Saturday Rockpile: Injury updates, Rogers debuts tonight, more.

by Bryan Kilpatrick on Sep 12, 2009 9:16 AM MDT in Rockpile Comment 27 comments

Better health, off days ease rotation woes - The Denver Post
The Rox, not-so-desperately trying to get back to health, got Troy Tulowitzki back last night and will get Ian Stewart back either tonight or tomorrow. Pitching-wise, there is an open start on Friday in Arizona, and Troy E. Renck says that Aaron Cook is progressing well and could be in the mix for that start. Huston Street participated in some long toss for the second straight day and will join the club in San Francisco to throw a bullpen session and will be re-evaluated at that point.

Smith gets a breather after feeling fatigued - The Denver Post
Luckily, this doesn't fall under the same category as the previous link; Seth will be back in the lineup tonight.

Undesirable list of free-agent starters this offseason - ESPN
Jason Marquis appears in Jayson Stark's list of lackluster pitchers who will be free agents this off season. Stark chalks Marquis' successful season, to this point anyway, to performing well at the right time (in a walk year) and having "a better ground game than Michael Turner." A quote from one team official regarding Marquis:

"He's having a great year, but I'm just not sure how to look at it. Was this a turning point in his career? Or do you look at it as somebody who turned it up and figured it out when he had the most to gain? I really don't know."

MLB - Setting the rotations for the eight playoff teams - FOX Sports on MSN
In his somewhat premature article, Ken Rosenthal digs into the starting rotations for each of the eight teams who would be in the playoffs if the season ended today. Rosenthal goes with Ubaldo Jimenez, Jason Marquis, Jorge De La Rosa, and Jason Hammel (doesn't mention Aaron Cook). He believes that the Rockies have a good chance to advance whether they face the Phillies or the Cardinals in the first round.

Giants' season comes down to next six games - MLB News - FOX Sports on MSN
John Paul Morosi thinks the Giants' chances of making the playoffs will evaporate if they don't play well in their upcoming six game stretch, which began last night with the loss to the Dodgers in which SF did NOT look very good. Hopefully, they're buried a week from now.

San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum plays catch to test back - ESPN
Timmay says his injured back is nearly normal again and he hopes to pitch Monday against the Rockies.

Rogers to make debut under fire | ColoradoRockies.com: News
Esmil Rogers will make his first start tonight, and he makes it in a high-pressure situation. Let's hope we don't see Jhoulys Chacin, pt. II. In this park and against this offense, if Rogers can simply throw the ball over the plate, he will have a chance to pick up a victory in his debut.

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Esmil Rogers is gonna have a good start.

GO!!!!!!!!!!

"I shoot so many 3's because I can't shoot 4's" -Antoine Walker

by LACK on Sep 12, 2009 9:47 AM MDT reply actions 0 recs

Jason Marquis.....Undesirable?

The Rox will take him back.

Legal fine print: for the right price of course, it’s not like the Cubs are going to pay for almost half his salary again.

by Redhawk on Sep 12, 2009 9:48 AM MDT reply actions 0 recs

The Cubs didn't pay any of his salary

We just traded Vizcaino’s salary off, then took on Marquis.

POSITIVE THOUGHTS!

by bballrox4717 on Sep 12, 2009 10:25 AM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

Actually they did pick up part of Marquis salary

on top of taking Vizcaino. Yeah…it’s a great deal for the Rockies.

by Redhawk on Sep 12, 2009 10:47 AM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

Oh really? I had thought otherwise.

My bad.

POSITIVE THOUGHTS!

by bballrox4717 on Sep 12, 2009 11:04 AM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

Wait, never mind.

POSITIVE THOUGHTS!

by bballrox4717 on Sep 12, 2009 11:05 AM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

Didnt the cubs only kick in $1mil?

That and taking on the Viz’ contract, we got him by adding $6mil to payroll. So yeah good deal for sure, but cubs aren’t paying half

"I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious." - Albert Einstein

by Andrew T. Fisher on Sep 12, 2009 11:04 AM MDT via mobile up reply actions 0 recs

Cubs kicked in $875,000

By MLB standards: a million.

By my standards: please send me that rounding error.

Leave Dexter alone! You're lucky he even performs for you!

by FooMan on Sep 12, 2009 11:48 AM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

The Rockies didn't really have any intention of keeping Vizquel

So that money was already lost as far as the Rockies were concerned, in that sense, the Cubs did kick in half of Marquis’ salary.

by Rox Girl on Sep 12, 2009 11:49 AM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

Vizcaino...

by Muzia on Sep 12, 2009 11:56 AM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

I keep on doing that.

Bad me. I hope my brain is fully functional when I return, but somehow I doubt it.

by Rox Girl on Sep 12, 2009 11:59 AM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

I only point it out

because I was a huge Indians fan in the 90s and Omar remains close to my heart. I hate to see him compared to The Viz.

by Muzia on Sep 12, 2009 12:14 PM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

i had a dream last night the giants won the wild card

At no point this season did I buy into the idea that the giants were good enough, so I was incredibly embarrassed, trying to respectfully deal with MCCers and trying to wrap my head around how they did it. But I won’t worry-as so many writers wrote about the dodgers, a 5.5 game lead is insurmountable

"I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious." - Albert Einstein

by Andrew T. Fisher on Sep 12, 2009 11:08 AM MDT via mobile reply actions 0 recs

I'm legitimately excited about Roger's start

Oh, and I don’t think Ken Rosenthal’s article is premature. It’s a pretty safe bet to say that seven of the teams right now are pretty good locks for the playoffs, and the only one who isn’t is the Red Sox, who every sports writer expects to win. It’s going to take some major drama for one of these locked down teams to lose a spot. He got the Rockies rotation down I believe, as I fully expect Cook to not return barring some emergency.

