

And hope in the form that this team, a team that has played so well down the stretch in recent years, will understand that all their hopes and high aspirations cannot be realized unless they start to play as a team, unified as Colorado Rockies.

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So imagine my excitement when I realized that Blue Goose was doing Rockies spots as well – and here they are. This year we get to see Todd Helton bagging on Twitter, Chris Ianetta butchering the Spanish language, and the introduction of the coolest thing I’ve ever seen – in a “dear God that had BETTER become reality soon” – a “Jim Tracy is my homeboy” t-shirt (below). Link to all the ads here: http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?topic_id=8745022&c_id=col

And for those that are interested, the Mariners batch of ads are pretty good this time around, see them here: http://seattle.mariners.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?topic_id=8716162&c_id=sea

I'm buying this as soon as it's available and wearing it to every Rockies game I attend.

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Photo from Webshots user jal27boom

People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring. ~Rogers Hornsby

Less than 60 hours remain before the boys of summer take the field for the first time this spring. The weather in Tucson hasn’t exactly been cooperative for baseball play, but the calendar did just turn over to March less than a day ago, so we shouldn’t complain too hard. With football season over, basketball and hockey just reaching the final stretches before the playoffs, and the hangover of a frantic two weeks of Olympic games, it is with the utmost anticipation that we await the start of the 2010 campaign for the Colorado Rockies – never before has a season started with such optimism.

Thursday, the Rockies take the field against the Diamondbacks, with Hammel taking the mound for the start. He’s only expected to work a couple innings, followed by Morales, Betancourt, Flores, and Corpas. As much as we want to really see what these guys can do, it’s tough to remember that spring training is a process, one that slowly brings the team back into the routine of playing every day. So while from a baseball perspective spring games can hardly be called games and are more difficult to watch than a cross-country skiing race (sorry, still have Olympics on the brain), the baseball fan takes it for what it is – a sign that stadiums that have sat empty all winter are soon to be filled with the smell of hot dogs and peanuts.

As the week wears on, expect most of the Rockies pitchers to get a little work, including Ubaldo Jimenez, who expects to enter spring fairly sharp, thanks to a stint in winter ball this year. Jeff Francis will also get his first work against opposing batters this week, scheduled to throw a couple innings against the Giants.

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Add to that the Olivo signing to replace Torrealba, and the one-year deals with Barmes and Buchholz to avoid arbitration, that leaves only a few notable names left without deals – closer Huston Street, reliever Rafael Betancourt, and benchman/hitting specialist Jason Giambi.

The Olivo signing comes after weeks of negotiations with Torrealba, with the two sides unable to come to an agreement on how to spread out the money over the life of the contract. Torrealba was a known commodity, especially with the Spanish-speaking side of the pitching staff, so it’s not clear how well Olivo will fit. My thinking is that this was a clear move to tell Iannetta it’s time to earn that big money deal he just signed and either become the permanent, long-term catcher, or not.

More in depth coverage of the Rockies roster as it shapes up with the approach of spring training coming soon.

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Todd Helton at first base.

Editor’s Note: This is the first in our season of Roundtable Discussions about the Rockies this offseason. Our plan is to have a discussion about every position on the team, with the series wrapping up just in time for Spring Training. Today’s discussion centers around the face of the franchise, Todd Helton at 1B, and the discussion is between ProSportsColorado.com writers Jason Ackerman, Ian Cerveny, and long-lost contributor Dan Olson.

Jason:
This is probably one of the easiest positions to analyze on the team, along with shortstop. The job is Todd’s as long as he continues to produce, and in 2009, produce he did, batting .325 with 86 RBIs and 15 homeruns. In addition, he posted a .998 fielding percentage and played in 153 games, and added 2 pinch hit appearances. Not bad for a guy that spent most of the previous season out of commission, and was widely regarded as finished. Nothing could be further from the truth– the way Todd looked in 2009, he could very easily finish out the remaining 2 years on his contract. If that is indeed the case, look for Todd to continue Joe Sakic-style– one year deals until he’s finally convinced it’s over. But that’s looking way ahead.

Ian:
No argument on the starter; Todd Helton is The Man at 1B, and he had a nice renaissance at the plate in ’09.  But I don’t think he can be expected to play 150 games in 2010 and be effective late in the season and in the playoffs.  If the Rocks stay competitive in the first half of the season, we should see Todd getting more than a few games off.

