We got done with this years ago! WHY, O’Dowd? Why do you not have any idea of what constitute good pitching? WHY?!

1) Ringolsby’s article on the Rockies lack of timely hitting was terribly written. 3/4 of the article was on the pitching and bullpen changes. But the point is obvious: Rockies aren’t hitting, and more so with RISP. Here’s a chart from the page:
Player (average) – - – RISP Avg. – - – AB – - – H – - – SO

Atkins (.333) – - – .227 – - – 44 – - – 10 – - – 9
Hawpe (.254) – - – .294 – - – 34 – - – 10 – - – 10
Helton (.271) – - – .235 – - – 34 – - – 8 – - – 7
Holliday (.315) – - – .275 – - – 40 – - – 11 – - – 11

Totals (.297) – - – .257 – - – 152 – - – 39 – - – 37

But Hawpe hasn’t hit much at all, and Helton has been off as well. A clean up hitter that can’t hit is bad bongos. I suggest we have Holliday and Atkins bat 3 & 4, then have them bat again at 5 & 6 while wearing Hawpe and Helton jerseys. Maybe no one will notice. This doesn’t even mention that Tavares OBP is way off as well.

2) Julian Tavares. Well, the RMN mentioned that he’s a long shot, as the Rockies won’t give up anything for him. But he’s a vet past his prime….so I’m sure he’ll be in Denver soon. Personally if the Rockies show some patience I expect Fogg to be DFA as soon as Homer Baily is called up.

3) the Post’s Tavares article mentions the Rockies are shopping some of their OF depth, particularly Cory Sullivan. Besides old washed up mediocre veteran pitching, what else can the Rockies be looking at?

3) Nice to see Stewart keeping a level head. He even acknowledges he could be traded. Personally I would bring him up even if it’s a bench player. (which isn’t good for a young player) but the Rockies need a lefty, and Helton needs some time off. (love the guy, I really, really do, but he’s dragging down the line up)

That Indians second baseman with the LOLworthy name (Asdrubal Cabrera, and seriously, what were his parents thinking? Probably about as much as the parents of the Indianapolis Colts’ WR… Craphonso Thorpe!) turned an unassisted triple play. This really annoys me.

We could trade Helton (yeah, I agree, it hurts to say it), move Atkins and his “defense” to 1B, and put Stewart at 3B.

It’s true that Helton’s power has dropped, but he has remained a strong OBP guy (although he’s off a bit this year). If he can put up a .420ish OBP (as he has in the past), I think some teams would be interested, esp since those teams who have Beane disciples in their midst. Some financially wrangling may need to occur to get a deal done.

Helton is a strange fit for the cleanup spot. Clearly he’s a #2 or #3 hitter, but I don’t claim to understand any of Hurdle’s batting order philosophies.

I agree that Helton’s OBP is a real plus for this team. Also, as I posted elsewhere, he is a pitcher’s nightmare, whether he reaches or not. He is currently second in all of baseball in pitches seen. That means he is driving up pitch counts plate appearance after plate appearance. Also, his defense is often overlooked. If not for his ability to pick balls out of the dirt, our infield and defense as a whole would not be among the league’s best.

Regardless, it’s a moot point. I don’t see any sort of deal to go down, and even if one was in the making, I wouldn’t expect Todd to accept any sort of a trade. Live with it doubters… Helton is here to stay.

Well, glad us wee message boards can be Renck’s foil, but here’s the way I see things right now:

1. The Rockies have multiple holes to fill to be a really solid contending team.
2. The Rockies have a handful of players good enough and with affordable contracts who could fill multiple holes if traded:

Matt Holliday
Garrett Atkins
Brad Hawpe (maybe)
Troy Tulowitzki
Aaron Cook
Jeff Francis

Now… what are the going to do?

Trade Stewart and other prospects in a package for one player and tread water not really being good enough for a championship or bad enough to drop out of contention for a couple of seasons before collapsing without a farm system to replace Atkins and Holliday?

or

Trade Holliday or Atkins before they bolt and fill multiple needs, leaving the farm system in tact but bringing the team to the championship level?

Those are the choices, really. And nobody’s saying that trading Atkins is desirable or that he’s not a very good player. I just see that a Stewart trade doesn’t get us enough help and that’s the primary reason (besides the whole defensive value thing which I’m not going to get into here) that I think an Atkins trade is in the team’s best interest.

Other than that, I don’t have much to say for the day. Except please win, that would be nice. I need something to concentrate on that is relaxing and NOT american government. Besides, my head has been shot ever since I made the mistake of getting a grande coffee instead of my usual tall.

Oh, totally off topic, but I entered that “Live the Dream” sweepstakes because the player of the month is Spilly. You have to ask a question and then tell why you should be the one to ask it in person…I chose a really random, odd question, but my reasoning is that Spilly is plenty odd, he doesn’t need a textbook “what’s your favorite baseball memory?” kind of question. Besides, he’s very much like me in a lot of ways. I figure they’ll give it to a sob story and/or a kid, but I figure what hey…nothing to lose, right?