The Cooperstown campaign for Larry Walker begins again | DNVR ($)
Larry Walker has one more shot to make it into the Hall of Fame by way of BBWAA vote, and Rockies media in Denver is doing what they can to elevate Walker’s profile to make sure that happens. MLB.com’s Manny Randhawa is taking the lead. He hosted an event in Denver last week to consolidate the arguments, as well as challenge the common arguments against (COORS, mostly). Drew Creasman provides a summary of the event here.
In the most recent round of voting, Walker gained 20 percentage points of votes, going from 34.1% in 2018 to 54.6%. No player who ever cracked 50% of the vote has ever failed to eventually make the Hall of Fame; but no player has ever gained more than 21 percentage points of the vote in his final year.
Walker will be a Hall of Famer. But as Randhawa pointed out at the event, he really does deserve to get there through the writer’s vote. Walker shouldn’t need a second voting system to consider his rock solid case, even though it won’t take that long for it to happen (if he doesn’t make it this year, he could be a part of the Class of 2022 after the Today’s Game Committee votes in late 2021). Fortunately for Walker, the only slam dunk first ballot guy on this year’s ballot will be Derek Jeter, so Walker shouldn’t be squeezed off of ballots due to a lack of room. It’s still an outside chance, but he does have a chance to make it when votes are fully counted in January.
Why Charlie Blackmon is not a fan of Coors Field “improvements” | DNVR
Coors Field has been undergoing some renovations over the past couple offseasons. The Rockies got a new clubhouse this past season, and the team added additional practice facilities in (or rather, under) Coors Field. One change has been new LED lights, which reduces Coors Field’s overall energy use. One tidbit I hadn’t heard before is that the Rockies installed the same lights in their indoor batting cages. Tony Wolters told DNVR’s Patrick Lyons that there are even adjustments to mimic outdoor conditions: “You can actually put day time on there or night time and you can get your eyes ready for that time of day and what that will look like.”
Charlie Blackmon, however, doesn’t seem to like the new lights. He thinks they’re too bright.
Colorado Rockies and San Francisco Giants: A trade idea and discussion | Rox Pile
Kevin Henry at Rox Pile consulted with the writers at other FanSided’s sites to see if he can put together a hypothetical trade. The trade chip is Raimel Tapia, who seems like a candidate to be traded in real life as well. Around The Foghorn, the Giants’ site, offered minor league pitchers Garrett Williams and Jose Marte in exchange for Tapia. Henry declined that offer, citing the Rockies’ need for immediate pitching help rather than pitching help two to three years from now.