Friday Morning Rockpile:

by Russ Oates on May 16, 2008 8:01 AM MDT in Rockpile

This is another one of those days when you just don't want to talk about the previous night's game. So, who's excited about playing the Twins?

AL Central Standings

	W	L	PCT	GB	STRK
Cleveland	22	19	.536	0	Won 3
Chicago	20	20	.500	1.5	Won 2
Minnesota	20	20	.500	1.5	Lost 3
Kansas City	19	21	.475	2.5	Won 4
Detroit	16	25	.390	6	Lost 4

(updated 5.16.2008 at 9:45 AM EDT)

A .500 record and losers of their last three? Against a team with a sub-.500 record and losers of their last five? Someone's going to have a one-game winning streak after tonight! And it better be the Rockies. It's a Nick Blackburn-Ubaldo Jimenez matchup. With the exception of his starts on April 7 and 14, Blackburn has gone at least six innings in his starts (eight starts total). Jimenez has only gone six innings or more twice in eight starts: his second start of the season (his only win) and his 11-K losing effort last Saturday.

Is Matt Holliday this year's Mark Teixeira? Whatever he is, he isn't worried about it.

The last link also indicates that Hurdle will announce his coaching staff for the All-Star Game today. Who else will he take?

Anyone want to help Josh Fogg count 150K pennies? It might help pass the time until the Rockies start winning again.

Tweet Comment 20 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

How about moving the discussion

to something more interesting – The upcoming draft???

TGFPR!!

by jlot10 on May 16, 2008 8:16 AM MDT reply actions

Or better yet....

The 2009 draft.

We might have the first pick!

by BroJB on May 16, 2008 11:22 AM MDT up reply actions

Got to get past the Padres first,

I don’t know if we can count on them making another Matt Bush type of selection.

by Rox Girl on May 16, 2008 3:14 PM MDT up reply actions

Well,

BA has its first mock draft up, with the Rockies taking Odorizzi, a HS pitcher, in the first round. There’s very little video out on Odorizzi, but he reportedly throws in the low nineties with good movement. BA listed the three contenders for the Rockies’ pick as Odorizzi, Jason Castro (a Stanford catcher), and Anthony Hewitt. Hewitt’s name pops up again seemingly out of nowhere, but this time, BA has him going before the Rockies pick.

Hewitt’s a hard guy to peg down info on, right now. BA calls him the best athlete in the draft, and rivals has a recruiting profile of him up as only a three star, but if I’m understanding his SPARQ score right, it’s pretty high.

Then I came across a quick video on youtube titled Anthony Hewitt, posted by ahewitt. The video is grainy, but the player in the video resembles the Rivals photos of Hewitt, who also happens to resemble a five star D1 running back based on physique. In baseball terms, this guy’s body looks like that of Justin Upton. The video is choppy, but it shows a young kid with a lightning quick bat and the type of slight uppercut you like to see in a future power hitter. I can’t tell you it’s the same guy, but the resemblance is close.

Lastly, if it is Anthony Hewitt, I have more respect for the guy after watching this quick 1:30 minute video. There’s no music bed or chest thumping or poorly edited slides giving him over-the-top hype. It’s just a grainy video of a player, and a tee, apparently posted by himself, basically saying that all you need to know about him is his swing, and if that doesn’t catch your attention, so be it. I really hope it is THE Anthony Hewitt, because it shows a lot for him to put himself out there without any intro, fanfare, or gaudy stats through voice over. It’s Anthony, and his swing, take it or leave it.

by David OhNo on May 16, 2008 4:27 PM MDT up reply actions

Holliday

there was a comment at the bottom of Ringolsby’s piece about how everyone else thinks Coors still seriously overinflates our hitters stats. Obviously Matt’s very skewed home/road splits kind of back that up. If that’s the case, and we aren’t going to be happy with the prospects or players that we can get in return because other teams don’t think Holliday is quite a superstar, then why should be worried that someone is going to be willing to meet Boras’s ridiculous asking price in free agency?

by moomacher on May 16, 2008 8:41 AM MDT reply actions

Yeah, but ...

The Rockies as a whole had about a +120 home/road split last year, I believe (I’d have to check, but I’m 98% sure of that). A typical team has a +30 (due to various factors such as jet lag and such). That brings the team down to about a +90 park effect (and brings Holliday down to about a +270). If you take Holliday out of the equate, the team’s park effect would be around +60.

Meaning that a guy who is a .800 OPS guy would have splits of .815/.785 if he played in a neutral park and .875/.785 (.830 overall OPS). Meaning that a non-Helton hitter would get about a 30 point OPS boost from playing at Coors. This assumes that Coors is not somehow deflating road stats (for example, by making hitters expect breaking balls to break the X% that they break at Coors, and being unprepared for a break of Y% for the first several days on the road). If Coors does deflate road stats, then this would be cut even further.

