So I was supposed to move this weekend. I hate moving, but I was pleased that over a Sunday, it'd all be done, and I wouldn't have to think about it anymore, and I could just settle down and enjoy a week of baseball and the novelty of a new place to live.
Instead, it turns out that the move-in date was changed to Wednesday from out of the blue because the managers decided that they needed to replace the carpet. Well, we all know how open Wednesdays are for big things like moving house and stuff. Now work is going to have to be skipped, trucks rented, etc etc. All of the ducks were in a row for Sunday, and now Wednesday will be a scramble. What the hell, new home? Sunday was supposed to be THE DAY!
It makes me think of the 2010 season. Everything looked great, Brad Hawpe in RF, Aaron Cook on the mound, Clint Barmes at 2B (ok that wasn't the greatest part), Ryan Spilborghs backing everything up, yeah, this is going to work great. Everyone's going to have a good season, we're going to score a million runs, the pitching will be excellent, Rockies are going to the World Series, so as Rockies fans, we can just sit back, relax, watch some elite caliber baseball, and enjoy the novelty of the Rockies being the class of the National League.
Instead, fate had other plans. Aaron Cook continued to not know how his sinker works, which we thought would have fixed itself after 2009. Clint Barmes forgot how to field, reverted to 2006 power levels, and never had more than a couple weeks of hot streak - and the surrounding playing time was littered with awful. Brad Hawpe found himself facing a pile of random injuries, and while his fielding hasn't been as godawful as we're accustomed to (he's actually a positive at 1B, in an absurdly small sample), his batting average has dropped, he's walking less, and he's drilled all of 7 baseballs over the fence (in fact, the only 2 RF with lower WAR than Hawpe are Carlos Quentin and Jeff Francouer). Spilly hasn't done much more for himself, and while he has come on as of late, he didn't do himself any favors in the first half. What the hell, guys? 2010 was supposed to be THE YEAR!
So now, I'm stuck on waiting until (at least) Wendesday to get to move into the place of newness. It sucks, and I'm going to have to scramble to put it all together, but it's going to happen. I'm going to have to ask for help from people that I wasn't anticipating, and that always puts me in a weird place.
While I won't count out the 2010 season until we are literally eliminated from postseason play, things are looking somewhat bleak. Hope remains, but we may have to wait another season to attempt to storm the gates of Valhalla. With Tulo and Francis being absent for major parts of the season, we had to call up Esmil Rogers, Jhoulys Chacin, and Jonathan Herrera to fill in for the guys we thought would be the main guys to get the job done.
I'm having to wait until Wednesday to move into the new place, which is just wrecking my plans, but while plans are wrecked, when I DO move in, there's going to be nice new carpet installed (and really, when it comes to carpet, I don't WANT to know why they're replacing it - I'm hoping it's just general wear-and-tear), and I get the impression that in the long run, I'm going to appreciate it that much more. I didn't want to walk around on old crappy carpet anyhow.
2010 may not be the season for the Rockies. Again, while I'm not counting it out, this season might just fall short of expectations, wrecking all the hope we had for 2010. But this could be a good time for us to shed old parts and audition new guys for 2011. Aaron Cook may never regain the form we saw in 2008, but Jhoulys Chacin has his entire career ahead of him. Clint Barmes just isn't getting the job done anymore, and with his rising costs, some combination of Chris Nelson, Johnny Herrera, and Eric Young Jr. could fill in the 2B hole quite adequately. If Hawpe ends up being too pricey as Todd Helton insurance, there's always the chance that other guys who have taken reps at 1B (Seth Smith, Chris Iannetta) could be given a realistic shot to take the position, and Hawpe's RF production could be easily replaced from within.
So, much like the place I'm moving into, the place itself will be the same, just with brand new carpet. The 2011 Rockies might be the same, discarding some of the old and bringing in the new, while keeping the core of the team the same.
I haven't lost hope for 2010 entirely, but I'm comforted by the fact that it isn't the last shot, and the team we're moving into might have its scrambles as far as finding the which of the new guys is best suited to the most playing time, but just like moving on Wednesday instead of Sunday, the Rockies will figure themselves out.
Put simply, Eric Young Jr. has sparked some interest in manager Jim Tracy in the way that his speed does all those nifty speed things, like putting defense on their heels and forcing errors and beating out double plays and stuff like that. The Rockies like him in a leadoff role, and to keep him on the roster, they're thinking about doing something tricky with one of our part-timers to keep him up now, rather than waiting for September. Another way to look at it is that we can't afford to wait 2 weeks with someone else taking EYJ's reps. I'll be interested to see how this plays out, because making a roster move with one of these guys will be difficult, especially since EYJ is a "throw him at the wall and see if he sticks" kind of mentality right now.
Don't forget to keep your eyes peeled on the Rockpile, as well as Rox Girl's Draft Signing Diary to see if anything new develops with Peter Tago and Kyle Parker.