Colorado Rockies Rundown: Flande, Bridich, Weiss, Winter

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Sep 16, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Colorado Rockies manager W. Weiss gestures in the ninth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Your morning rundown — news, notes, analysis, and more — on the biggest stories surrounding the Colorado Rockies for this Monday, September 21, 2015.

Yohan Flande aims to make his next start

(via MLB.com)

We covered this story yesterday, but this is worth talking about a little bit, since we know some more information about Yohan Flande’s knee injury on the comebacker he took Saturday night.

This passage from Owen Perkins’ piece for MLB.com tells it all about Flande:

Flande had just given up a run on a Justin Upton two-out single when the injury took place. With Upton on first, Jedd Gyorko drilled the ball back off Flande’s left knee. The ball ricocheted into foul territory and Gyorko ended up with a double. Flande covered third whileNolan Arenado chased down the ball and kept Upton from scoring. “That’s one of the reasons why his teammates love him so much,” Weiss said of Flande. “His only concern is the team, every day. The same thing there. He gets smoked, and he’s worried about covering third.”

This is kind of a cool quote, because we don’t hear very much about players like Flande. The focus is on Nolan Arenado (how many times have we written about him the last month?), Carlos Gonzalez, Jorge De La Rosa, you get it…

It’s kind of cool to hear that some of these guys we don’t hear much about, and who outwardly don’t impact the team as much from the casual fan’s perspective, have a big impact on the culture of the team.

Next: The Colorado Rockies' nuclear winter

May 10, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; J. Kellogg, the Colorado Rockies vice president of community and retail operations clears the remaining snow from Coors Field before the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

Purple Row’s nuclear winter

(via Purple Row)

This right here is a very smart piece from Purple Row. It’s long, and I’m not going to rehash the whole thing here, but here are a few brief highlights (and yes, you should go read the whole thing):

The Tulowitzki trade is the single most important trade in franchise history. Not just because of what it means when it stands by itself, but because of how it has to be measured as part of a domino effect that it either will or will not set off this winter. Or to put it another way, I don’t believe the Tulowitzki trade is justifiable by itself, so it better be the signal that it’s the first in a series of moves that can be packaged together … So knowing this, the Rockies have to go all in with the idea that surplus value in the short term, particularly in 2016, is irrelevant to the club. Their focus now must be on exchanging the short term surplus value they do have for as much potential surplus value down the road as possible, and unfortunately, this means trading away more favorites.

I personally would like the Colorado Rockies to keep Nick Hundley for one more year, and I am absolutely sentimentally attached to Jorge De La Rosa (but I understand he’s probably going to be gone at some point in the next eight months), but the general premise here is spot-on.

You don’t trade one of the best players in all of baseball away (Troy Tulowitzki) only to think you’re a couple minor moves away from being a great team. You trade one of the best baseball players away because you need a vast overhaul (just use the word “rebuild,” y’all), and you need to get worse to get better.

We’ll have lots lots lots lots more on this over the winter.

Next: Jeff Bridich talks Rockies, Weiss

Sep 16, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Colorado Rockies manager W. Weiss reacts against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Jeff Bridich’s interview

(via MLB Trade Rumors)

Colorado Rockies’ general manager Jeff Bridich spoke to Jim Duquette on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM; click here to listen to the full thing.

MLB Trade Rumors has transcribed some highlights for the Internet, too.

First, on what the club could do this winter, Bridich said that everything is on the table as far as moves go:

“[Those moves include] players, how the team looks, how the team gelled together this year. We had a number of guys injured so we’ll have to make a number of evaluations in terms of those players, do they factor into our future whether they’re young players or veteran guys headed towards free agency. We’ll evaluate our own process [in the] front office, evaluate the Major League staff and our collective combined process together this year.”

On Walt Weiss and whether or not the manager will be back for 2016:

“We’ll have meetings, sit down and talk and see what the right fit is. This isn’t the time or the place yet to say 100 percent yes or no. He’s got to have a part in that too and we’re going to let the season play out before we make that final determination.”

And, on whether big changes were coming on the horizon, specifically as to whether the Colorado Rockies would ever trade Carlos Gonzalez:

“We’ll probably proceed as we have for the last year, which is eyes and ears open and if people want to talk we’re willing to talk. I think we’ve showed that if we were hellbent on trading Carlos Gonzalez, he would’ve already been gone by now.”

Well then. Readers… a penny for your thoughts?

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Yohan Flande aims to make his next start

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