Wednesday Morning Rockpile:

by Rox Girl on Apr 23, 2008 8:58 AM MDT

What is the answer to what's affecting the Rockies? Jeff Baker's bat helped a bit last night, but his defense left something to be desired, and while Tulo's defense was missed, our lineup has too many automatic outs when he's playing right now. If we can't trust Corpas or Fuentes out of the pen, who can we trust?

I guess there are a few ways you can go about trying to find a solution to these issues. Last night, the method Hurdle chose was to try and fit a square peg in a round hole with the Barmes/Baker combo. It almost worked.

While I doubt Hurdle's going to mess with the Fuentes/Corpas combo, and he probably shouldn't, the Rockes have been tinkering with other parts of the pen. Micah Bowie and Jose Vizcaino apparently had the same injury -I think gooberpitchatitis of the forearm is the technical term- and Bowie now joins the Viz on the DL. Let's hope Josh Newman is as effective a replacement from the farm as Ryan Speier has been.

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Corpas...

I am officially concerned about him. I don’t know what the heck is wrong, but something is when you go from being near unhittable, to getting rocked this first month.
I mean, 3 blown saves, a 6.55 ERA, more walks given up than strikeouts, I just don’t get it. Maybe he’s tipping his pitches? Maybe he thought it was too easy and needs slapped in the face to get things straightened out(ie, he thinks he doesn’t need to work hard and can just “wing” it against the hitters). But seriously, geez, get the crap straightened out soon. Lost 2 games already because of you and almost lost another(the 22 inning game).

by TehChamp on Apr 23, 2008 12:20 PM MDT 0 recs

Haven't there

been some reports from “anonymous scouts” that his velocity is down so far in 2008? I would imagine that his workload in 2008, stretching all the way until late October, was probably the highest of his career.

by moomacher on Apr 23, 2008 1:05 PM MDT up 0 recs

To me

It seems like hitters have figured out his approach. Nobody’s chasing the sinker away on the first two pitches, so he ends up behind in counts too much. He needs to stay ahead of guys and mix it up a bit. Of course, that could essentially be said about all of our pitchers.

by Teekalong on Apr 23, 2008 1:42 PM MDT 0 recs

Morales

I hope to god he does better and actually pitches past 7 innings—but then again I doubt that’ll happen.

"Baseball is what gets inside you. It's what lights you up, you can't deny that. It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard... is what makes it great." -Jimmy Dougan (Tom Hanks) "A League of Their Own"

by Tulowitzki Rox on Apr 23, 2008 2:14 PM MDT 0 recs

Has that ever happened?

I was at his debut last season in LA, and I loved his composure. Of course, it got drowned out by that incredibly long game. But he, like Uball, just seems so inefficient. If there’s ever a time to give teh bully a break, this would be it.

Looking forward to the weekend out here, if all goes well I’ll be taking in all 3 games amongst the 50,000 in Chavez Ravine…

by Teekalong on Apr 23, 2008 2:33 PM MDT up 0 recs

I think I found

out the reason why Tulo just hasn’t performed to his standards: His doppelgänger’s out there every night while he sifts through all those prom requests he gets from the stands.

"Don't give up the ship!" - Capt. James Lawrence

Purple Row - Covering all your Rockies needs!

by Russ on Apr 23, 2008 2:32 PM MDT 0 recs

Frankly

I think he just got a bit cocky over the offseason. I’ve been talking to a few folks who know people who know him (I know, grains of salt) but the word is that he’s incredibly arrogant, and wasn’t always that way. Now, I’m not one who thinks that’s a bad trait in a star athlete…but I certainly hope he gets his head together here.

Of course, his struggles were probably inevitable once I drafted him in like 3 fantasy leagues.

by Teekalong on Apr 23, 2008 2:38 PM MDT up 0 recs

Arrogant,

when you’re going bad…confident, when you’re going good.

by 4thturn on Apr 23, 2008 2:41 PM MDT 0 recs

Baker at 2nd

I hope Hurdle doesn’t overreact to Baker’s fielding lapses last night. New position and little playing time probably led to his problems in the field.

I like the idea of taking a ride on the Barmes/Baker middle infield wagon a little longer to see where it carries us.

With the struggles in the bullpen, we need some offensive spark, which that combo has given us.

by Drewan on Apr 23, 2008 3:01 PM MDT 0 recs

Bullpen

I’m kind of hoping it’s all a delayed reaction to the 22-inning game. It’s almost as if the two games after that, they knew they would need to dig deep, so they did, but then they sort of collectively collapsed in exhaustion. Even though some of them haven’t worked more than usual on paper, that kind of thing could mentally wear out an entire bullpen for a few games. At least, that’s what I’m going to tell myself.

