As the Root crew have been joking almost daily for the past week, one thing you can count on is Eric Young, Jr. getting penciled into the top of the lineup.
Today is no exception.
One missing piece of the lineup is Michael Cuddyer, who was reinstated last night after coming off the 15 day DL. Word is that he is fine, the team just wants to ease him back into the swing of things (pun intended).
Josh Rutledge is in the lineup, possibly because he proved that his quad is feeling much better by tripling last night in the seventh, knocking home the go ahead run and then scoring himself on a safety squeeze put down by EYj. Can’t do both of those things effectively if you aren’t close to 100%!
The Rockies are looking to extend their winning streak, currently an MLB best 4 games. The Rockies current 4-game winning streak is the Rockies longest since winning 5-straight games (5/28-6/1). Tonight’s game is the second of four against the Marlins and the fifth game on the current 7-game homestand.
Jeff Francis will make his 15th start of 2012 tonight. This will be Francis’ fourth career start against the Marlins and first since 2010. He is 2-0 with a 1.42 ERA (19.0 ip, 3 er) in his three starts vs. MIA, which are all Rockies victories.
Wade LeBlanc’s job is to make sure Francis doesn’t notch a win. LeBlanc will make his 15th appearance and fourth start of the season for the Marlins tonight. This will be his seventh start against the Rockies in his career where he is 1-3 with a 4.93 ERA (34.2 ip, 19 er) against the Rox.
IS THERE A DJ IN THE HOUSE?
DJ LeMahieu notched the first triple of his career last night when he connected on a 2-out three-bagger to left-center. DJ then scored the Rockies first run of the game on a wild pitch. The triple was the 42nd triple for the Rockies this season, which already surpasses the 40 triples Colorado had in 2011. The Rockies 42 triples also lead all Major League teams this season. Additionally, Dexter Fowler leads the Majors with his 11 triples, while Tyler Colvin ranks tied for 6th in the NL with his 7 triples.
LeMahieu also finished the night by going 2-for-4 with the triple and 2 runs scored. Last night was LeMahieu’s fifth multi-hit game in his last seven starts, since 8/8 at LAD. He has now hit safely in seven of his nine starts this month and owns a batting line in August of: .389 average (14-for-36), 1 double, 1 triple, 1 home run, 5 RBI, 9 runs. His .389 batting average leads all NL middle infielders with at least 35 plate appearances this month.
It has been under the radar, but as of yesterday Dexter Fowler is 10th in the NL for OBP. Wonder where egossage went? He didn’t like Dex nor EY.
The big question is should we trade Fowler while his value is high before he hits the free agent years? Remember his agent is Scott Boras….If Dex can take a little bit of a hometown discount like CarGo did, then good let’s keep him. Otherwise trade him high before his salary is too high. I don’t think we can carry Tulo, CarGo, Cuddyer, and Fowler expensive contracts all at once.
Read that Dex is looking for a “contract”. THE guys got their money. Other guys on the rise will be looking for theirs in a couple of years. My money is on Dex playing for someone else next year and one of guys on the “farm” moving in to his spot.
In my opinion, that will be a shame, as I love to watch him play center (and, he seems to be making improved strides at the plate). Oh…and, there’s that pitching thing…
Still here. Just nothing to talk about with this boring ass team anymore.
Everyone note Jaredean’s new innovation. You can click on the player’s name + it is a link to his stats!
I tend to agree – if Dex continues this pace and finishes strongly, he’s probably the most realistic tradable commodity the Rox have that might bring a decent return. Teams like the Reds and Nats, even though they’ll likely be in the post-season, have struggled with their OF lineups. I can see some potential matches.
Its natural for fans to be loyal to the current position players and want to keep them while also adding several top-flight pitchers. But it won’t happen. So all things considered, Dex probably is the best combination of current stats/value, future big $$ and a capable replacement in Blackmon, whose stats at Colo Springs are very good. If we’re playing fantasy GM, he’s my choice to go if they can get a guy in return who can actually put up quality starts. The Rockies can’t stand pat in pitching this winter, hoping that everyone will heal and/or mature into a competitive staff.
