Monday Rockpile: Post-Super Bowl, Pre-Spring Training Roundup
by Russ Oates on Feb 8, 2010 8:01 AM MST
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Rowbot Radio - Episode 2 - Purple Row
"In this edition, we discuss the state of the starting rotation going into Spring Training, including the condition of Jeff Francis, our stacked minor league options, and what we expect from our pitchers in 2010."
FanGraphs Splits | FanGraphs Baseball
The Home/Road Splits | FanGraphs Baseball
If you don't love FanGraphs yet or not enough, maybe you'll love will for the site will go up as they just added splits to their player pages. The second link look at how to look at home/road splits.
Pre-FanFest Giants news: Posey could work at other positions, Lincecum tries to take contract haggling in stride | Extra Baggs
In an article filled with notes on the Giants, Andrew Baggarly indicates that Bruce Bochy wants Buster Posey to get some playing time at first base. This way Posey won't start the season in the minors. But apparently, Posey had no idea about this until Baggarly told him.
The College Baseball Blog " Aman Reaka’s Top 100 Countdown: 100-75
I hope to have more coverage leading up to the 2010 draft than I did for the 2009 one, but for now here's one writer from the College Baseball Blog on the top eligible college draftees.
Washington Nationals: 2010 Draft Watch: Bryce Harper/Jameson Taillon. - Federal Baseball
Federal Baseball has video of top 2010 prospects Bryce Harper and RHP Jameson Taillon.
Viva El WAR (Part 1: Hitters) - Viva El Birdos
If our stats guys haven't fully gotten through to you yet on what WAR is, Viva El Birdos takes a stab at it.
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Rowbot Radio - Episode 2
by WolfMarauder on Feb 8, 2010 4:00 AM MST
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Welcome to Episode 2 of Rowbot Radio!
On this edition, Andrew and I discuss the state of the starting rotation going into Spring Training, including the condition of Jeff Francis, our stacked minor league options, and what we expect from our pitchers in 2010.
A couple of production notes:
- I have changed the audio setup to dual channel stereo, as opposed to separate channel stereo. You should hear both of us in one ear phone now. Initial unfamiliarity with editing this process accidentally made me mix the audio a little bit too hot ("too loud"), so there a couple crackles of peaking audio levels that I simply didn't have time to fix tonight. That should sound better next time.
- While I have not yet optimized it, I have gotten the file size to decrease about a third in file size, despite being five minutes longer. This one comes in just South of 23 MB (as opposed to last week's 31+). I will continue to see if I can get it further down. It should be possible, I just have to find out how best to do it without losing quality.
- I have not yet had the opportunity to check up on creating an RSS feed for auto-downloading. For now, you'll have to continue to download manually, but I'll continue to post it early in the morning so it'll be up for you to download before you have to go to work/school/vacation/party/spirit voyage.
- Please don't forget to send in questions or comments for Andrew and I to address, whether via e-mail or on the comments section of this thread.
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Sunday Rockpile: Great Catcher War of 2009 makes the mainstream press; Rockies interested in Cuban first baseman
by Rox Girl on Feb 7, 2010 8:17 AM MST
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Troy Renck's been aware of Purple Row's Great Catcher War of 2009, and he alludes to it in a piece that fondly remembers the service Yorvit Torrealba provided to the Rockies over his four seasons here. By waiting out the market, the Padres were able to sign Torrealba for about half price on his WAR estimated value. People are making a big deal of the mistake Torrealba and his agent made in turning down the Rockies best offer, but I think a bigger one could be counting on the Mets to sign Bengie Molina or be interested in Torrealba if they did not. The market quickly turned in on itself once Molina went back to the Giants.
Also from Renck, there are some interesting notes following this article on Ian Stewart's ascension to the role of starting third baseman and what he and the team are looking for from him in 2010. One note that probably shouldn't be brushed aside is that Paul Lo Duca probably won't accept a AAA assignment if he doesn't beat out Miguel Olivo or Chris Iannetta for a major league job. That scenario for Lo Duca likely doesn't happen without a DL stint for one of the other two.
Due to the relative trickle of baseball players that make it out of Cuba, and the typically higher cost of signing those players, it's very rare that we read of the Rockies being interested in recently defected Cubans. Apparently Jose Julio Ruiz is an exception. ESPN's Jorge Aranguré blogged about Ruiz earlier this off season in a report for ESPN Insider subscribers. Ruiz is a 25 year old left handed hitting first baseman that would presumably head to the upper minors (I would guess Tulsa) as added Todd Helton insurance for the next couple of seasons. Some feel, I'm not sure if the Rockies are in this camp, that he could also play in the outfield, so he could also be in that picture should the team part with Brad Hawpe anytime soon. Ruiz is expected to make his decision within the next couple of days.
