Thursday Morning Rockpile:

by Rox Girl on Apr 3, 2008 7:26 AM MDT

I thought the Luis Vizcaino discussion was worthy of its own post, but there are other items on the plate today:

Troy Tulowitzki is clutch, Garrett Atkins is anti-clutch. Somehow, I think that Rockies fans are actually going to come out right in this, even though I have some serious doubts about other fan picks.

I'm working on a big minor league preview today, as well as the game thread for this afternoon -weather permitting- but in the meantime to satiate your Rockies prospect fix, subscribers of Baseball America would be able to read a Dave Krieger article about the quandary we call Ian Stewart. Atkins clearly deserves his spot on the team, but more and more it's looking like Ian's ready to contribute as well. This gets resolved one way or another before the end of 2008, I'm certain.

I'm putting this Larry Bowa ejection video below the fold, but it's worth watching. Thanks go to Baseball Digest Daily for pointing it out. Bowa's been suspended for three games for making one of the stupidest acts of defiance I've seen in quite awhile:

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Another minor league article

to get ready for your preview comes from Kevin Goldstein at Baseball Prospectus (subscribers only). Goldstein still doesn't believe Stew is as good as the hype he receives. He sees Chris Nelson possibly being shipped out, but only in a major deal. He also gives the odds for who will be next year's top prospect. Nelson has the best odds over Fowler and Gomez. Goldstein doesn't think Nelson receives as much attention as he should, so choosing him isn't much of a surprise. Though, at the moment, I'd venture to say we'll consider Fowler the top prospect by the middle of the season.

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

by Russ on Apr 3, 2008 7:43 AM MDT 0 recs

Goldstein

Goldstein absolutely HATES Ian Stewart and has been ripping him for as long as he's been writing over there at BP, so much so that I didn't even bother reading the "Don't Believe the Hype" portion of that article because I knew exactly who he was going to talk about.

Staying on the sunny side of Blake Street since 1993.

by Franchise26 on Apr 3, 2008 10:13 AM MDT up 0 recs

Rich Harden

Sounds like the big pitcher right at the trade deadline this year could turn out to be Rich Harden. He'd be a hard acquisition, cost us quite a bit, but I feel would be VERY worth it, depending on the state of our rotation right now (if Morales pulls through, and Hirsh returning could make things just fine).

I know it's early, but Rich Harden would look great in our future.

by roxintober on Apr 3, 2008 10:30 AM MDT 0 recs

My sister loves Harden; been a fan of his for a long time

and he's completely unhittable when he's on, but he's hurt ALL the time. I don't want to give up valuable talent for a serious health risk.

Ask your doctor if the Rockies are good for you. Are they generally? No. Do we stay? Of course. Why? Who built Stonehenge?

by Silverblood on Apr 3, 2008 2:48 PM MDT up 0 recs

I agree, but

I also don't think he'll command top prospects. For starters, suggesting that Harden will be pitching by the deadline is a projection that he's failed to reach more often than not in his career. Also, he's close to free agency, so he'll basically be a rental.

It makes absolute sense for the A's to trade him: he won't bring pick compensation and he won't be a part of the next great A's team. While I expect Beane to try and milk his fellow GM's, i also expect him to settle on a lower value than what Harden's raw arm would suggest. The baggage is to high for the top shelf prospects. If we were to make an offer for Harden, I could see something like Hynick and Nelson getting the job done.

That said, I'm expecting Reynolds to stabilize our rotation long before we begin to worry about acquiring a big ticket starter.

by David OhNo on Apr 3, 2008 5:30 PM MDT up 0 recs

Bad trade

I could see Hynick and Nelson as the centerpieces of a larger package for a guy like Harden, were he to have a history of staying healthy, but Hynick and Nelson are both prospects that look likely to contribute for the MLB club in the next season or two and trading them for a player who is not only a rental but seems to never stay healthy would be nuts - even if we are in a pennant race and need pitching.

Heck, it isn't inconceivable that Hynick would make the jump late in the season if injuries develop in the starting rotation for Colorado.

I expect Reynolds (once proven to be healthy and once he shakes the rust off) to be able to come up and contribute for the Rockies this season.

I haven't looked at projections/etc. on him but my gut is that he could outperform the bottom of the rotation even as a rookie and is probably even a safer bet than Morales at this point for major league average contributions this season. What are your thoughts?

by MADness on Apr 5, 2008 2:19 PM MDT up 0 recs

"We're sorry

this video is no longer available." Grrar...I did a youtube search for it, too, and it yielded no results.

by oo_nrb on Apr 3, 2008 1:35 PM MDT 0 recs

MLBAM brought that one down

It's just Bowa going apoplectic while Vin Scully tries to figure out what just happened. I have no idea why he thought the umpires were joking when they said they'd have to ring him for getting out of the coaches box.

by Rox Girl on Apr 3, 2008 2:06 PM MDT up 0 recs

I'm getting somewhat peeved

with the attitude I'm sensing toward Atkins right now, as if two mediocre season-opening games mean he's on a very short leash and has to prove himself or risk being shipped out. If we're going to trust that everyone else won't look this bad, then neither will Garrett (who had three hits today and would have had an RBI if the ump had seen that Helton was safe at the plate). He HAS proven himself, and however much we all like him, Stewart is still an untested commodity, major-league wise. If he has a barnburning AAA season, then of course I'll be happy to welcome him to the big-league roster as our starting third baseman. Until then, the job still belongs to Atkins. Who has earned it.

Ask your doctor if the Rockies are good for you. Are they generally? No. Do we stay? Of course. Why? Who built Stonehenge?

by Silverblood on Apr 3, 2008 9:48 PM MDT 0 recs

I think you misunderstand the first link

And perhaps what I said in linking it. Tango's clutch project is essentially trying to hammer home a point that there is no such thing as a clutch hitter, that he would rather have a team's better hitter who the fans don't appreciate (in this case Atkins) over the guy they think is clutch in those higher leverage moments. Thus far, in their careers, the fans have been right in this case, as Atkins does much worse than normal in high leverage situations, whereas Tulowitzki (after starting off amazingly) doesn't do any worse. The end result is that even though Atkins is a better hitter overall -and as you say, fully deserving of his starting third base role thus far- he's been a worse hitter in so called clutch situations.

So far this season, that hasn't changed, Atkins yesterday got his hits in low pressure situations.

by Rox Girl on Apr 4, 2008 4:52 AM MDT up 0 recs