Inbox: Who will start the season in the rotation? | Rockies.com
Heading into spring training, the Colorado Rockies were planning on using a starting rotation consisting of Kyle Freeland, German Márquez, Tyler Anderson, Jon Gray and Chad Bettis. A few weeks into spring training, the club is sticking with this plan, says Thomas Harding of MLB.com. It’s not that the young hurlers on the outside looking in aren’t trying to push the door down. Antonio Senzatela has absolutely nothing left to prove in the minor leagues and has had a very good spring. Jeff Hoffman and Peter Lambert (No. 2 PuRP) have also shown well this spring. Lambert, who turns 22 on April 18, pitched 3 2/3 innings in a start on Friday against the Kansas City Royals without allowing an earned run. But Lambert, who struggled upon a promotion to Triple-A in 2018, will be tasked with improving at the highest level of the minors in 2019. And Hoffman appears set to join him in the Isotopes rotation.
4 reasons the Colorado Rockies will win the NL West | ClutchPoints
Marty Fenn of ClutchPoints makes the case for the Rockies to win the National League West for the first time in 2019. Fenn points to the strong left side of the infield (Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story), a strong starting rotation, a bullpen due for a bounce back and the team’s ability to stay healthy (knock on wood) as reasons for the potential dethroning of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
This article also states that the Dodgers “could land Bryce Harper before the season begins.” Unless this is a really bold trade prediction, boy, do we ever have some big news for you!
‘I can’t afford to play this game’: Minor-leaguers open up about the realities of their pay, and its impact on their lives | The Athletic ($)
Emily Waldon of The Athletic has a fascinating and troubling look at conditions for minor leaguers, with a struggle to stay above the poverty line that has particular impacts on living conditions and meal options. What is the most troubling is that Major League Baseball is lobbying for paying minor leaguers less than a minimum wage without allowing these players into their collective bargaining unit.
Spring Training
The Rockies emerged triumphant over the Royals 2-1 on Friday.
As mentioned above, Lambert tossed 3 2/3 innings in his start at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick Friday. One unearned run scored thanks to a rare throwing error by Arenado, with Lambert otherwise notching two strikeouts and allowing three hits. DJ Johnson, Mike Dunn, Bryan Shaw, Seunghwan Oh, Sam Howard (No. 24 PuRP) and Ben Bowden (No. 17 PuRP) all showed very well in the bullpen for the remainder of the game. The ‘pen collectively allowed no runs, two hits, two walks and seven strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings. Though it is a small spring sample size, Johnson and Dunn each continue to sport a spotless 0.00 earned run average.
Kansas City pitching went toe to toe with the Rockies for much of the game, with a sacrifice fly by Story in the sixth inning notching the first run of the game for the club. Ryan McMahon came through with a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth to give the Rockies a 3-2 win. After going 2-for-3 with a walk on Friday, McMahon increased his batting average to .462, a mark that leads the league this spring.
The Rockies travel to American Family Fields of Phoenix to play the Milwaukee Brewers today. Gray will start for the Rox, while old friend Jhoulys Chacín will take the hill for the Brew Crew. Today’s game will commence at 2:05 PM MT. You can listen in on KOA 850 AM.