In case you've missed it elsewhere the last couple of days, the Rockies are also interested Todd Wellemeyer and Noah Lowry on minor league deals. It seems both are more likely to sign elsewhere.
So today I got this super new punch bowl, it's plastic and it holds punch, like I say, it's just super, so I'm having this super bowl party just to celebrate the fact I got a really awesome punch bowl. It should be fun.
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2009 NL West in Review: Pitching Staffs
by Andrew T. Fisher on Feb 6, 2010 4:45 PM MST
in NL West Report
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For nearly two decades, Rockies fans have dealt with national analysts and out-of-state fans dismissing the statistics for Rockies hitters, since you know, we play baseball on Pandora the moon. What has not yet seemingly caught on (unless purple glasses blind me) is an equal amount of credit given to Rockies pitchers for throwing half their innings at least thrice the altitude of all other teams.
Granted, park effects aside, the Rockies have never had great pitching. From 1993-2004, Colorado finished dead last in NL ERA all but twice, finishing a couple runs ahead of one team those two years. But those days are gone now. As has been hinted at and outrightly stated here on numerous occasions, the Rockies were sabermetrically elite in 2009.
Overall, Colorado had the 10th best ERA in Major League Baseball, 7th best in rotational ERA; so even ignoring park effects, Bob Apodaca's staff was impressive. The starting pitchers also finished 6th in FIP and 4th in xFIP. Due largely in part of the extremely stout back end of the rotation, our Rockies sat atop all of major league baseball in pitching WAR in 2009. Naturally, that makes the Rockies look awfully good against the rest of the division. The following table on Fangraphs' RAR (runs above average) shows why Colorado belonged in the postseason. Not only are the Rockies on top overall, but they also had the most value in the rotation AND bullpen.
| Team | Starters | Bullpen | Batting | Total |
| COL | 174.6 | 46.8 | -36.5 | 184.9 |
| SFG | 158.1 | 43.4 | -39.2 | 162.3 |
| LAD | 137.9 | 45.9 | -35.6 | 148.2 |
| AZ | 133.2 | 36.1 | -33.9 | 135.4 |
| SDP | 25.4 | 24.4 | -37.5 | 12.3 |
By the way, the Padres' numbers are not a misprint. They were THAT bad in 2009. For a more visual comparison and LOLPads, here's the above table graphed.
Note: For the hitters' series, I computed my own park effects to hitters' positional splits using Statcorner's component splits. Conversely, the numbers in this article are straight from Fangraphs, though rounding errors apply.
Take the jump for a closer look.
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Saturday Rockpile: Mora officially signs, Torrealba's saga ends, more
by theoldgrizzlybear on Feb 6, 2010 9:07 AM MST
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Mora signs with Rockies - ESPN
The details of Melvin Mora's deal with the Rockies have been finalized, as Mora will get $1.3 million to presumably back up Ian Stewart, as well as be used in some capacity to spell Troy Tulowitzki and Clint Barmes. Mora has played virtually every position in his 10-year career.
Torrealba, Padres agree to one-year deal - The Denver Post
The former Rockies backstop has apparently signed with San Diego for $1.25 million, according to Troy E. Renck. I wish him luck with his new team, and hope that the Rockies are able to keep him in check during the 18-or-so games in which they'll see him this season. Also in the article, Renck mentions that the Rox will watch free-agent Noah Lowry throw in the near future.
Inside the Colorado Rockies " First baseman Josh Phelps should add power to Sky Sox | Major League Baseball in Denver
31-year-old power hitter Josh Phelps is among four players who signed minor league contracts with the Rockies yesterday, according to Jack Etkin. Also on the list are outfielders Alex Escobar and Bronson Sardinha, as well as former Rockies reliever Chris Gissell. Phelps, who is a first baseman, adds some power to the Sky Sox, who hit less than 100 homers last season despite playing half of their games in the hitters' park of all hitters' parks.
Rockies' Daley, who shunned the draft to get his degree at Bucknell, is a key cog in the team's bullpen - The Denver Post
Troy E. Renck has his own "underdog" piece about Matt Daley, to go along with the one that Russ linked to yesterday. On a side note, it's absolutely insane to me that Daley entered high school weighing 85 pounds, especially because I probably weighed double that amount.
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Best Colorado Rockies Draft Picks of the 00s
by Russ Oates on Feb 6, 2010 4:00 AM MST
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Writing a "best of" piece just after the decade ended (or maybe it didn't end if you're the kind of person who actually thinks about things like that) doesn't offer much perspective. But insta-history is always the rage (just take a look at the number of books that have come out on the 2008 presidential election and the current financial crisis in the recent months (and I believe it's still too early to actually understand the end of the Cold War, but twenty years later and counting we're starting to understand it)).
That being said, it's a bit easier to write such "best of" pieces for the sports world. The results are already tangible for the most part. So, let's take a look at the best Rockies draft picks this decade and then decide who is the best one.
Because neither Christian Friedrich (2008) nor Tyler Matzek (2009) have appeared in the majors yet they are eliminated from this discussion. When this topic is revisited in a few years, hopefully they'll be in the discussion.
First, some players who don't make it into the discussion: Matt Harrington (2000), Jayson Nix (2001), Chris Nelson (2004), Greg Reynolds (2006), and Casey Weathers (2007). Harrington became a never was; Nix has underwhelmed and no longer plays for the Rockies; Chris Nelson is working his way up the ladder but has yet to reach the majors; Reynolds is Reynolds; and Weathers may have a productive ahead of him, but doesn't fit within the current framework.
Who does make it?
| Player | Round | Year | Position |
| Garrett Atkins | 5 | 2000 | 3B |
| Clint Barmes | 10 | 2000 | 2B/SS |
| Brad Hawpe | 11 | 2000 | RF |
| Jeff Francis | 1 | 2002 | LHP |
| Ryan Spilborghs | 7 | 2002 | OF |
| Ian Stewart | 1 | 2003 | 3B |
| Eric Young Jr. | 30 | 2003 | INF |
| Seth Smith | 2 | 2004 | OF |
| Chris Iannetta | 4 | 2004 | C |
| Dexter Fowler | 14 | 2004 | CF |
| Troy Tulowitzki | 1 | 2005 | SS |
Join me after the jump for a look at what puts them on the list and who is the best of them all.
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Courtesy of reader Jay Wozny, here is a photoimage of the "Player" outside of Coors Field.
3 days ago
Russ Oates
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Friday Rockpile: Requisite Spring Training articles start to make the rounds
by Russ Oates on Feb 5, 2010 7:25 AM MST
in Rockpile
232 comments
Helton's preparation is the stuff of legend - The Denver Post
It's that time of the year again when we're going to hear about players' work ethics, how everyone is in the best shape of their careers and that they're very loose. We start with Todd Helton and his work ethic.
Rockies' Daley relishes underdog role | ColoradoRockies.com: News
And here's the underdog story for Spring Training. I hope to meet more of Matt's fans when they're at Citi Field to watch him pitch come August.
Olivo improves along with his English | ColoradoRockies.com: News
"Improving his English to help his children with their homework has helped Miguel Olivo better read scouting reports and prepare for opposition."
Smith patiently seeks more action | ColoradoRockies.com: News
"Seth Smith would love to see more playing time this season, but he understands that may be a challenge given the depth of the Rockies' outfield."
Baseball Prospectus | Squawking Baseball: The Best and Worst GMs of the '90s
For subscribers only, based on payroll efficiency, Bob Gebhard was in the bottom ten for the worst GMs of the '90s. The Rockies check in at #26 on the overall list
BaseballAmerica.com: College Baseball's Best Of The Decade
Huston Street was the overwhelming choice for college reliever of the decade. He also received votes for college pitcher of the decade. No college player drafted by the Rockies appeared.
Source: Nats close to deal with infielder Kennedy - MLB News - FOX Sports on MSN
Twitter / William Ladson: I just received word that ...
The Nationals, losers in the Orlando Hudson sweepstakes, settled for Adam Kennedy. There's something to be said about signings him, I just don't know what it is.
OK, Kennedy did all right with Oakland in 2009 (1.7 WAR), but Ian Desmond is nipping at both Kennedy's and Cristian Guzman's heels.
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NL West Standings
| W | L | PCT | GB | STRK | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Los Angeles
|
95 | 67 | .586 | 0 | Lost 3 |
|
Colorado
|
92 | 70 | .567 | 3 | Lost 2 |
|
San Francisco
|
88 | 74 | .543 | 7 | Won 1 |
|
San Diego
|
75 | 87 | .462 | 20 | Lost 1 |
|
Arizona
|
70 | 92 | .432 | 25 | Won 1 |
(updated 2.8.2010 at 8:04 PM MST)
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