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The rotation of the past, present and future.
Colorado Rockies pitcher Juan Nicasio able to walk in Denver hospital - The Denver Post The absolute best news of the day. There is no getting around the truth - Nicasio broke his neck pitching a baseball. As far as such injuries go though, it appears his prognosis is as optimistic as possible for a C1 vertebrae break. We certainly won't know about pitching for several months.
Kevin Millwood latest hired help for Colorado Rockies' rotation - The Denver Post It appears Millwood will finally wear a Rockies uniform in starting tomorrow's game in Cincinnati. Like Ty Wigginton, it seems the Rockies have always had some interest in Millwood. The enviable depth the Rockies had in the rotation in April is officially gone.
Rockies Mailbag: Team in pursuit of mental toughness - The Denver Post We have heard that line a lot in the last two weeks. Jim Tracy is not exactly the type of manager that seems to demand toughness, and yet:
Owner Dick Monfort and O'Dowd said no firings are planned. Manager Jim Tracy will be back next year, and my guess is that he will receive a one-year extension prior to the 2012 season. The Rockies rarely let a manager go into the last year of his deal. - Troy Renck
Helton is comeback player of the year in Tracy's eyes - The Denver Post He is a good cheerleader though. I'm thinking Lance Berkman or Ryan Vogelsong have better claims.
Jonah Keri on Zack Greinke, Ryan Vogelsong, and pitching statistics - Grantland Jonah Keri has moved on from Fangraphs to a full-time position writing for Grantland. He has started his tenure by delicately introducing sabermetric staple pieces in digestible pieces for the uninitiated. Here, Keri shows how W/L and ERA not only are poor measures for a starting pitcher, but if saber principles were involved, two incredibly bad contracts in the NL West would have never been offered to two left-handed pitchers. I bet you can guess which two.
Baseball Prospectus | Future Shock: Monday-Morning Ten-Pack for 8/8/11 The Rockies organization has been ruthlessly raked over the coals for their handling of Tyler Matzek, mostly by Keith Law. Rumors swirled that the Rockies tried to "tinker" with his mechanics, thus opening the floodgates for the most spectacular of rapid prospect implosions. That explanation always seemed far too simplistic to me, putting the entire onus on the Rockies. Law has been conspicuously quiet since Matzek has returned from an unorthodox sabbatical with his amateur pitching coach and more or less returned to form. Kevin Goldstein, however, praised the Rockies yesterday:
While (Matzek) remains inconsistent, there is clear progress, and the Rockies organization deserves as much credit as Matzek himself. It takes the kind of open mindedness rarely found in player development to allow a player to go outside the organization for help, and with most teams, Matzek would still be in tall weeds.