Sunday Rockpile: Tulowitzki putting on clinics early, Matt Belisle closer of the future?

I just don’t see Cook going in this deal, and even with Lopez in the deal, it’s a steep hike. It also seems to me you’re taking the most optimistic view of Young’s acquisition at every turn. If it turns out that way, I agree it’s helpful, but there’s a lot of turns away from your scenario that would disrupt it.

for the incremental difference betweeen Young and Lopez doesn’t sound that much better to me…

I’ll check with Tulo, Helton, Cook, et al. to ask why they lack leadership and clubhouse presence ;-)

Those are qualities the Rockies have in abundance already.

That could have been done for Willingham.

and that’s fine to disagree on.

The one point I’d like people to consider is his age.

I don’t mean to come across as high’n’mighty here, but sometimes, it strikes me that a lot of the 20s Rowbots don’t have enough appreciation for the normal declination phase of a player’s career in the pre steroids era. It’s folly to think that MY will perform in his 34-36 seasons the way he did when he was 29-32, which is the years that got him this contract.

Of course he’s not just going to fall off a table, but to just assume “hey, he’s going to retire with 3,000 hits, five time AS, etc”….well, we wouldn’t be getting that Michael Young. And we’re not getting a Michael Young who’s going to be worth anywhere near $16m a year.

But the team does need to shed some payroll here.

As I mentioned yesterday, Millwood is still out there and would cost about $2.5Mil for 2011. He was awful in the AL East last year but had a good year as recently as 2009. Pretty much the same 2 year pattern as Cook. Maybe Rox should take a flyer and include Cook in this deal.

because there is still off season left to happen. But it should be good.

There’s a lot of stuff to work out. I’m just not sure if the Rox can add even more payroll.

and here’s what I love about these debates. In some ways I’m excited about the idea, but because of the way the discussion has unfolded, I’ve done nothing but argue against it so far.

The idea of Young hitting second behind Fowler and in front of CarGo and Tulo gives me a great big….. happy. I’m not counting on him to be the savior of the road offense, but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t upgrade the offense.

My problems with the deal are a couple of things I’ve seen too much of in my Rockies fandom. I’ve seen enough of opponents getting extra at bats because we couldn’t convert ground balls into outs. Part of the improvement in the pitching has been giving them plus defense behind them. If Young doesn’t have the range or the instincts to be effective at 2B at this point, it could do some real damage. Extra outs turn into runs pretty often at Coors.

I’ve also seen enough of this team in bad contract hell. Right now they’ve maneuvered themselves into position to be aggressive, to retain the key guys they want, to pick up late season help. I don’t want to see them lose that by pushing the payroll to the limit.

That doesn’t mean I’m against the deal. It means I’m cautious about whether we have a defensive position for him, and I want to see what the deal looks like financially…

Lol.

I have a feeling Tulo was a huge part of a few of the things the Rockies did this offseason.

He’s also an aging good player.

the NFL lockout.

if the money is not right. DOD is not stupid.

I will also say that Rogers and Lopez are expendable, and don’t expect the third player, if any at all, to be any higher than AA.

Then throw him into the fire…..:/

It’s gonna take boatloads of cash (like 80% of the contract) or a real (pitching) prospect along the way to “make change” for our 6th SP and Lopez.