Dan:
First Base is the one position where all the problems seem to be long term problems. Unless Todd gets injured in which case we are in deep trouble. I don’t think Todd will reproduce what he did last year, but I don’t see him falling too far off either. And you’re right, he’s the first baseman as long as he’s here and producing. He’ll make $19.1M this year unless we exercise his $4.6M buyout and I can’t imagine we would, and next year it’s actually cheaper to pay his contact then buy him out, so Todd will see his $141M contact mature. Good for him, it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

Ian:

The toughest part of Todd’s job to duplicate will be his defense.  As important as he was in challenging opposing pitchers (gotta love those high-pitch-count at-bats) and coming through with the occasional clutch hit, the fact is that the Rockies do not possess a stellar defensive first basement to take over for Todd when he retires or succumbs to injury (knock, knock.)  Giambi is serviceable, Atkins is serviceable, Ian Stewart could fill in, but Helton has anchored some incredible defensive infields in the last few years (the best in the history of baseball in 2007.)  Finding a consistent bat to fill in Todd’s spot in the rotation is going to be an easier task than filling the hole in the infield.  And this team’s pitching staff has been built to generate ground balls for our fantastic infielders to feast on.

Jason

The real intrigue for me in the 2010 season at first base is not Todd – you can expect Todd to play, and even with a reduced workload he’ll still see at least 125 games, maybe more. The intrigue for me is in the backup. We’ll deal with Atkins in a couple weeks at 3B, and I don’t see him as a viable backup here, he’s simply too expensive. My only question is whether the Rockies will play true to recent form and dig up one of the young guys from the system to hang out at first base. At one point in time, the heir apparent appeared to be Joe Koshansky, but he was waived prior to the 2009 season and is now in the Brewers organization (backing up Fielder? how is that better for him, unless Fielder leaves for more money someplace else?).

Ian:

There were rumors prior to last season that Atkins was the long-term solution at 1B once Todd left.  He’s seen a few years in the majors, has a quick glove & a strong arm, and has shown that he can produce at the plate.  Whether Garret’s dismal 2009 season will prevent him from being a helper at 1B will be determined by his value in the trade market (which declined with his batting average over the course of last season,) and by his attitude coming into spring training. I thought Atkins looked like his old self in the last few weeks of the ’09 season, and I would love to see him return to form in ’10.  Ian Stewart is an above-average power-hitting third baseman with room to improve, and may well be the starter at 3B next season if Atkins can’t step up.

Dan:

Garrett Atkins is done in Denver. He’ll never clear arbitration having made $7M last year to not load up on RBI’s. And if he goes to arbitration we’ll never tender a qualifying offer. And since he’ll hit the open market, some team will think he just had an off year and offer $7M+ to have him not load up on RBI’s in their ballpark. I hear the Mets might be done with Delgado.

Jason:

Will Giambi come back? He sure seemed to love playing here, and the spark he provided off the bench was undeniable. Maybe he can teach these young hitters a thing or two.

Ian:

Giambi may be tough to sign, as I guarantee he won’t be getting Oakland money here in Colorado.  The ideal solution is a productive Atkins filling in for Todd at 1B whenever possible, and Stewart coming into his own at 3B in the process.

Dan:

Jason Giambi would be a worthwhile risk in my opinion. Fan fave, and probably fairly cheap for his talents, if it’s made clear he’s playing a backup role. With his resume, skill set, and duties as Todd’s backup, I’d offer $3M and let myself get talked up to $5, maybe go as high as $7 if someone else gets me into a bidding war. Throw in a $50,000 bonus for 500 PA and I you get a pretty decent left-handed bat off the bench who could take 50ish starts for the old man.

Utility Infielders could fill the gap too. Clint Barmes and Eric Young, JR. would be just fine with 50 starts each if Todd go down or Jason goes somewhere else. Clint is arbitration eligable and I would definetly pay the $3M-$3.5 to keep him. EYJ is still in the rookie pay scale, which mean every business man’s dream comes true, cheap labor.

Ian:

To be honest, I am far more interested in seeing anybody develop at 1B (unless Prince Fielder is secretly being shipped to Denver in a very sturdy crate at the end of the 2010 season) than seeing Jason Giambi play any defense… at all.  Giambi is a great role player, a huge clutch bat, and by all accounts a very scary man from the POV of an opposing pitching staff.  But the future of the Rockies’ defense lies in working on Todd’s replacement now.  If Dan Ortmeier makes a good showing at spring training, and Garret Atkins fails to show up at all, I say do what it takes to get Ortmeier into some games.  He had a great 62 games in San Francisco in 2007, so the talent is there.  Maybe a little spritz of Coors Field Magic will turn him productive again.

Dan:

Minor league I see two bad options, Matt Repec (0.296, 11 HR, 62 RBIs) and Jeffrey Cunningham (0.249, 9 HR, 52 RBIs), both with Modesto. Repec is obviously the better stat-wise but he’s a little long in the tooth at 26 to make his first major league start. Cunningham is the right age at 23 but he might not have the stuff with only 52 RBIs. In the majors, first basemen must get RBIs, especially as a backup. Bear in mind that both these two play for AA Modesto Nuts. If you can’t hit .300 in AA, your probably not ready for the majors.

