Colorado Rockies Quick Hits: Blackmon, O’Dowd, Odds, Bochy

As there often is with spring training, in the past 24 hours or so, there have been a lot of news and notes involving the Colorado Rockies and their division.

Charlie Blackmon was on MLB Network’s “Hot Stove” yesterday morning with Stephen Nelson and Ron Darling and they talked about a lot of different things in their nearly 10 minute spot.

One thing he talked about his 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo, which he has driven since high school and has gained some notoriety for it (including by the media and some teammates for). He also talked about rating things in “chucks”, including how many “chucks” he gives about hitting leadoff, stretching, DJ LeMahieu leaving the Rockies (especially because he was the one who tweeted about Blackmon running out of gas), and his thoughts about “The Shredder,” which ranks players (hint: he does not like it because it is “drunk all the time”), mullets, and beards.

Overall, it’s a very entertaining watch so if you haven’t seen it, you can watch it here.

Dan O’Dowd on the Rockies

Speaking of the Rockies and MLB Network, a few hours later, former Rockies general manager Dan O’Dowd joined Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo on “High Heat” to talk about the Rockies.

O’Dowd contends that the Rockies have one of the top five rotations in the National League right now, which is not something that most people would think with playing at altitude and he also briefly mentioned that he likes the signing of Daniel Murphy. He thinks that the key to the Rockies are having the players that underperformed last year step up this season. He mentioned the bullpen (he named Jake McGee, Bryan Shaw, and Mike Dunn) as well as Jon Gray, in particular.

Russo mentioned how Wade Davis who “did not really have a great year last year” but O’Dowd thinks that part of the reason why he wasn’t as dominant as in previous seasons were the adjustments to Coors Field, the stat differentials that come with pitching in Coors, and the mileage on his arm, as he has pitched a lot in the past few seasons.

O’Dowd also expressed some concern with the innings pitched by the starting pitchers (namely, Kyle Freeland and German Marquez since they were very close to or over 200 innings in 2018).

If you want to hear the part on the Rockies, you can listen to the full clip here.

Bleacher Report’s Betting Odds for the 2019 season

Bleacher Report recently released their odds for each MLB team winning their division and for the Rockies, their bets do not paint a good picture.

The Rockies current odds are at +450, meaning if you bet $100, you would win $450 if the Rockies won the division. Only 6 teams in the National League have a higher payout if they were to win the division, and three of them are in the NL West.

If you’re a betting person, that may be a good bet to put in but for the Rockies, it does not paint a good picture.

In comparison, the Dodgers are at a -150, meaning to win $100, you’d have to put down $150 so the Rockies are, at least in the opinion of some bettors, more than a step behind the Dodgers in the NL West.

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?

Bruce Bochy retiring after the 2019 season

Bruce Bochy, the 3-time World Series champion manager of the San Francisco Giants, announced yesterday that after the 2019 season, he will retire from managing. Bochy has managed either the Padres or Giants since 1995, making him one of the longest tenured managers in a few different ways.

First off, with Mike Scioscia leaving the Angels after the 2018 season, Bochy is now the longest tenured manager as he has been with the Giants since the start of the 2007. Also, since he has managed since 1995 without a break, per Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic, that will make him one of only five managers to ever manage 25 seasons without a break. The other four are Hall of Famers (Tony La Russa, Sparky Anderson, John McGraw, and Connie Mack).

With his 3 World Championships, Bochy will undoubtably get in the Hall of Fame in the near future. After all, as ESPN noted on Twitter, there are only 9 other managers who have won 3 World Series and all are in the Hall of Fame.

Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post tweeted about Bud Black‘s comments on Bochy at the Winter Meetings in December. Black said “I hope it’s not his last year. I truly mean that, because Bruce is great for the game. Because he’s a great manager … winning 3 world championships, that’s fantastic work.”

Black was Bochy’s successor in San Diego after Bochy left for the managerial job in San Francisco.