Wednesday Morning Rockpile:
by Rox Girl on Mar 26, 2008 8:37 AM MDT
in Rockpile
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PrintTom Verducci has an excellent piece that somehow encompasses Tulo, Justin Upton, the blooming D-backs/Rockies rivalry, the greatness of the 2005 draft, the remorse of the Toronto Blue Jays for missing the boat in said draft, Denny Neagle and Jackson Holliday even, but somehow makes it work with our prize shortstop the centerpiece that ties everything together.
Less impressive is Phil Rogers' glimpse at the Rockies, where he waffles all over the place about whether the Rockies are a real contender or not. Here's a clue, Phil: They are. Next time, don't be so afraid to make a commitment.
Brian Howell has a column about Matt Holliday in which the slugger talks about how comfortable he is right now -in Colorado, with his contract, with the team- and what he expects for 2008.
Troy Renck notes one of the final decisions of camp, the Scott Podsednik-Cory Sullivan debate. He also adds a note on how Miggy's Cabrera's extension for Detroit provides a glimpse of what an extension for Holliday might look like. Which it doesn't, and Dan O'Dowd says as much since Cabrera -as a certain Hall of Famer if his career stays on course- is at a whole other plane of value to a team. The final note backtracks on the Giles trade to the Dodger rumor that had been circulating -as is the case with most reports of this kind involving players certain to be cut- the Dodgers are only interested in Marcus when they don't have to give up anything.
Tracy Ringolsby includes that tidbit on Giles in a brief note, and he also reports how the Rockies want our young pitchers to emulate what they saw from the White Sox hurlers this Spring. So much so that they plan on using video of Buehrle and Vazquez as a reference point.
Renck and Saunders (not to be confused with this couple) reviewed the Rockies Spring, and who they see as its surprises, triumphs and disappointments. They've been driving the Yorvit Torrealba bandwagon this Spring, and once again label him "most impressive". I'm not going to deny that he's looked sharp, but I've been very impressed by both our catchers in camp! -as the Rox Press Pass notes point out- both Torrealba and Chris Iannetta have combined for a very solid showing at the plate, but I wish they'd talk more about how sharp the two have looked controlling the running game as well. They've been particularly down on Willy Taveras, which has sort of rankled me. Willy T's looked sharper as the Spring has gone along both batting and particularly on the basepaths, and while he had a better March performance last season, you might remember that before he broke out with a five hit game at Shea Stadium on April 25, he was batting a miserable .192 for the first three and a half weeks of the season. What's most important to me is that he's staying limber and showing that he'll be in the lineup more consistently this season. That said, I agree completely that Taveras might want to be aware that Dexter Fowler's coming up fast behind him.
[UPDATE] The Rockies traded Ramon Ramirez to the Royals for a PTBNL.
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I remember
that April 25 game very well. The Rockies finally won a game at Shea when I was there!
And who can forget when John F'n Mabry hit a 3-run homer in the 3rd inning?
"Don't give up the ship!" - Capt. James Lawrence
A thing or two concerning the new platform.
Trei and the rest of his team made two changes quite recently. The first you can see in your user box. If you preferred the wide width of the old site you can now view the site like that.
The second is that you can go into "Edit Settings" and turn off user avatars.
"Don't give up the ship!" - Capt. James Lawrence
Why would we wanna turn off the avatars?
Then I couldn't see your cool shirt Russ!! Has anyone ever told you that you look like Squints from the Sandlot movies?
There's only one Rocktober!!
No one's ever told
me that I look like Squints. Years ago, I was constantly told I looked like Harry Potter, however.
"Don't give up the ship!" - Capt. James Lawrence
As a Cardinals fan...
the Rockies were a pleasant surprise for me in '07, as was Arizona...fact is that we don't see you guys enough, what with our 18,000 games against Pittsburgh and Cincinnati every year and the "exciting" home and home match the Cards get stuck with against the Royals...it's great that we get to open against each other this year.
Just ignore Phil Rogers...living in Chicago, I have learned to do just that...eventually, he'll catch on to the great story you have there in the Rockies resurgence.
Good luck to you this season except vs. the Cards! ;-)
Heard enough from Cardinal's fans...
