Monday Rockpile: Tyler Colvin, Colorado Rockie

To kick off the article, I have to jump completely off topic. The Colorado Rockies are a team we love, and our massive mountain range is something to fear and admire. You should fear how much you love those mountains.

That said, trying to singularize the team name to identify one player as a member of this franchise just rolls off the tongue in a completely awkward fashion. When Todd Helton said "I'm a Colorado Rockie," part of me just cringed. Not because of Helton or any of the MEANING of what he said, but "Rockie" just sounds so weird. When you think about it, Rockies is short for Rocky Mountains, so the singular would be "Rocky Mountain". Which makes no sense. When trying to singularize other clubs, you get "A Miami Marlin" or "A Detroit Tiger". Makes perfect sense. "A Colorado Rockie" just sounds... weird.

ANYHOW, Tyler Colvin.

Colvin was acquired from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for Ian Stewart and Casey Weathers. The Rockies acquired AAA 2B/3B DJ LeMahieu to finish our end of the deal. Colvin then made the club over Charlie Blackmon due to A. Blackmon's bad case of turf toe and B. The fact that Colvin was kicking the absolute crap out of the ball in Spring Training.

A fellow former 1st round pick, Colvin's big problem has been similar to Ian Stewart's in his career: He can hit for ridiculous power and has a generally plus glove, but he strikes out a metric ton and was generally viewed by Cubs fans as a failed prospect. So the trade that was made was essentially to give both of these guys a second shot at being a MLB player.

Off Topic

So the way I see it, there are 3 good things that Colvin is bringing to the club:

1. He's hitting the ball pretty decently thus far. Note: Small Sample Size, unsustainable, other baseball words that mean he isn't this good. But I'll take it. He had a rough start on Sunday, but still. .313/.353/.625 is fun to look at on a team that hasn't been hitting that fantastically so far.

2. He's great depth. Production aside, the Rockies have a whole bunch of contact-driven ballplayers. There is still room for an all-or-nothing swinger - you just can't make an entire lineup out of them.

3. He's going to challenge Fowler. The fact that Colvin can play all 3 OF positions at least competently well (and also 1B) is going to add to his value as a member of the active roster. When Fowler needs a day off, or if he just isn't playing well, we have another competent player who can fill in at CF.

Much as Jim Tracy's comments about "Fowler is our Opening Day CF even if he bats .000" were a vote of confidence, I really don't think the organization is that sold on Fowler in entirety. Having a guy who also wants to stick somewhere and has starting potential to challenge Fowler can only help the club: either we lose the dead weight or we have 2 good players forced to share time in CF.

So yeah. Go Colvin. Hit them baseballs.

TYLER COLVIN VS IAN STEWART WATCH

Pacheco sent down to get more reps at third | ColoradoRockies.com: News

In case you missed this yesterday, Pacheco's play at 3B earned him a trip to Colorado Springs to get some extra reps at the hot corner. Hard worker or not, the guy looks out of place at 3B right now and very clearly needs a lot of work there. That's perfectly fine, BTW, and I can't think of a better place for him to do it.

"I don't see any problem with the kid fielding the ball -- none, zero," Tracy said.

You know, except for that time that his lack of defensive ability at 3B cost the Rockies a game.

There'll be more moves this season, obviously, and I'll be shocked if we don't see Pacheco back. This move was partially for Pacheco to get that work, and partially because Drew Pomeranz is part of the Rockies' rotation and there ain't room for 2 sheriffs. It just made sense.

Brian Wilson, Giants Closer, Out For Season With Elbow Injury - Baseball Nation

Well, this is certainly a thing. Much as I do despise Brian Wilson, I never like to see players get hurt. I like to see them blow multiple saves against the Rockies during the course of the season and lose their job that way.

Best wishes to Brian Wilson, the human being, and I sincerely hope his recovery goes smoothly for him.

Good riddance to the baseball player and his ridiculous disheveled antics and such.