Rockpile

The Rockies should not return to baseball anytime soon

Colorado Rockies news and links for Wednesday, April 7, 2020

By AJ Hendrickson@ProbablyAJ Apr 8, 2020, 6:00am MDT

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Who’s in the mood to argue? I’ll go first.

Sources: MLB, union focused on plan that could allow season to start as early as May in Arizona | ESPN

Yes, sources claimed this was true. But then this happened:

MLB pumps brakes on discussed plan to play all games in Arizona | Arizona Sports

MLB clapped back, saying this was indeed a plan they had discussed, but not, like, discussed discussed.

MLB’s plan to play all games in Arizona far from a done deal | Denver Post ($)

So then the Denver Post got in on the “Is this a story or not?” drama too!

Analysis: MLB should pump the break on plan to return to games in May | Denver Post ($)

This is actually the same Denver Post article, just a few hours later. So who knows what the title will be by the time this Rockpile actually publishes!

Along with the headline, the Denver Post article was also updated to include a lengthy discussion of why this whole Arizona scenario is stupid and unlikely to happen. In summary: Because it would be a logistical nightmare, and how would they seriously quarantine everyone involved in this scenario? They wouldn’t, so inevitably someone would get sick, and then we’d have a virus loose in a quarantine situation, which would be bad.

The ESPN article ends with this thought:

As consequential and potentially tricky as some of the challenges might be, sources said the league and union are motivated to make the plan work because they realize the alternative might be worse for both sides: no baseball at all in 2020.

But in fact, there is a worse option than no baseball at all, as Patrick Saunders explains in his closing argument:

But MLB best tread carefully, because it can’t afford to make an error with so many lives at stake.

I’m Team Saunders on this one, y’all. This Arizona scenario is not a good plan.

Rockies’ Top 5 second basemen: Harding’s take | MLB.com

It’s DJ LeMahieu. You want to argue about this one? You’re wrong.

Harding rounds out his top five with Eric Young Sr, Kaz Matsui, Clint Barmes, and Jamey Carroll. You can argue about those all you want. I don’t have a strong opinion, unless Eric Young Sr. also used “Forever Young” as his walk-up song (like his son does), in which case I’ll argue for him.

My favorite player: Carlos González and an epic game of P-I-G | The Athletic ($)

Nick Groke’s favorite player is apparently CarGo. That’s an okay choice, I guess. CarGo was pretty cool and good and stuff, plus very smart.

But to be fair, we all know the correct answer is Nolan Arenado.

Anyway, this one time, CarGo played PIG with Corey Dickerson, while on a plane, using a Fisher Price basketball hoop.

The end.

Who helped Trevor Story become a superstar? | MLB.com

Apparently a lot of people supported Trevor Story on his journey to be a really good baseball guy. This article highlights some of those people, like his family and his hitting coach and Troy Tulowitzki and Glenallen Hill. Because as the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a Story. Or something.

But seriously, isn’t this where he’s supposed to thank God and his teammates? And he thanks his family instead? Lame, Trevor.

Coors Field, boasting a brand new playing surface, awaits baseball’s return | Denver Post ($)

Apparently over the offseason the Rockies ripped out their entire field and put in a new one. First they redid the heating system, which was an electrical grid that had been in place since Coors first opened. Now the heating system is hydronic, which I’d argue isn’t a proper word— “hydro” is a prefix, and “onic” is a suffix, so it’s missing the part of the word that’s actually a word.

Anyway, this “hydronic” system is apparently more efficient and saves energy and money and stuff, which is good.

The field will also have new grass and dirt, so it should be even more gorgeous than it used to be whenever we finally get to watch baseball again.

There’s a lot of science involved in making baseball grass stay green and usable throughout the entire season, and it reminded me that I knew a guy in college who majored in turf science, although he originally told me that he majored in grasses, which sounds like it should be a joke and yet somehow was not. I’m sure there are people who major in turf sciences who are not jerks, but I haven’t met one yet.

Colorado Rockies Foundation teams up with fans and players to donate over half a million dollars to regional food banks | MLB.com

Did you donate to the “Stay at Home Opener: Feed the Rockies” on what should have been Opening Day? Daniel Murphy, the Rockies Foundation, and a bunch of other people did.

No argument here. Donating to a food bank seems like a good idea to me.

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And now the “awards.”