I’m going to be honest: I was under the impression Spring Training games began today, Friday, not tomorrow, Saturday. But that’s probably because this offseason has been so exhausting between the cheating scandals and the player-front-office feuds. So needless to say I’m very excited for actual baseball games—even real-fake games like spring training ones—to happen.
On to the links.
Most crucial questions for each NL West club | MLB.com
Part of what makes the Rockies offseason so frustrating is that the rest of the division, in a major change of pace, was very active (except for maybe the Giants but still). If you haven’t been paying attention, Will Leitch gives a pretty solid introduction. Feel free to avert your eyes from the season prediction at the bottom.
Q&A: New Rockies bullpen coach Darryl Scott’s laid-back style and gentle guiding | The Athletic ($)
Key to the Rockies success is several players playing better in 2020 than they did in 2019. Darryl Scott was promoted up to the big league coaching staff in order to get some of that mojo working for this year’s squad. Nick Groke has a fascinating back-and-forth interview with him on the site.
Dahl seeks to emulate mentality of QB Mahomes | MLB.com
Nothing like casually dropping the fact that you got to party with the Super Bowl MVP after the game. If David Dahl can take the cool-as-a-cucumber lesson from Patrick Mahomes and translate that into greater success, that would be pretty fantastic. But improving on his .302/.353/.524 slash line isn’t quite as important as improving on his 80 games/MLB season.
Rockies’ prospect Tyler Nevin plans to make his mark with more power, versatility | Denver Post
Tyler Nevin has had similar luck with injuries as David Dahl. Nevin even missed most of the 2016 campaign due to injuries (though not to the spleen, presumably). Still, when he has been on the field, he’s produced enough to have the Rockies talk about him as having an outside shot to make his MLB debut this year.
‘I don’t hold grudges’: How Nolan Arenado and Kris Bryant are moving forward from trade rumors | ESPN
Misery loves company. In the midsts of a very different (and actually legal) dispute around the Cubs, Kris Bryant comes across as more enthusiastic about remaining with his current club than does Arenado, if only just. Neither seems super thrilled about their current situation but there is one difference the seems telling:
Asked if he thought the lines of communication are open, Arenado paused for a moment.
”I thought there would be more,” he responded.
It shouldn’t be this hard to open those lines of communication. But somehow, it seems like it is. Whether he truly is willing to move past the issues or not, Nolan doesn’t have a lot of options at this point. The least the front office can do is make sure communication is wide open.
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Seven Reasons why the Rockies will win in 2020: an appeal to positivity | Purple Row FanPost
Finally, earlier this week RoxRock4 posted this FanPost as an antidote to the doom and gloom surrounding the Rockies over the offseason. As you prepare to watch spring training games this weekend, may this spark some hope for watching Rockies baseball in 2020. After all, hope is what spring is all about.