I’m certainly not opposed to trading anyone if it makes the club better in either the short or longer term, and that includes Cargo. But don’t kid yourselves: Charlie Blackmon doesn’t look like any kind of replacement for Dex. Do you realize he’s 26, the same age as Dex? And so far he’s shown us very solid but not spectacular play over approx. 1 full season in the extreme hitting environment of the PCL/Colorado Springs. And 100 really crappy plate appearances in the big leagues.
So yeah, you could trade Dex, but he’s hardly unaffordable. He’ll get a very nice arbitration salary, but the bang for your buck will still be very good. True, that makes him more valuable for trade partners, but that’s only because he’s more valuable for us too.
The salary to move remains Cuddyer’s because it is the biggest salary other than Tulo’s, and because there’s a very poor production-to-salary ratio there. And even more importantly, it’s easier to replace his production.
Getting better is tough unless young players emerge, or unless ownership significantly expands payroll. Other than that, you can expect that other GMs are rational actors. There’s a lot of surplus value in Dex — 1st year arb eligibles typically make about 60% of what they’d make if they were free agents — so you’d get good value for him, but you’re not gonna replace his production with a cheap substitute like Blackmon. In fact, if Blackmon is so good other teams have no doubt noticed that, and you might as well just trade him for pitching. But I have to assume nobody’s offered anything very good for him or O’Dowd is even more inept than we thought if he’s refused to take it.
You think we could trade Cuddyer for Kendrys Morales?
I watched most of the 2nd half of the game and am confused. Who is worse to listen to Frazier, Goodman or Carver? Or all 3 of them together. Once in a while they talk about the game, the rest of the time it’s embarrassing. My thumb is already tired from muting the political commercials, now I have to mute them as well.
Earlier in the evening I watched 3 ex Rockies play in the Red Sox-Yankee game. Franklin Morales started for the Red Sox and looked good except for giving up 4 homers to the Yankess, he was relieved by Clay Mortensen who looked good throwing nothing but sliders to Russell Martin (not an ex Rockie) but then Jayson Nix, who if memory serves me right was to be the Rockies 2nd Baseman earlier this century and Nix hit the tie-breaking single to give the Yankees the lead. Nix, who the Rockies gave up on years ago, plays 4 or 5 times a week at 2nd, SS or 3rd (and maybe the OF also) to give somebody a break.
“Franklin Morales started for the Red Sox and looked good except for giving up 4 homers to the Yankess”
Isn’t that like the old line, “Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln greatly enjoyed the play.”
Goodman/Frazier/Cavnar were awful last night, probably a consequence of having them seated in that Tequila Loft or whatever they call it. Rockies, please don’t mix promoting your “products” with game coverage.
Other former Rockies: Ubaldo Jimenez is one that O’Dowd got right. All indications are that he’s toast. 138 innings this year, of exactly replacement-level pitching. We were shocked by his decline last year (and it was a really significant dropoff) but he really wasn’t THAT bad. This year, he really IS that bad. Unless he’s hiding an arm injury that can be fixed, I think his days as an effective starter are over.
You’re right Ag. about Morales. But if you remember when he was here his big problem was he would lose his focus and start walking guys, throwing wild pitches etc. He still has talent. But 4 homers is 4 homers even if they were all solo jobs.
I agree with Agbayani. I wouldn’t rush to trade Dexter unless we got an offer that we couldn’t refuse. I also agree with him that Cuddyer is the guy who should get traded in the offseason, but with his salary I think we would have to eat some of that or get in return another overpaid player. Of course, if we could get an overpaid starting pitcher who could pitch OK in Coors Field, that would be worth it. I also agree that at this point Blackmon profiles as a backup major league outfielder, which is OK. As to minor league outfielders, the two who seem to be doing well are Parker and Dickerson. They are playing like major league prospects. Blackmon and Wheeler, in part due to injuries, haven’t distinguished themselves in AAA this year.
Nice article in the Denver Post today about the merits of resigning Francis. Given that the Rockies control DLR, Chacin, Nicasio, Pomeranz, White, Friedrich, and Chatwood, and perhaps can sign Francis, I wonder how aggressive the Rockies will be in the offseason to get starting pitchers, or whether they’ll just hope that the improved health of these guys will solve their problems. As someone pointed out earlier in the week, none of the guys necessarily profile as a #1 or #2 pitcher, but, as was pointed out in today’s Denver Post, particularly because of the four man rotation it will be hard to attract free agent starting pitchers here.