Another possible solution at 1st: Apparently washed up 1st basemen who we can extend no risk spring training invitations to. The list this year is long:

Rich Aurilla

Russell Branyan

Tony Clark

Carlos Delgado

Ross Gload (My personal favorite for Todd’s backup spot)

Jim Thome (Shut-up, it could happen and not be stupid)

Javier Valentin

Dmitri Young

No less than 4 of the aboved mentioned will be out of baseball next year, and surely one or two will contribute to their presective signing team. I say we give 2-3 spring training invites and see if we get lucky. The rest of the free agent market for first basemen will undoubtedly be too expensive to ride the pine for 120 games, so I won’t even go into it.

Jason:

If you ask me – first base is a done deal. Todd will get the bulk of the starts, with Giambi behind him (assuming he doesn’t get a DH job in the AL), unless one of the kids impresses at spring training this year. And if Todd gets hurt, look for a guy like Ortmeier (.295, 73 RBI) to step up and fill the roster spot.

Well, that’s our extremely long-winded wrapup of the first base position – our first Rockies Roundtable of the off-season – next week we’ll tackle the enigma that is Clint Barmes at second base.

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Editor’s Note:

The evolution of Denver, Colorado as a baseball town completed another stage on Thursday, October 1st, 2009.

On a beautiful fall day at Coors Field, Franklin Morales struck out Alcides Escobar for the final out of the Rockies’ 9-2 win against the Milwaukee Brewers, and the Rockies clinched the 2009 National League Wildcard Championship.

It was their third postseason birth in franchise history, and their second in three years. The game ended a spectacular journey that saw the Rockies climb back from 12 games under .500 to finish the season 22 games over the break-even mark. The Rocks even challenged the Los Angeles Dodgers, a team they once trailed by 15.5 games, for the National League West Divisional crown.

For the casual fan, the Rockies’ postseason berth meant the thrill of Rocktober once again coming to Denver, conjuring up memories of the team’s magical 2007 World Series run. Over a span of less than three weeks, the Rockies conquered all comers in the NL before eventually being swept by the Boston Red Sox.

Remembering that thrill, the bandwagoners dusted off their “CR” hats and pink “Tulowitkzi” shirts, filled a chilly and wintry LoDo area (and their shot glasses), and watched the 2009 postseason unfold. Many of them were blissfully unaware of what transpired to get the Rockies back into the postseason, despite all of the changes since that 2007 run.

Among the differences…

All-Stars such as Matt Holliday and Brian “Tito” Fuentes played for a combined three different teams this season, and 2007 staff ace Jeff Francis sat on the disabled list for the entire season. Ex-manager Clint Hurdle watched his former team from a broadcast booth on the newly created MLB Network.

Yet, as the national media finally started to turn their heads to Colorado for the playoffs, tales of 2007 were repeated, ad-nauseum. Long-time Rockies fans know the truth: 2007 was lightning in a bottle.

Back then, it took less than a calendar month for the Rockies to go from a moderately talented afterthought to a team surging through the playoffs to the World Series. Absent in their historic sprint to their first NL pennant (in both the play of the team and the fans that follow it) were the qualities that define baseball: endurance and patience. It is these two qualities which can be found in every aspect of the Rockies ’09 run– qualities the fan base is learning as Denver becomes a better baseball town.

Two years ago, the sports world witnessed a phenomenon, complete with its own trademark-able name: Rocktober. Winning 21 out of 22 games en route to their first World Series, the Rockies’ run was the stuff of storybooks and legend. There are those who insist the play-in game with the San Diego Padres goes down as the best regular season baseball game in 25 years. A football town used to the instant gratification of big hits, the long pass, and last-second victories was gifted with the baseball equivalent in 2007.

In 2009, a different tale has been told. After starting the first two months of the season 20-29, the Rockies posted a 21-7 record in the month of June and found they had won…absolutely nothing. They had merely returned themselves to respectability. During the final 85 games of the season, the Rockies battled and went 51-34, winning a franchise-record 92 games.

Though brief, the Phillies series was memorable, and not just for the poor calls by the umpires. The gritty Game 2 start by right-hander Aaron Cook tamed the Phils potent left-handed lineup, and catcher Yorvit Torrealba improved upon his 2007 postseason success by launching a 3-run home-run, only his third of the entire ’09 season. An early October chill in Denver provided the backdrop for Games 3 and 4 in Colorado, both nail-biting heart breakers. And yet, at the end, fans were left not with the hollow emptiness that followed the 2007 Red Sox sweep, but a glimmer of a team that is transforming from lightning in a bottle to a perennial National League contender. If the last three years of Rockies baseball has shown fans anything, it is how thin the line between success and failure truly is.

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