For the final game of Spring Training Wilin Rosario proved *again* why he should be in the opening day line-up, although his chances are practically zero with Hernandez healthy and ready to play. Rosario went 2 for 3, both hits doubles. While Rosario was having a great day, Chacin was having anything but, going only four innings to give up five runs on eight hits, all of the runs coming in the fourth inning. He seemed allergic to the corners as the ball was all over, but mostly hittable. Chacin was followed by Alex White, who kept the ball flying, giving up two runs on three hits in two innings.
The team ended up 10 – 10 in Spring Training, not able to finish above .500, but other than Outman’s strained stomach muscles they leave pretty much intact.
Remember, OPENING DAY IS FRIDAY, APRIL 6th AT 5:00 PM!!!
===== PRE-GAME WRITE-UP ========
Tulo will be in the line-up today, sporting a new elbow brace, as the Rockies try to win the Rubber Game against the Mariners. The rest of the altered line-up is as follows:
2B Scutaro
CF Fowler
LF Carlos Gonzalez
SS Tulowitzki
1B Todd Helton
DH Jason Giambi
RF Michael Cuddyer
C Wilin Rosario
3B Chris Nelson
RHP Jhoulys Chacin
Other than Giambi as DH, you would think this is the opening day roster by the looks of it, but during yesterdays game it was announced that Jordan Pacheco would start opening day. I can’t remember the reasoning, but I believe it was because he wanted Nelson in for Moyers start because of his better range.
I’m glad the last Spring Training game is here because I sure am ready for some real baseball.
I wonder what our record at the 20 game mark will be? 12 – 8?
Chacin getting spanked today in the fourth inning; five runs and still going all after two outs. Gave up like five or six straight hits after two were gone. I better not see Chacin have a short outing in Monday’s home opener! I think we need to call up Alex White so he can be a 3b starter. Chacin 4 IP and White 3IP.
This is a bad rotation.
I’m trying to be optimistic, but right now I am thinking none of them has much of a chance to reach 10 wins. MAYBE Pomeranz. MAYBE Nicasio. But I don’t have any faith in the other three right now.
Ugh!
I agree that the rotation picture is bleak, but I gotta give Guthrie a bit more credit than you are. If he can win 9 in the AL East he’s got to be able to get 10 in the NL West…right? Please agree before I get sad
Trip, you know it’s bad when I have to step in to cheer you up. Here’s a try:
We’re basically looking at a rotation of 4 league average pitchers + Jamey Moyer. While we’re missing anything resembling an ace, that’s really not horrible. And if Chacin, Nicasio, and Pomeranz (or at least 2 of them) can take a step forward this year, it’s really pretty decent. Wins is a pretty arbitrary stat, but if you’d make me guess I’d say something like this:
Guthrie. 12-11, 4.50
Chacin, 14-10, 4.15
Pomeranz, 12-7, 3.80 (based on an innings/starts limit)
Nicasio, 10-10, 4.50
Moyer, 7-9, 4.90
And if De La Rosa can steal some of those starts, that’s all the better. I guess what I’m saying is that our rotation really doesn’t suck, but it could if somebody collapses and seriously underperforms. But that can happen any year. No ace could kill us if we make the playoffs, but I’ll worry about that later …
… Outman to the DL, pulled a muscle vomiting. Really, that’s what they say. If he’s out of options I’m calling bs on that — it allows you to hang onto him, then send him on a minor league rehab. If so, sounds smart…
… I like Fowler hitting 2nd for other reasons, not because I think his poor spring means he’ll stink (I don’t). I like it because in the NL the leadoff spot is less important than the 2nd spot — you don’t follow the pitcher a couple times a game, so you have more chances to do damage. Plus Dex is tough to double up. If Scutaro continues to hit .190 with a .400 OBP I’ll be a happy man. I don’t want to see CarGo and Tulo hitting with nobody on.
Hey Ag,
Not to beat a dead horse concerning the Rox rotation to start the season, but have you noticed how Bruce Bochy set up his rotation to start off? He has Tiny Tim followed by Baumgartner and than Cain. Surely you don’t think that Baumgartner is the Giants #2 pitcher do you? Not after the Giants just awarded a $127 million contract to Cain. My guess is that Bochy wanted the lefty Baumgartner sandwiched between the righties Tiny and Cain. My point is that it isn’t so obvious that a manager will start out 1-2-3-4 to start the season.
