Friday Rockpile: Helton Productive, Fowler Uninspiring

Day by day, Helton remaining productive | ColoradoRockies.com: News

This piece is almost sad to read. It's not like Helton is DYING or anything tragic like that, but it almost feels like a tragedy, seeing the former face of the franchise, the 3-Gold-Glove 4-Silver-Slugger award winner reduced to being the AVG/OBP guy. Which is fine, honestly. If Helton keeps up an OBP-heavy .389 wOBA (where ~.333 is average), I'll turn cartwheels.

It just doesn't feel right not having Helton in the "cornerstone of the lineup" batting slot. I remember years ago I asked my dad what he thought about Helton hitting the DL for the first time, and my dad said "Don't worry, Helton will bat .330 and hit 30 homers" and then he...didn't. He never did again.

Maybe it's just the cold medicine talking, but watching a career wind down of someone as huge as Todd Helton gets me almost melancholy. I mean, I'm excited about the rest of the team and good things like that, but it just kind of hit me recently, that Helton was kind of a supplementary piece to the Tulo-Cargo-Ubaldo triumvirate.

Harding had one Helton quote at the end of the article that made me feel all weird on the inside:

"In today's BP, I wasn't feeling it," Helton said. "But that's not to say I'm not going to loosen up and have a good game. But right now, mentally, it may be one of those days where I take what my body gives me. I'm not going to try to do something that I'm not able to do physically. "But there are days when I feel like I can hit the ball as far as I want."

Must....not....show...emotion....

Hal Bodley: Colorado Rockies still have much left to prove after fast start | ColoradoRockies.com: News
Apparently "much to prove" = "beat the Giants". The Rocktober club was much different than this current club. I'm reading down this article just kind of skimming and nodding as it's the kind of article written for folks who haven't been following as tenaciously as we'd like, and then I come across this:

"Obviously, Todd Helton is a few years older, but he seems to have really found the type of player he is at this stage of his career. I just hope his health holds out because he's going have a really, really good year."

OH GOD NEVER LEAVE US TODD BWAHHHHHHHHHH

Off Topic

Fast start? What fast start? He's actually having the worst start of his career! His .274 batting average is nice, and it adds to his OBP, but he batted .290 his rookie year in April, with better power numbers too. Fowler had a 123 wRC+ in April, 2009, 104 in 2010, and 94 so far in 2011. His .357 OBP, which is highlighted but not really contextualized, is worse than: Jonathan Herrera, Troy Tulowitzki, Jose Morales, Chris Iannetta, Seth Smith, Todd Helton. I mean, .357 ain't BAD, but let's not talk about him being a world beater at getting on base.

I'm not hating on Fowler here, I think he's gonna be just fine. But I just don't understand what the praise is for.

Fowler blossoming at the plate | ColoradoRockies.com: News

"The one thing that really stuck out to me was the progress that I was beginning to see Dexter Fowler make as a player," Tracy said

Not just as A player, but as THE Player!

Ryan Braun, Brewers Agree On $105 Million Contract Extension Through 2020 - Baseball Nation
Much akin to the Troy Tulowitzki extension, Braun signs a giant contract extension that basically just adds 2016-2020 to the end of his current contract ($19M, $19M, $19M, $18M, $16M). I swear the Brewers are just watching Tulowitzki's interactions with the Rockies and then doing the same thing for Braun. Tulo signed his original 6 year-$31M contract on 1/23/08. Braun signs his 8 year-$45M contract on 5/15/08, just under 4 months later. Tulo signs his giant-sized extension on 11/30/10, Braun signs his on 4/21/11, about 4.5 months later.

Ryan Braun is trying to be Troy Tulowitzki.

The top-five no-shows in Colorado sports - The Denver Post
The Rockies are listed as the #3 worst no-show for how bad they were in Game 1 of the 2007 World Series. They failed to mention the 8 day layover for Colorado, though. Oh well, I was disappointed.

Commissioner Selig: Expect 10 MLB playoff teams in 2012 - The Denver Post
Oh dear Lord.