Friday Morning Rockpile:

by Russ on Jun 6, 2008 8:16 AM MDT in Rockpile

What do fellow 2008 draftees Buster Posey, Jason Castro, and Gordon Beckham have in common with Christian Friedrich? He struck them out in succession last summer while he pitched for the Falmouth Commodores in the Cape Cod League. He should have plenty of opportunities in the future to strike out Posey some more.

What did Friedrich do while he waited for his name to be called?

“I was sitting upstairs in my parent’s bedroom watching (the draft) by myself,” Friedrich said from his home in Evanston, Ill. “I just kept watching time go by and (time) was just standing still for me. It was crazy just waiting, hoping.”

At the end of the story, there's an indication that Friedrich wants to work things out with the club in the next few days.

According to Gregg Ellis (of the Daily Journal) at his Mississippi State Bulldogs blog, Aaron Weatherford is ready to put college behind him and sign quickly.

Kiel Roling plans on signing with the Rockies once the NCAA tournament is over. If Arizona State goes deep into the College World Series, we should see plenty of him on TV.

Even with the new draftees, let's not forget that we have a y oung pitcher trying to find his way back to the majors .

Yorvit Torrealba appealed his three-game suspension, meaning he continues to play until a decision is made on the appeal. Also in that article, the outfield situation is brought up. Poll question.

The Rockies return home to face Ryan Braun and the Milwaukee Brewers tonight.

Poll

What should happen with the team's outfield?

Send Seth Smith and Cory Sullivan back to the Springs once Hawpe and Holliday come back.

15 votes

Keep Smith and Sullivan with the team and see what Taveras and/or Podsednik can net in a trade.

45 votes

Some combination of the above two choices, mention in comments.

32 votes

92 votes | Poll has closed

0 recs | Comment 16 comments

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Comments

Absolutely keep Smith

beyond that I don’t really care, because O Dowd isn’t going to do what I want anyways.

The 2008 Rockies: All loses, all season

by moomacher on Jun 6, 2008 8:26 AM MDT 0 recs

Keep Smith

He’s better than Hawpe.

Trade Hawpe, and Trade one or even 2 of Tavares/Podsednick/Sullivan. We don’t need this many Major League CF’s in the system, but all have too much value, to just waive them. My first move would be Pods. I’m not sure he understands the idea of “team”

Colorado Rockies: Continuing a long tradition of playing meaningless games in June!

by Redhawk on Jun 6, 2008 8:46 AM MDT 0 recs

Honestly I'm not sure any of our CFs have much trade value

although teams do seem to overrate speedy glove center fielders like Willy T. I’d be happy to flip him for a B prospect.

The 2008 Rockies: All loses, all season

by moomacher on Jun 6, 2008 8:50 AM MDT up 0 recs

Well

I don’t want to be one of those guys that think their teams players are all great. But I think any of these 3 could play on other teams or at least would help out their depth in AAA (sullivan). Tavares and his speed would be the most in demand.

Colorado Rockies: Continuing a long tradition of playing meaningless games in June!

by Redhawk on Jun 6, 2008 8:58 AM MDT up 0 recs

I'm kind of on board with the

“If we don’t want them, and we’re the worst team in the league, why would anyone else want them?” school of thought. I like the idea of having one of these guys (pick one, I have no preference) sitting on the bench and useful for pinch running or situational defense, but none of these guys should be starting for us…and thus my concurrence with the opinion that they will likely have no real trade value. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t trade them anyway.

by Teekalong on Jun 6, 2008 10:31 AM MDT up 0 recs

Another Option

send Stewart back to AAA. In 31 ab’s this year he’s struck out 16 times! That’s flat ridiculous. in fact, for me, that’s a deal breaker to even be considered a major league caliber player. In this expansive major league career 75 ab’s he’s k’d 33 times!

I don’t know what the answer is here, Should he work it out in the bigs (31 abs is a very small sample size after all)? Get more work in at AAA where besides the K’s he looked like he had mastered that level? But he is NOT, ready to help out a major league club with that K rate…unless they are really bad, like the Mariners or the Rockies….....crap.

In fact if the K rate can’t be fixed, I’d put him on the trading block this off season. He’s looking like a AAAA player to me the more I see him. (I wish we had good player development coaches)

Colorado Rockies: Continuing a long tradition of playing meaningless games in June!

by Redhawk on Jun 6, 2008 9:18 AM MDT 0 recs

Hmm...