Outman has 2 options remaining so the DL move has nothing to do trying to hang on to him.
http://rockiesroster.com/rockies/40-man/
I asked earlier, but in the long term of a 162 game season how many times does the match up really end up going 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, or 4v4, 5v5, 1v1 in 3 game series? It just doesn’t happen. Until the playoffs it doesn’t matter what order your 1,2,3,4,5 pitch.
Cisco, yep, that’s a decent point.
But my main point is this: we’re deliberately pitching our 5th starter, Moyer, and skipping entirely the guy who just may be our best starter, Pomeranz. If you wanted to go righty-lefty-righty, wouldn’t you slot Pomeranz in between Guthrie and Chacin/Nicasio? I still don’t get that. But then again, I really, really want to start the season 3-0 against the lowly Astros. Does Jim Tracy?
And to really flog a dead horse, from Renck today:
“Drew Pomeranz will throw against minor leaguers Thursday in Scottsdale before flying to Houston to join the Rockies. He will then pitch April 10 in the minor leagues (possibly for Double-A Tulsa) in advance of his big league season debut on April 15″
So this saves innings on Pomeranz’s arm?
Was saving Drew’s arm a reason given for him not being on the roster right away? I thought it had more to do with needing an extra week to decide between the IFs and OFs on the roster.
I’m not too familiar with WAR, but lets say Drew had a WAR of 2. If he misses 1 out of 20 starts in the bigs that means the Rockies are missing all of 0.10th of a win for the year? Pfft.
Anybody have any idea why the Cardinals and Marlins are playing a one game series? Marlins opened in their new ball park tonight and then they play at Cincy on Thursday. Weird. 4 different Opening Days in baseball. Last week in Japan, tonight in Miami, some teams open Thursday and others on Friday. Old guys like me don’t take kindly to change.
I’m trying to be optimistic about the beginning of the season. I think Fowler’s been hitting a bit better this past week and the fact that Tulo played a few innings today seems like good news. I hope Rosario gets to play more than once a week. He’s been knocking the cover off the ball but if he just sits on the bench for the Rockies it could be a lost season.
Agbayani’s prediction about the starter’s is nice. I hope he’s right but Chacin (like Ubaldo the year before) only pitched well early in the season, Guthrie eats innings but I don’t think he’s ever played on a winner. I’m hoping for good things out of Pomeranz and Nicasio. Who knows about Moyer.
I know some of you are excited about Colvin but he’ll have to earn my trust. He couldn’t hit in the bigs last year and whenever I saw him play this spring he was having trouble fielding. Anybody else notice that? Maybe I just caught the wrong games.
Showcasing a new ball park while also playing the world champs. Plenty of celeb’s on hand. Major coverage by many media outlets. Commish on hand. etc. I was really happy for the Marlins tonight, final score and some lame play not withstanding. It looks like an awesome park. Glad to see the sell out.
I thought it was weird for the Mariners to open the season only to come back and play more ST games against the Rockies.
I’m another old guy,and tradionalist,so I think this hop-skip-jump start to the season is stupid and confusing.I also think the rotation is scary/shakey and the middle relief questionable.I saw enough of Chatwood yesterday to last the season!
Ag, We’re basically looking at a rotation of *3* league average pitchers + Jamey Moyer. I say that because the Rockies are starting the season with a 4 man rotation.
In a recent game Jeff Huson made the comment ideally the Rockies would like to go with Fowler then Scutaro but they want to keep the pressure off of Fowler right now so they have them swapped. Once Fowler gets more comfortable and starts hitting expect to see him back in #1 followed by Scutaro
I think that we’ll see Rosario start at leat twice a week.
The talk about whether Fowler bats first or second may turn out to be a moot point. I think that there will be games when he bats 8th.
The rotation and the middle relievers both scare me. If one of the starters goes down before DLR is ready, I’m not overly impressed with the next options at this point (Chatwood or White?). Hopefully by the end of the year one or more of the next options (particularly Bettis) may be ready to step up.
