Rockies

  Digging deeper still into the pile of who’s-that-pitcher-and-what-did-we-give-up-for-him, today we unearth Josh Outman, formerly of the Oakland Athletics and recouped in addition to Guillermo Moscoso for Seth Smith last month. So where might we see Outman when the Rockies break camp in April?  

Continuing our look into Rockies’ beatdowns at the hands of the Philadelphia Phillies, we turn the calendar one page to June of 1993 and find much more of the same. Were these guys in our division or something? Why couldn’t we get them to go away? As if the Memorial Day series at Mile High wasn’t bad enough, the Rockies had to turn right around and head to Veterans Stadium for a 3-game series as the visiting team. And they did not play well. But I’ll tell you something that might surprise you: they did not get swept. They almost [...]

The Colorado Rockies continued their busy offseason this morning, trading Jason Hammel and Matt Lindstrom to the Baltimore Orioles for right handed starting pitcher Jeremy Guthrie. The team then immediately agreed to a one year contract with Guthrie, who was scheduled for an arbitration hearing later today. The trade is a straight two players for one deal. Guthrie, age 32, is a tough pitcher to figure out. In his four seasons with the Orioles he led the league in losses twice, including 17 this past season. Those stats do not seem to tell the whole story with him though. He [...]

Stuff to read.   The most talked-about Topps 2012 baseball card is Skip Schumaker’s. If you don’t know why, well, click and see. I saw the title of David Schoenfield’s article “Baseball’s most difficult team to project,” and immediately thought, this is about the Rockies. I was right. Mark Townsend gives us his take on Dan O’Dowd’s 850 KOA interview, and he thinks that DOD was right to prioritize culture over talent. And he always gives Rox Pile a shout-out, which we appreciate! Purple Row’s Andrew Fisher considers whether the Rockies have a legitimate ace in the system for next [...]

There has been a lot of talk in baseball circles lately about the new playoff system, which will potentially be implemented for the 2012 season. Many fans are against playoff expansion. They don’t want to see more non-first-place teams have a chance at postseason success. There was a time when a team had to win the division in order to make the playoffs, and some see that as a bygone era of glory. Since 1995, when the wild card was first introduced, second place teams have been given a fair shot at the World Series, disadvantaged only in that they [...]

As spring training approaches, there was plenty of Rockies news to digest this week. A summary.   Saturday Curtis discussed the news that the Colorado Springs Sky Sox will most likely not use a humidor for the 2012 season, and how that effects the development of future Rockies pitchers. Monday As part of the Rockies Retread series, I uncovered a particularly messy series against the Phillies from the Rockies’ inaugural season, and spotlighted their dismal performance on May 30th. Tuesday I speculated on where Guillermo Moscoso fits into the 2012 Rockies, and what he might contribute to the starting rotation. [...]

Today the Rockies extended ultra durable reliever Matt Belisle to a contract extension through 2013 with a mutual option for 2014. In no particular order, here are five reasons this is good news:

To go along with the 12 position players the Rockies also invited 9 non roster pitchers to camp. Chad Bettis – Highly touted prospect with a sinker/slider mix. Has a career 18-6 record with a 2.70 ERA and averages over a strikeout per inning over two MiLB seasons. There has been talk of a moving the 22 year old righty from the rotation to a bullpen role if he doesn’t develop better off speed pitches. Joe Gardner – The third pitcher in the Ubaldo Jimenez trade, he profiles as a good innings eater with a heavy sinker. There is possibility [...]

The Rockies released their non-roster invites for 2012 spring training. Here is a look at the position players. Nolan Arenado 3B – No big surprise here, Arenado has been getting a lot of hype after his big 2011 season and Arizona Fall League MVP. With the Rockies roster depth I give Arenado little chance of making the big club out of spring training, but he should show up in Denver at some point in 2012. Brendan Harris INF – A super utility guy entering his first season in the Colorado organization. He spent all of 2011 in AAA after playing [...]

When the time comes in the next month or so to predict how the Colorado Rockies will do in 2012, you will hear two frequent answers: 1. This team will come up short because they do not have enough starting pitching. At best they are a 3rd place team. 2. This team is especially difficult to predict – they could finish anywhere from 2nd to 5th in the NL West.  Yes, I realize that neither of these possibilities call for a first ever division title for the franchise. I do not imagine that even the most optimistic projections will have [...]