Sunday Rockpile: Maturity wanted. And right handed bench bats. And maybe an ace April-June pitcher. Okay-okay, also a second baseman.

which was a bit related to the last section of this post, his Christmas wish list for the Rockies. He reiterates the Smith for Niese rumor (adding Hammel and another piece) which was vehemently denied to NY media yesterday. I’m seeing too much smoke here for it to be completely made up. As we know from the Ubaldo Jimenez trade rumors last year, playing the NY media is a tricky skill which the Yankees do pretty well, but my experience has been that the Mets as is probably to be expected, aren’t nearly as crafty with it.

“What I’ve learned from Cal is to respect the game, respect the fans. Nothing fancy out there. Just do your job.” ~Alex Rodriguez

“[Giambi] has been at the superstar level. He knows how to slow the game down when all eyes are on him. That’s something I have to improve,” Tulowitzki said. “The pressure is only to grow as expectations increase for our team and as I make more money. I look back at my rookie year when the sellout crowd was doing the ‘Tulo’ chant. I could hear it. I still do. But I need to turn that around so I am not focused on pleasing the fans, but knowing that they are on my side and that all the pressure is on the pitcher. ‘G’ is really helping me with the mental side of the game.”

Seems that Tulo understands that an integral part of any improvement for this team rests on him not squeezing the bat into sawdust and trying to hit an eight-run homer every time he comes to the plate in a big spot late in games. A huge part of the 2011 team’s failure to jump-start late rallies was the fact that they couldn’t count on their best player to come through.

I don’t know how good we’re going to be in 2012, but I’d love to at least lose that 2011 feeling that I might as well turn the game off when we’re down two runs in the seventh inning because there’s no way in hell we’re getting back on level terms, much less winning. I’m glad the team has a leader that understands that the buck stops with him in that regard. If he improves in those spots, I feel like the rest of the squad can follow his lead.

and 2nd base batting 8th plan is doomed for failure! Those are slots reserved for 2nd base and catcher respectively. ;-)

Seriously, I hope that Tr

I’ll sign up for this plan.

Since I’ve posted how much I love The Row.

It shows how good the Modesto team was last year and why Weinstein was promoted. It also shows how Modesto is more of our AA team and Tulsa a AAA team.

But it pretty much sums up my thoughts on that dead horse topic:

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/19335/michael-cuddyer-hardly-the-fix-for-rockies

High(low)lights:

The bigger issues:

(1) What is the value of the positional flexibility? Cuddyer isn’t a particularly adept fielder at any position. He hasn’t played much third base since 2005 — even though the Twins haven’t had a good third baseman since. In other words, the Twins clearly didn’t think he could play there. He played 17 games at second base in 2011, which I think is more symbolic of what happened to the Twins than a sign of positional flexibility. Really, Cuddyer is a right fielder with a good arm but limited range. He’ll also be 33 … which means that range isn’t going to improve.

(2) He has a fairly sizable platoon split. His career OPS is 100 points higher against left-handers but even more pronounced the past three seasons: 210 points higher in 2009, 175 in 2010, 265 in 2011. Of course, his overall numbers should increase at Coors Field, but there’s nothing special about a right fielder with a .343 career on-base percentage. And again, we’ll see how he ages into his mid-30s.

I don’t think it’s a terrible signing, especially if the Rockies can flip Smith for some value. But it’s hardly an impact move. The Rockies still are a team with holes at second base and third base, without a proven 200-inning starter (Jhoulys Chacin did throw 194 innings last season) and counting on a 38-year-old first baseman with a bad back to remain healthy.

Except that unlike most of 2011, the Rockies are guaranteed not to lose today!

Has anyone else commented that there are now two pre-eminent professional athletes in Denver with the initials TT? And they represent opposite poles of the clutch spectrum?

I finished Series 2 last night. The final episode redeemed most of the silliness that was Series 2. I’m looking forward to the Christmas Special, though I don’t know when we’ll get it here in the States.

Hopefully Lord Julian gets his act together for Series 3.

Does anyone in Golden/Denver/Surrounding area (close by that is) want to have a catch before the sun goes down today?