I wonder if there is a trade or two up DOD’s sleve. Does another team value EY? With Colvin, and then Blackmon and Wheeler in AAA, and Matthes in AA, I don’t see how all of them eventually get serious playing time on the Rockies. Could we trade one of them for another player who plays a position where we have greater need? If as the season progresses it is clear that Arenado is ready to move up to the Rockies, then we would have infielders to trade as well.
Julian it appears the Rockies can’t give EY away. I will use the recent trade with the Orioles as an example. They said no thanks to including him as part of the deal. Do you believe what Troy Renck has said in the past?
Do you believe what Mr. O’Dowd has said in the media? If so, then don’t expect Wheeler or Blackmon to be going anywhere.
Julian, about the most reassuring thing I can say is this: back end of the bullpen and rotation depth are problems for every team. Nobody can afford to stockpile quality relievers to serve as the 7th man in the pen, nor can they afford a proven/quality 6th or 7th starter. Our ace in the hole is De La Rosa. If he can pitch half a season at his established level of quality, all of a sudden those problems start to go away.
Still, I want Chatwood and White starting in the minors. They both need the work.
Rosario is pretty key here. Hernandez can’t be expected to catch more than 90 games based on his last couple years. So the backup gets almost half the starts. And that’s if Hernandez stays reasonably healthy.
Also a big burden on Reynolds this year. We’re assuming Belisle-Brothers-Betancourt to close out close games, but Reynolds is the only other proven reliever (Roenicke is a solid replacement level guy, but you don’t want him in any high leverage situations). Bettis would be a midseason option if he’s healthy. Maybe Friedrich can step up as a fill in starter. But there isn’t much depth there, so (as with everyone) the health of our current pitching staff is critical.
Would John Lannon be of any interest? Too expensive?
I noticed Aaron Cook is not in the Red Sox pitching staff. What happend? Did he get cut?>
Here ya go Pooter:
http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/red-sox/tag/_/name/aaron-cook
Thanks Mike
Yep, thanks Mike. I’d like to see Cook make it with the Red Sox this year.
Prog, Lannan would be a very nice addition. Another one of those league average guys, but that would be the depth we could use. But I imagine that’s the depth a lot of clubs need too. The Nationals are going to stash him in AAA even though he’s demanding a trade, waiting till the price is right or until someone gets hurt.
OK, it’s the first game of their season, but Friedrich is getting lit up. What a disappointment he’s become after a strong start to his minor league career. I don’t expect to ever see him in purple. Cabreara on the other hand pitched a really strong game for Tulsa. I have lots of expectations for him and Bettis.
You might be right. Especially about not in purple. I would love to get Mike Hampton’s take on Friedrich. I agree with you on Bettis.
Agreed Ag, I don’t see Lannan going anywhere unless it was the right offer.
Julian, thanks for the minors update. Friedrich looked like he was back on track in early March, now it’s two steps back again. Cabrera has been one of my dark horse favorites, a Wandy Rodriguez type in the making. I think he’s already way past Friedrich on the estimated time of arrival.
And 4 hits for Arenado at Tulsa’s opener too! Weird that the minor league seasons opened before the Rockies season.
I meant to add something about Arenado and his 4 hits and 3 RBIs. I agree that it is weird that the minor league seaon started before the Rockies’ season. At this point, Friedrich is probably behind Chatwood, White, Bettis, and Cabrera. It’s a shame. BTW, the forgotton man, Tyler Matzek, pitched last night for Modesto. I’m not sure that there was a single post about him this off season. He only went 42/3 inning, but got through them in only 43 pitches (31 strikes), with three hits, three walks, two unearned runs (all in the first inning), and 7 Ks. Obviously control is still an issue, but I like the 7 Ks. Maybe he can get back on track.
Is someone on this site going to do regular minor league reports?
I’m looking forward to watching a bit of opening day before the Passover seder starts.
That is funny you asked that Julian, about someone covering minor league stuff…I’ve been meaning to ask if anyone has time and interest that can write something about the MiLB teams for the Rox.
If anybody would like to, I plan on setting up a MiLB section and will give you the “reigns” to it…