Purple Monday: Tulo’s return, Jeff Hoffman and other Rockies happenings

Happy 4^th of July and welcome to the first edition of the Purple Monday series where I discuss the past week of Colorado Rockies baseball, both in the majors and down on the farm. There’s a lot to talk about this week with reaction to the return of Troy Tulowitzki to Coors field, if the recent struggles in the rotation make it time for the Rockies to call Jeff Hoffman up from Albuquerque and include some other exciting prospect news.

The biggest story this past week with the Rockies was the return of long-time shortstop Troy Tulowitzki. It was a bittersweet homecoming for Tulo and for his fans in Denver. Troy was my favorite Rockie ever since his memorable rookie campaign culminating in Rocktober 2007, so it was obviously hard to see him traded. The split was made worse as Tulo continued to voice his displeasure with the Rockies organization last fall and this spring with his “country club” comments in reference to the Rockies’ spring facility. I think his bitterness came from his

fierce competitive nature, and the fact that he truly put his heart and soul into “making being a Rockie cool” and it stung when the organization he committed to went a different direction.

This drive is the reason I, and all Rockies fans, needed to thank him. It was a beautiful moment during Monday’s game when he was welcomed with the standing ovation he earned over the past 10 years. I was able to go to the game Tuesday, which was a bit of a disaster following an almost three-hour delay, but his home run to left field brought me back to the old days. Seeing him trot around the bases culminating with his classic high five at third brought me to my feet and goosebumps to my skin.

The series was a nice reception and a fitting moment to close the door on the Tulowitzki era for the Rockies. I will never forget the “Tulo” chant echoing through the rafters as the Rockies punched their ticket to the 2007 World Series.

“So thank you, Troy”

So thank you Troy, but now it is time to move on, and last July’s trade put us in a position to find our way back to postseason baseball and gave Troy the opportunity to “play on a good baseball team” as he has always wanted.

More from Rox Pile

• A Colorado Rockies Thanksgiving
• Colorado Rockies: What if Todd Helton had played football instead?
• Colorado Rockies: Charlie Blackmon out for the season
• Colorado Rockies: Injuries shift look of roster ahead of Dodgers series
• Colorado Rockies: Has Sean Bouchard earned a second look in 2023?

It seems logical to transition to the key piece we received in the Tulowitzki trade, Jeff Hoffman. Is it time to bring him up from Albuquerque? My answer is yes, for multiple reasons. Hoffman started the season in AAA and has been very solid for the Isotopes in the hitter friendly Pacific Coast League all year, compiling a 3.46 ERA  in 16 starts. He is averaging 9.0 K’s per 9 innings and a K:BB ratio of 3.03. His past three starts have proven that he is ready for the next challenge, as he has registered a quality start in all three. His best start came June 19^th

where he went seven innings giving up only five hits and striking out 11.

Adding to the calls for Hoffman is the fact that the Rockies rotation has started to show the holes in it. Eddie Butler has been bad most recently giving up four runs in 3.1 innings against the Blue Jays. With Tyler Chatwood returning from the DL tomorrow, the Rockies will presumably shift Butler back into the bullpen. This leaves Hoffman to perhaps replace Chad Bettis. Bettis hasn’t been great either with an ERA of 7.53 over his past seven games.

While it is harder to give up on Bettis, I think the rotation needs as much help as they can get with the Rockies teetering on the edge of playoff contention.

More from Colorado Rockies News

• A Colorado Rockies Thanksgiving
• Colorado Rockies: Charlie Blackmon out for the season
• Colorado Rockies: Injuries shift look of roster ahead of Dodgers series
• Colorado Rockies: 3 things we appreciated from Tuesday in San Francisco
• What Bill Schmidt’s comments mean for the Colorado Rockies in 2023

Adding to the intrigue with Hoffman is the fact that Yohan Flande was recently DFA’d with Jake McGee returning from injury. This opens up a spot on the 40-man roster for Hoffman if the Rockies decide to go in that direction.

In other news, Adam Ottavino has joined the team in San Francisco and could return to the bullpen anytime to provide another late inning option as he hopefully regains his lights out ability from early last year. David Dahl, the Rockies top OF prospect has also been called up to Albuquerque from Hartford positioning him for a possible late season call up, and regular playing time next year if the Rockies were to trade someone in their outfield. That’s something I will get into another time.

Dahl had a slash line of .278/.367/.500 with 13 home runs and 45 RBI’s for the Yard Goats and is expected to be active for the Isotopes today. Another highly regarded prospect for the Yard Goats is Ramiel Tapia who has been hitting the cover off the ball in AA with an average of .333 and an OBP of .380. Tapia hit an unreasonable .375 in June and is 9-for-17 so far in July. He is another guy we can expect to be moving up sometime soon.

Next: Checking in on Colorado's Double-A Team in Hartford

Be on the lookout for another edition of Purple Monday next week diving into news from the week, hopefully including some Rockies heading to the all-star game and home run derby. Happy 4^th of July everyone!