Which would you rather have, a third baseman who in every stop in the minors has improved his K rate after starting off badly, or one who in every stop has seen his K rate go downhill rapidly after starting off well?

I mean, we could trade him for Mark Reynolds, who only had 17 K’s in his first 75 MLB AB’s if you wish. Of course Reynolds is now striking out one out of every three AB’s and rising and hitting . Still, I think jumping to quick conclusions is best here.

by Rox Girl on Jun 6, 2008 9:45 AM MDT up 0 recs

I think

Stewart needs to play nearly every day for the rest of this year. When (if) we get healthy, he should be moving around between 1b, 2b, 3b, LF. If this season is already over in terms of the playoffs (which I think it probably is) then it has to be a year where we figure out pretty conclusively about whether these AAAA level guys like Smith, Iannetta and Stewart are good enough to plan around.

Of course, that will never happen because we have a manager that, as we all know, thinks that age is a skill.

by Teekalong on Jun 6, 2008 10:36 AM MDT up 0 recs

Agree

w/ this comment for sure. Stewart needs more time and AB’s to make a determination. Personally I still think very highly of him and I know he needs to cut down on the K rate, but I think the talent is there and the hands are unreal. He just needs to tone down the aggresiveness a little, which our hitting instruction is probably not helping. All of our hitters need a lesson in patience, working the count and taking a walk if necessary.

by smokinRox on Jun 6, 2008 10:56 AM MDT up 0 recs

Hopefully

He won’t have to face that Penny splitter anymore, either. He couldn’t even see that pitch…

by Teekalong on Jun 6, 2008 1:17 PM MDT up 0 recs

I chose #3

because I think the answer t the question lies in a combination of the other 2 questions.
I think Hawpe should be brought back. When he’s on, he’s capable of carrying the team for a few days at a time.
Pod’s? Trade him. He shouldn’t have been brought in int he first place.
Willie T? If he’s traded, who leads off? The FO has put all their eggs in one basket with him…
Sully? Not a good leadoff hitter to trade Willie, but I’d keep him as a defensive replacement/ give-a-day-off-to-a-starter kind of guy.
Smith? If he keeps showing he is capable of hitting, he deserves to be on the club. I’m not all ga-ga over him due to the small sample size, but he has shown promise.
Stewart? He’s 22. Lets not get too excited either way. I certainly wouldn’t be entertaining offers for him yet. Let’s see what Atkins does first…

by rockieprogress on Jun 6, 2008 10:50 AM MDT 0 recs

Willt T is not a leadoff hitter

in fact he’s one of the worst on the team in OBP.

The 2008 Rockies: All loses, all season

by moomacher on Jun 6, 2008 10:54 AM MDT up 0 recs

Yes,

he’s a terrible leadoff hitter, but who else on the team can effectively fill that role? Certainly not Helton, Atkins, or Barmes – Tulo maybe, it depends on if he’s fixed that small problem with the strikeouts. Holliday, Hawpe, Pods, and Smith are all either too overpowered or too inconsistent to be leadoff men, and there’s no way Ianetta or Torrealba can fill it. That leaves Q, Smith, Herrera, Baker, and Spilly – of the group, maybe Spilly can fill the leadoff role. Maybe. I’m not really comfortable leaving Herrera or Baker in our defense just so we can have them at the top of the lineup.

by oo_nrb on Jun 6, 2008 2:12 PM MDT up 0 recs

Neither Pods nor Sullivan has any trade value

Willy T does have some, due to (1) his defense, and (2) last year’s stats. I think it’s too soon to conclude that he can’t get back to last year’s level.

Be careful what you wish for on him. Many Astros fans had similar sentiments 2 years ago. Now they’re moaning as Michael Bourn hovers around .200. Willy T would be an improvement.

The Rockies can do much worse than Willy T. Besides replacing him as leadoff, there’s going to be a dropoff in CF with other candidates, unless someone thinks Dexter Fowler is ready. Doesn’t look like it to me—hitting in the .280’s in AA suggests he’d be around Willy T’s current level in the Majors. Better see what he does at AAA before giving up on Willy T.

I say play Willy T consistently until mid-July, then shop him if he’s not returning to the prior year’s performance.

There is a bright side to the '08 season.
Barry Bonds & Roger Clemens are out of baseball.

by maris61 on Jun 6, 2008 12:19 PM MDT 0 recs