In other news, I just bought tickets for next week’s Monday and Tuesday games at AT&T Park. Yay! And I only have to go by myself on Tuesday. It’s been two years since I’ve been to a game, so they better find a way to win at least one of those games, or I will be very sad.

by holly96 on Apr 23, 2008 3:24 PM MDT 0 recs

TRADES

Trade, Trade, Trade, some of the prospects that will bring us what we truly need. Starting pitching, Get a hold of San Fran, they need an entire team, and they have some pitching, talk to them, trade, spend money. We are so infield, outfield, heavey, trade, trade trade. You all, figure out who, and to who, but let’s get it done. Stop hoarding, and worrying that to trade these kids, they will come back and bit your ass….......so what? We need starting pitching,

by roxtalk on Apr 23, 2008 3:41 PM MDT 0 recs

Agreed

I can’t recall any major trades ever going down in April/May, so its probably just wishful thinking. But the way I see it, we have two #3s, two high-upside-but-currently #4s, and a guy that probably wouldn’t start for any other team in the league. And Hirsh doesn’t exactly qualify as a reinforcement, nor does Reynolds. This approach is good enough when the bullpen is rock solid, but…well, you know. We desperately need an ace, and rushing along potential future aces ain’t the same thing.

One thing I can’t help thinking…no more contracts. Hawpe, Tulo, and Corpas all seem to play inversely proportional to how well they are paid.

What a lame, lame night to be a Denver sports fan.

by Teekalong on Apr 23, 2008 11:35 PM MDT up 0 recs

Also agree

The Rockies have position players, including some bottled up at the minor league level, that have trade value. There were several inquiries about Barmes last year and in the off-season. Atkins or Stewart: pick one, but the team can’t hang onto both forever. Quintanilla’s better than some ML teams’ second basemen, shortstops and utility guys. There’s a perennial need for catchers, and Bellorin is also better than some teams’ current backups.

Relief pitchers are a notoriously dicey, hot-and-cold commodity to trade for. And, though you can always trade for some type of reliever, trading for a closer is a bit harder. Wanna do Corpas for Jose Valverde? Neither team would know what they were really getting.

Nevertheless, the Rockies are going to have to take a chance with an excess-position-player(s) for reliever(s) swap. The bullpen is just too awful. Neither Herges nor Buchholz is really closer material. They’re doing fine in their current roles. Don’t fix the broken part of the pen by screwing up the part that’s working.

My daughter says she wants to marry Taylor Bucholz.
But I'm not sure about the beard.

by maris61 on Apr 24, 2008 7:07 AM MDT up 0 recs

Good thing this wasn't live during the game, huh?

Prediction: Corpas is either on the DL, relegated to seventh-inning duty, or both within 72 hours. Something ain’t right with this kid.

God, we’ve lost four straight and it feels like 10 straight. Seems like the Cubs and Astros are always around for these miserable stretches of baseball.

Staying on the sunny side of Blake Street since 1993.

by Franchise26 on Apr 23, 2008 10:38 PM MDT 0 recs

Corpas

Needs to be demoted. That was just horrifying, like watching a replay of a major injury or something…you know what’s coming, but when it happens, it still is impossible to watch. There’s no way he’s got any confidence right now. I don’t know who to give the ball to….Fuentes seems logical but scary, Buckholz doesn’t seem ready or-to be honest-quite good enough, same for the rest of the crew. But something needs to be done.

by Teekalong on Apr 23, 2008 11:30 PM MDT up 0 recs

He's got to be hurt

His velocity, not to mention the bite/movement on his pitches, is non-existent compared to last year. Let’s hope it’s just sort of a generic “dead arm” type thing, and not something structural.

rockies in october.

by LarryB303 on Apr 23, 2008 11:41 PM MDT up 0 recs

I concur

Something just isn’t right, and I think someone is being mum on the situation, either Corpas or the coaches.
But you don’t go from what he was like last year, to this that fast. I’m kinda worried, because I thought we had a closer for the next decade, but now I’m not so sure.

by TehChamp on Apr 24, 2008 12:09 AM MDT up 0 recs

This is depressing

All of those bad felings from that road trip last year resurfaced tonight. It seems to be even more magnified at this point of the season. 9-12 seems much worse that 13-8. We should be 13-8 right now!!!!! AAAAAGH!!!! 13-8 and just couple back from the D-Backs, working on a 8 game win streak. Or at the very least 12-9… but why does this have to happen again this season?

I really hope the bullpen gets straightened out soon.  I can't take much more of this.

Thank god for baseball season.

by jcd823 on Apr 24, 2008 12:11 AM MDT 0 recs

Maybe this is going to be a yearly thing, where the Rockies bullpen blows six games in an eight day span, and then they somehow shake it all off and make the playoffs.

Yeah, that’s the ticket.

Insert clever and witty remark slash pun here!

by ES46NE10 on Apr 24, 2008 2:17 AM MDT 0 recs