People tend to coveniently forget to deduct the standard home/road differential :)

Holliday takes advantage of Coors in a way that no other Rockies hitter even comes close to doing. He is an aberration.

by kosmo99 on May 16, 2008 10:14 AM MDT up reply actions

correction

”... Meaning that a non-Helton hitter ...” should say “non-Holliday hitter”

by kosmo99 on May 16, 2008 11:34 AM MDT up reply actions

This team needs some pitching depth in the organization

if the season becomes a bust (it is getting close) by early to mid June. They may have to look to unload some guys to get some arms. Pitching quality can make your offense look good at times. The game is flat out about pitching at every level. You have to get as much as you can. As we have seen over the last couple of years, this team is very thin in pitching talent.

Getting sticks in here will likely not be a problem (as long as the Monforts are willing to spend a little). Pitching is the key. Outside of Herges (reclaimation project), Bucholz (solid trade) and Cook (long time prospect who has finally learned to pitch) none of this years staff has shown any consistency at all.

by PinchHitLancePainter on May 16, 2008 9:31 AM MDT reply actions

Gloomy Day here in Denver

clouds and showers around, this morning, and if the weather wasn’t gloomy, the Rockie miserable play is like black cloud. And what sunshiny news do we get as we return home? Holliday and or Atkins are on the trading block. Our, 2 best hitters. yea

Oh, and we are looking at Glendon Rusch. Julian Tavares, and we signed Juan Castro…..yea. A team that needs this much trash to improve it self….not good. I feel I could nominate this team, as the worst run program in baseball. We’d lose to the Pirates, and the Rangers, but we would be close runner-ups. So at least we have that going for us.

The god news is while i’m still in the 4th stage of grief (depression), I can see stage 5. Acceptance about to happen for me.

WHAT THE (expletive deleted) IS GOING ON WITH THIS TEAM? YOU ARE THE NATIONAL (expletive deleted) LEAGUE (expletive deleted) CHAMPIONS, START PLAYING LIKE IT!!! WE NOW ARE IN LAST PLACE WITH THE WORST (expletive deleted) RECORD IN THE LEAGUE! THAT IS UNAC-(expletive deleted)-CEPTABLE!! YOU GUYS HAD BETTER SIT DOWN AND TAKE A LONG LOOK AT YOUSELVES AND FIGURE OUT WHAT THE (expletive deleted) IS GOING ON BECAUSE THIS TEAM IS TO (expletive deleted) GOOD TO BE PLAYING THIS (expletive deleted)! NOW, I’LL BE IN MY OFFICE IF ANYBODY FIGURES ANYTHING OUT. (SLAMS OFFICE DOOR) courtesy of free7694

by Redhawk on May 16, 2008 9:43 AM MDT reply actions

I think I was in stage four yesterday, but not today.

Today I’m all about seeing who we can get for Atkins and Holliday and getting pumped up about what our choices will be for the number one draft pick in 2009. Oh, and also hoping that Yorvit gets a lot of money for being screwed over by the Mets. Maybe secretly hoping an arbitrator decides to give him the whole $14 million but at the same time voiding his Rox contract and making New York put him on their roster. Sigh, I’d be the best arbitrator there, I don’t know why they don’t pick me.

by Rox Girl on May 16, 2008 3:13 PM MDT up reply actions

I'd take the

Make the Mets take Yorvit part.

And stage 5! that is so great for you! I understand it’s very freeing, to be able to let go.

Good news for the Rockies we have Clendon Rusch in house now…so we have that going for us

by Redhawk on May 16, 2008 5:49 PM MDT up reply actions

Hurdle's latest quote, sure to make us feel good:

“We are aware of where we are, where we stand and why we are here. There’s no doubt the (players) have recognized it. Now it’s up to us to do something about it.”

There, that should make you feel better already.

by moose14 on May 16, 2008 11:12 AM MDT reply actions

Tomorrow, Tomorrow

The sun will come out tomorrow. Cause I finally have the chance to get down to a game. can’t wait, excited to see greg reynolds pitch. I have never seen the twins play in person, so i am exicted to see them too. I really hope that the rox somehow pull their heads out soon and start winning games. Someone will have to step up soon. I really don’t want to see Holliday go, but if the rox get something really really decent in return, i guess i am for that.

OH well, tomorrow is another day and i am going to be at the ballpark, so hey life isn’t that bad!

by ColoroxWS07 on May 16, 2008 11:45 AM MDT reply actions

Ugh

All this chatter about potentially trading Holliday and Atkins isn’t making me excited right now, it’s making me upset. I just have a bad feeling O’Dowd might go for his favorite target, prospects, instead of getting a major-league-ready player at a position of need in exchange for our two hitting studs. I know it’s a business, and I’m sure I’ll eventually get around to knowing/loving whoever we do get in return, but it would probably have the effect of making the team unwatchable for the rest of the year and that’s kind of a sour note to go out on, since I’ll be missing half the season next year…. Besides, I love Matt and Garrett. Sigh. Fine. I’ll deal with it. Woohoo.

We're all going to die!

by Silverblood on May 16, 2008 3:38 PM MDT reply actions