Sunday Rockpile: pithy subtitle about angst and mediocrity here, draft signing deadline tomorrow

It is a bit tricky to evaluate prospects coming from the Dominican academy to Casper as they definitely seem to have a different maturation process as players drafted out of HS, who in turn are different from collegiate draftees.

Ortega’s transitioned extremely well. I usually expect a drop-off in the first Casper season from their prior DSL numbers ala Wilin Rosario and Angelys Nina, while Ortega’s actually improved, and that’s the first point of encouragement. The second is that he’s showing more than typical power for a teenager with the Ghosts, with power the single question mark he had offensively prior to this season as even in the DSL he showed one of the best hit to contact bats in the system and a very mature understanding of the strike zone to go with it. Add that to his young age, his left handedness at the plate, his natural cf range, his speed and solid glove and you should be able to see why he’d be a top 10 worthy prospect.

Put it all together and Ortega’s potentially another Carlos Gonzalez in value given that his much better walk/OBP ability will make up for the lesser power. With that, the only reason not to rank him in the top five would be that he’s still five levels away from the MLB and thus a pretty big risk of not reaching that potential, but the ceiling that’s emerging for him definitely warrants a strong showing on the team’s top prospects list.

I don’t like that guy one little bit. I can understand discussing poor play but man, time and place.

Maybe Brandon Phillips was right.

The right way to fight is to do absolutely anything you have to do to end the situation. Kick a man in the junk if it gives you a moment to get out of there? Okay. Kick at him with your spiked shoes if that’s all you can do? Works for me.

“Fighting fair” is an oxymoron. Fighting is inherently dirty, and any advantage needs to be exploited until you can get out of the situation.

That could get hard on your knees and ankles.

I had to agree with his point about how it’s a bad idea to point to ’07 and ’09. At some point, the luck has to run out.

Of course, Woody being Woody, he made the point much more ham-handedly than that.

I had one of my frequent Saturday night organ wackiness dreams.

It was quite a nightmare too. It didn’t involve a baseball game, but I think Clint Barmes and a couple mother Rockies got arrested for going on a killing spree.

This lineup would own:

Dex
Smith
CarGo
Tulo
Dunn
Iannetta
Stewart
Nelson

Though I can’t really argue with anything else you’ve said (unless you really are excluding Chacin as possible rotation help from the farm)

I think the biggest issue is we have too many avg players. We have a a lot trade chips now (particularity in the OF) and a very strong core of Tulo, Cargo and Ubaldo. We just need need to get them a few more guys that can join and help on a daily basis. Another strong starter and a few strong bats should help this team in a big way.

which I mostly agree with, but Chacin’s definitely farm ready help and I might be in the minority among posters here, but another year of maturation for Rogers should see him improving to MLB ready too. Really he’s a lot closer than people seem to be seeing.

I think you’re implying the Rockies need to let Cook go, which opens up that slot of the rotation for Chacin, and then if JDLR is also bolting that’s where it gets sticky. We can’t rely for certain on Rogers and there’s nobody else close.

Congrats on the gig though, we’ll definitely look forward to when you’re no longer contractually obliged to be tight lipped.

starting tomorrow I am forbidden to post any rumors, trades, etc.

well, gotta spill it all now then.

Okay, so probably I would have guessed.

I figure like any multi-billion dollar business, the gut instincts and personal evaluations will give way to calculators and computers, which will make the league the mess of parity it is right now, but the organizations that still have the better “noses” that can sniff out stuff that the stats are missing will rise above the competition more often.

I see it that if you aren’t using stats at all you’re stupid and you have an organization that will have lower, more severe bottoms and if you’re relying on them too much, your organization’s best hope is consistent mediocrity.

 He works well in leverage. He works well to move runners. He actually works harder when the team is loseing. He thinks the W is the only stat that matters. And he works so hard not to hurt the team. He knows his limitations and uses his advantages and does his level best to mask his disadvantages both on the field and at the plate.
 I don’t see him as a fulltime player. Nobody thought Eckstien or or Rafeal Belliard would have the careers they had. Joe McEwing was considered an empty uniform by many but was beloved by many knowledgeable fans for his lunch bucket style of play. The upside for him as a Hairston is something a LaRussa, a Guillen, a Leyland or Girardi would love to have around.