On memorial day last year. The stadium was full of the citizens of Misery who had driven across three states to witness the game. They kept heckling the handful of Rockies fans at the game saying things like, "How does it feel to never play in a World Series?"
There's only one Rocktober!!
Good luck to you guys too
except vs. the Rockies! The Cardinals are my #2 team. And actually, their fans were friendly to me when I was at Busch in 2006 for a game.
Great article by Verducci...
He really breaks down Tulo and describes him in a way I have never read before. Funny story too about his comments to Upton.
Verducci also picked the Rockies to win the division this year saying, "(The) Rockies were no fluke. They were 51-30 in the second half last year with a predominantly young team."
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/tom_verducci/03/25/picks.explanation/1.html
SI also picked the Rockies to make it to the NLCS before losing to the Cubs. They wrote in the SI Season Preview, "Last season the Rockies gave a total of 49 starts to journeymen Josh Fogg, Rodrigo Lopez, Elmer Dessens and Byung-Hyung Kim, all of whom are gone." It makes me feel better about the rotation when I hear words like Lopez, and BK are gone.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/specials/spring_training/2008/previews/rockies.html
There's only one Rocktober!!
On a related side note
BK was cut yesterday by the Pirates...so he's available!
What am going to do with all these "Jeff Baker for 2nd" bumper stickers?
I'm a little Disappointed..
To hear Ramon Ramirez was traded to KC today. I had a feeling he would emerge this year and challenge for the 8th inning role. But it makes sense because now there is room for leftie Micah Bowie, and a bullpen needs plenty of good lefthanders. Plus with Taylor in place and Weathers and Morillo in the wings there should be plenty of good pitchers to move up the bullpen's pecking order.
There's only one Rocktober!!
me too
I'm disappointed as well. Something about seeing him come up and do well. I guess this is a good testament to our system producing good young relievers that we can give up on one.
At least we didn't give him away for free, like we did with Jamey Carroll.. (note sarcasm)
What am going to do with all these "Jeff Baker for 2nd" bumper stickers?
PTNL
That's two PTNL that we can now look forward too. Still no word on who is coming over from CLE for Carrol.
TGFPR!!
Great article on Tulo
He's a one in a million gem. Thank god we have him...can you imagine how frustrating he'd be to play against?
So, I was up at 4 AM to watch the A's/Sox game this morning, just for kicks. It was really fun, I'm glad I did...Rich Harden, when he is healthy, is incredible.
Striking out nine is a good way to start the season.
I was mainly watching to see Kurt Suzuki play. He was one of my favorite college baseball players.
"Don't give up the ship!" - Capt. James Lawrence
Yeah...
I used to be a big A's fan, and Harden was my fav player. I'm crossing my fingers that he has a full season...I suppose that's too much to ask, but we'll see.
I'm a big Harden fan as well
the sad thing is, dominating on the mound has been the easy part for him. I've lost all faith in him having a healthy season again.
Even more sad, my favorite player, period, is/was Rocco Baldelli. He's everything you'd want in a centerfielder, minus the whole weak muscle tissue and inability to recover after workout thing.
Here's a sneek peak of the cover!
http://www.denverpost.com/portlet/article/html/imageDisplay.jsp?contentItemRelationshipId=1880238
2007 National League Champions, baby!
Verducci
That Verducci article was great. It really made me appreciate Tulo and what he's meant to this team even more than I already did. And I thought all that stuff about the 2005 draft was fascinating.
Is it opening day yet?
After friday's game, Tulo came out and signed for probably about a hundred people. The only player to come out too, it was pretty cool. Now i can't wait to get my SI on thursday and then next week is going to be awesome, especially Friday 2:15..... still can't believe the rox played in the series last year!
News
-Redman and Morales named 4th and 5th starters (Redman starting the home opener).
-Giles released.
-Towers and Capellan will likely be placed on waivers soon. (Ringolsby noted that Capellan would start for the Sky Sox if he clears waivers)
-Smith, Quintanilla, Stewart and Cota sent to minor league camp.
redman pitched the b game today
he sucked.... fowler hit him hard a couple times. towers was poor too
hop on the rockies roller coaster
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