POSITIVE THOUGHTS!

by bballrox4717 on Sep 12, 2009 11:08 AM MDT reply actions 0 recs

I don't know how you could say that when we've seen big leads get choked away...

…in baseball in the last several years.

Just an average guy with exceptional hair. Nothing more, nothing less.

by Bryan Kilpatrick on Sep 12, 2009 12:08 PM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

To be honest

Most of the division leaders have gigantic leads, and the teams that are just hanging on aren’t the best of teams. This year has truly been different, to be honest. I can pretty much say almost definitely that the Angels, Yankees, Cardinals won’t lose their leads, and that it’s so highly doubted that the Tigers and Phillies will lose theirs either. I know that if the Rockies get swept against the Giants later this week, it’s a race again in the wildcard, but any of these leads changing save the Red Sox and Dodgers is so highly doubtful at this point in the season. Only a 2007 comeback by some fringe team will make any of these races interesting again, and it will rely on some good teams playing bad ball.

POSITIVE THOUGHTS!

by bballrox4717 on Sep 12, 2009 12:43 PM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

To sum up the last collapses

2007 wildcard: Rockies win 13 out of 14, Padres lose the clinching games.
2007 NL East: Mets have one of the biggest collapses, due to an awful bullpen and some pretty bad Sept performances
2008 NL West: Dodgers finish off the NL West against the Diamondbacks who weren’t playing good ball nearly the entire second half.

Judging off these last few collapses and comebacks, there are three things that cause a monumental collapse/comeback: 1) Collective second half downward trend 2) Weak part of a team being completely exposed 3) A team getting extremely hot at the right time

With these factors going in, it’s safe to say that the Cardinals, Yankees, and Angels are safe due to really big leads, and awesome second half play. Two teams that could be vulnerable, but not really would be the Phillies and Tigers, who haven’t been the hottest teams lately and each have one really streaky team behind them close to striking distance (The White Sox/Marlins). They both have one part of their team that could be exposed (Phillies bullpen, Tigers lack of depth/hitting) However, the leads they have developed plus the really strong parts of their teams (Phillies hitting, Tigers starting pitching) will keep them held up, but are candidates to be driven out in the first round. Right now, the prime candidate for a collapse are the Dodgers, due to their lack of depth, downward trend in the second half, and a hot team behind them (The Rockies). However, the lead the Rockies have developed for the wildcard means that even if the Dodgers do collapse, they have the wildcard to fall back on, since the Giants have a major part of their team being exposed right now (the hitting). This means, as of right now, the major race is the AL Wildcard, since the Red Sox and Rangers are both playing good ball right now, and the Red Sox eroded starting pitching depth plus September slumps (Beckett) could be exposed enough for the Rangers to take advantage.

POSITIVE THOUGHTS!

by bballrox4717 on Sep 12, 2009 1:01 PM MDT up reply actions 1 recs

Very nice synopsis.

For the record, I still can’t believe that Buster Posey only has one more Major League plate appearance than I do, meanwhile Bengie Molina remains a mainstay in SF’s lineup.

Oh well.

Just an average guy with exceptional hair. Nothing more, nothing less.

by Bryan Kilpatrick on Sep 12, 2009 1:15 PM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

Bengie Molina is going to get a good contract this Winter, and I'll feel awful for the team that signs him.

He’s 35, coming off 3 seasons where he played everyday (The bench catcher barely starts on the team he’s on), had a horrible OBP, and he’s already showing signs of declining. I don’t know much about his defense though I hear he has a pretty good rep behind the plate. He’s going to be bad pretty soon, and the Giants are going to be better of starting Posey next year and let him play and improve next year.

POSITIVE THOUGHTS!

by bballrox4717 on Sep 12, 2009 1:54 PM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

Hate those west coast start times....

I could use some baseball right now to distract me from slogging through various reading…

Carlos Gonzalez is a sexy man

by Squeaky on Sep 12, 2009 11:47 AM MDT reply actions 0 recs

Smith TIRED??

I was trying to come up with reasons why he was sitting…“Ah, Tracy just wants Fowler to get back in there quickly to make sure he’s up to speed for this stretch run…”

Leave Dexter alone! You're lucky he even performs for you!

by FooMan on Sep 12, 2009 11:50 AM MDT reply actions 0 recs

OMG! SETH SMITH IS MORTAL!!

My world has been shattered. Maybe he’s just pretending to be tired.

by Rox Girl on Sep 12, 2009 11:51 AM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yea, he is merciful.

Eschew Obfuscation!

by Jeff Aberle on Sep 12, 2009 1:48 PM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

too much post-game

partying following heroics. needs a day to dry out.

by Teekalong on Sep 12, 2009 2:41 PM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

Marquis

Now if he was doing this good anywhere else the effing MSM would be all over his jock, but he is doing this in Colorado makes these losers doubt him. I hope he comes back next year. I think finally the Rox have built a grat pitching staff. Only took 16 years

somethings wrong, Trying to conquer these fears i thought were gone. And it's been so long, I'm dying to live in a world i don't belong

by broncfanstuckinsd on Sep 12, 2009 1:21 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs