AAA Colorado Springs – W 5-1, (25-23, 2nd, 0.5 GB)

It was a tidy win to for Sky Sox. They were able to maximize their eight hits, only two of which went for extra bases, and produce five runs. Chris Nelson got the scoring started in the third with a bases loaded single to center and the Sky Sox never looked back. Nelson would add another hit in the 5th to post his second straight multi hit game. He is eligible to come off the DL for next Wednesday’s game against the Astros.

On the mound, Carlos Torres, Edgar Gonzalez, Mike Ekstrom, and Rex Brothers all threw multiple innings and combined to give up just one run on four hits. Brothers was the most impressive as he struck out five and only walked on in his two innings of work that closed out the game.

AA Tulsa – W 4-3 – 12 Innings, (27-20, 1st)

This one had a little bit of everything. First, Nick Schmidt took the hill for the Drillers and turned in his third straight outstanding start for Tulsa. The 6’ 5", 245 lb lefty fired seven shutout innings and has now only given up 2 ER in his last three outings in which he’s gone 22 IP (at least 7 IP in each start), struck out 17, and only walked two. In fact, after getting roughed up for six runs in just 4.1 IP in his first start of the season, Schmidt now has a 2.09 ERA and a 42 to 4 K/BB in his last 51.1 IP. Normally I’d take a 26 year old in AA with a grain of salt but Schmidt is intriguing. He was the first round pick of the Padres in 2007 but has never lived up to that billing – Getting stuck in the low minors and always posting a BB/9 that was too high. Last December, he was the "player to be named later" in the Houston Street deal, and ever since coming over to the Rockies’ farm system, he’s displayed more command of his pitches than San Diego ever dreamed he could. Also, he shares a birthday with Tulo (one year younger) and I consider that a good omen.

Schmidt didn’t get the win however as the bullpen coughed up the lead in the 8th inning. After Coty Woods tossed a scoreless 9th to keep his ERA at a sparkling 0.00 on the season, the game went to extras tied at three. It would remain deadlocked until the 12th when # 26 PuRP Ben Paulsen worked an 11 pitch walk, #22 PuRP Kent Matthes doubled, and Frisco pitcher Wilfredo Boscan wild pitched Tulsa to the win. Within all the craziness, #2 PuRP Nolan Arenado had two hits, Matthes posted his first three hit game of the season, and #9 PuRP Josh Rutledge was on base three times with two hits and his fourth walk in the last seven games.

Continue reading this post »

Through 40 games, the 2012 Rockies have been an abomination. They now sit at 15-25, ten games under .500, and are on pace to finish a disgraceful 61-101 – A mark that would easily be the worst in franchise history falling six games short of the dreadful 67-95 record both the 1993 expansion team and 2005 complete rebuild team posted.

Now here’s where things get a bit complicated. While the Rockies deserve their current record and have absolutely played like a team that’s on its way to 101 losses, their true talent level is much, much better than this – And that’s exactly why I find the play of this team so infuriating. Yes, the young inexperienced pitching staff is by far the biggest problem and any Rockie fans who didn’t expect some serious growing pains in that department this season were fooling themselves. However, that fact shouldn’t mask the atrocious showing and blatant underachievement by both the offense and defense in the first quarter of the season. Even with the shortcomings on the mound, I still believed the Rockies true talent level was 80+ wins coming into the season with the other pieces they had in place – And I stand by that now.

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AAA Colorado Springs – W 4-2, (22-19, 1st)

A sellout crowd of 8,777 packed Security Service Field Friday night hoping to get a glimpse of why #1 PuRP Drew Pomeranz might one day become an ace for the Rockies. They were not disappointed as Pomeranz got the win and twirled 5.2 shutout innings while giving up just three hits and striking out four. In three minor league starts this season, the big lefty has a 0.00 ERA and a K/BB ratio of 13 to 2 in 15.2 innings pitched. This will probably leave many fans demanding his return to the majors immediately but at this point, keeping him in the minors for at least nine more days means his service clock will be delayed to the point where the Rockies will retain control of him through the end of an additional season (2018).

Offensively Matt McBride had three hits and Andrew Brown had three RBI giving the Sky Sox all the runs they would need. For McBride, it’s his third multi hit game in the last four contests breaking him out of the mini slump he seemed to be going into a week ago.

AA Tulsa – L 6-3, (24-17, 1st)

The Drillers longest losing streak of the season was extended to five games Friday as Parker Frazier was unable to keep the ball on the ground against the Springfield Cardinals. Frazier allowed 5 ER, eight hits (three of which were home runs) and three walks in six bumpy innings.

The news wasn’t all bad though as #2 PuRP Nolan Arenado launched his third home run of the season, a first inning shot that gave the Drillers an early 2-0 lead they were unable to hold on to. It would turn out to be the only extra base hit Tulsa would record all night. Also of note was a first inning walk by #9 PuRP Josh Rutledge. Normally this wouldn’t be significant but it was the first time in an astounding 121 plate appearances that the shortstop drew a free pass.

Continue reading this post »

Following Jeff’s lead from yesterday, we’re going to start with the lower levels and work our way up. No matter how you slice it though, it's four straight wins on what was a great night all the way around.

Low-A Asheville – W 10-3, (21-13, 2nd, 3.0 GB)

Down on the farm last night, there was a buzz surrounding a highly anticipated start by a first round, left handed, pitching prospect in the Rockies organization named Tyler; but for the first time, his last name wasn’t Matzek. Instead, it was 2011 first round pick and #14 PuRP Tyler Anderson making his Rockies organizational debut – And he wasn’t bad. Anderson got the win as he went five innings, gave up two earned runs, scattered seven hits, only stuck out two, but also only walked one. It’s odd, but the biggest thing to take away from this start is that there really is nothing to take away from it. He wasn’t great, but he wasn’t terrible either. It’s exactly the type of outing that leaves you eager to see what he does the next time he takes the mound.

At the plate, the Tourist offense came alive and scored double digit runs for the first time since April 29th. #12 PuRP Trevor Story, Tyler Massey, Harold Riggins, Brian Humphries, and Jared Simon all scored two runs while every Tourist had at least one hit with the exception of #11 PuRP Rosell Herrera. If you had to pick an offensive star from this game, it would be Jared Simon who went 2-3 with a home run and three RBI.

High-A Modesto – W 5-1, (18-18, 3rd, 5.0 GB)

This was supposed to be #7 PuRP Kyle Parker’s night as he returned from a wrist injury to make just his third start of the season, but he went 0-4 with a strikeout and had the spotlight stolen by fellow Nuts outfielder and #15 PuRP Rafael Ortega. The speedy centerfielder had three hits on the night, including a triple to open the game. Ortega now has four multi hit games in a row and has raised his OPS on the season to .863. #19 PuRP Cory Dickerson also had big night at the plate but his season has been so magnificent that it would almost be a bigger story if he didn’t at this point. In this game, he had two hits; a double in the first and a home run in the 4th that would give Modesto the lead for good.

On the mound, Christian Bergman rebounded nicely from his tough outing last time out against Bakersfield. He line on the night: 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 5 K’s, 1 BB. With the win, the Nuts got back to .500 for the second time this week. A win tonight would push them over that mark for the first time all season.

Continue reading this post »

The Sky Sox returned home last night but it didn’t help them put the brakes on what is now a four game losing streak as Zach Putnam served up a two out, two run home run in the 9th. For a while things looked promising as #17 PuRP Christian Friedrich settled into a groove. After surrendering a single and a double to start the game, the Sky Sox starter retired 15 of the next 17 batters he faced and entered the 6th inning on his way to a seemingly easy win as his team led 6-1. That’s when the trouble began. The first four Grizzles who came to the plate would reach on two singles, a double and an Andrew Brown error. Friedrich very nearly escaped the jam with only two runs worth of damage when he struck out the next two batters but then allowed a clean single to right by light hitting catcher Jackson Williams (.183 BA) that knocked him from the game. His final line would read 5.2 IP, 5 runs (3 of them earned), 7 H, 6 K’s, and 0 BB. A very glass half empty / glass half full performance.

Offensively almost everybody had a good night as six Sky Sox starters had multi hit games. Brandon Roberts, D.J. LeMahieu, and Matt McBride each had two, #24 PuRP Jordan Pacheco and Andrew Brown had three, and Chad Tracy led the team with four. For Pacheco, those three hits now bring his average up to .433 and his OPS up to 1.106 on the season.

AA Tulsa – W 6-5, (20-8, 1st)

For the first time in a long time, #2 PuRP Nolan Arenado is in a slump. The Drillers pounded out 15 hits last night, but Arenado had just one of them. The highly touted hitting prospect now has just four hits in his last 25 at bats, a .320 OPS in his last seven games, zero extra base hits in his last eight games, and 7 K’s and 0 BB’s in his last nine games. His struggles have now gone far enough to drop his average below .300 and his OPS below .800. This shouldn’t change how we view Arenado as a prospect one iota but it does mean that he’ll have to overcome adversity in AA at least once before getting the call to the majors.

Tulsa’s offense had a weird night. They did have 15 hits including two from #9 PuRP Josh Rutledge, but not a single one of them went for extra bases.

On the mound, Dan Houston got the win going 5.2 innings and giving up just one run despite a suspicious looking 3 BB to 1 K ratio. Will Harris and Josh Sullivan did each give up two runs out of the pen to make the game interesting but the Drillers prevailed in the end.

Continue reading this post »

AAA Colorado Springs -W 6-0, (13-9, 2^nd, 1.0 GB)

The 2012 Sky Sox pitching staff has already thrown three times as many shutouts as the 2011 squad did, and we're not even done with April yet. Tyler Chatwood (4.0 IP), Edgar Gonzalez (1.0 IP), Jared Wells (2.0 IP), Zach Simmons (1.0 IP), and Mike Ekstrom (1.0 IP) mowed right through the Fresno lineup and combined for nine shutout innings as well as an impressive 9 K / 1 BB ratio.

Offensively, the production was also spread around as Brendan Harris, Matt McBride, Andrew Brown, and # 20 PuRP Tommy Field each had two hit games; with both Harris and Field going deep in the third inning off Fresno starter Brian Burres. McBride's two hits give him six multi hit games in his last nine starts and he now leads the team in batting average (.383), OBP (.407), OPS (.975), extra base hits (10), and RBI (19). This may speak as much about disappointment of the rest of the Sky Sox offense as it does to McBride's success, but it also illustrates how the final piece to the Ubaldo Jimenez trade may have more value than most fans first thought.

AA Tulsa -W 5-1, (15-6, 1^st)

Speaking of the Ubaldo Jimenez trade, #18 PuRP Joe Gardner took the mound for Tulsa last night and twirled his finest start of the season yet, at least on paper anyway. Gardner's line of 6.0 IP, 5 H, 5K's, and 1 BB looks solid but he was also the beneficiary of four lineouts in this game. Another reason not to be too bullish about this outing is that only three of the 18 outs Gardner recorded came via groundouts, something that's supposed to be his bread and butter. He still got results though; now let's see if it's repeatable.

The Driller offense meanwhile scored in two innings. First, on # 26 PuRP Ben Paulsen's solo home run in the second inning that tied the game, and later on a four run rally in the 6th that would win the game. That frame also began with the bat of Paulsen, this time a with a double, and later blossomed after RBI hits from pinch hitter Kiel Roling and #9 PuRP Josh Rutledge. (#2 PuRP Nolan Arenado had a mostly uneventful night going 1-4 with a single but that hit does give him a seven game hitting streak. )

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“Adversity doesn’t build character, it reveals it.”

The source of the quote is unknown, but as far as Ubaldo Jimenez is concerned, its creator was all too wise. Over the last year, we have watched not only Ubaldo’s overpowering fastball disappear, but also the artificial happy-go-lucky, soft spoken, humble personality that came with it - And it’s been every bit as disappointing as it’s been shocking to watch.

As recently as one year ago, Ubaldo was part of a holy trinity and at the very least, looked forever locked in Rockies royalty, regardless of where his career took him. Now, he’s viewed as a villain in the eyes of most Coloradoans while playing for another team in another league.

“How has it come to this?” I keep asking myself.

It’s hard pinpoint an exact moment where everything went so horribly wrong; and that’s probably because there was no exact moment. Instead, we have a chain of events that when pieced together, effectively destroyed the relationship between a franchise, and the greatest pitcher it’s ever known.

Continue reading this post »

Over the past week or so, I've been scouring through the attendance numbers of all 30 MLB franchises just to get a feel for how well each one is supported. Since some of the data was pretty interesting, I decided to put together a fanpost on it. We can't draw as many hard conclusions as I would like from these numbers due to the extreme number of variables involved, but I tried to highlight as many of them as possible so our observations will be pretty close to what's actually going on.

First up, here's a link to the first (and largest) spreadsheet I made regarding the subject.

• The spreadsheet covers the last 20 years worth of attendance and lists each franchise's attendance for each season. It also lists the average number of fans per game for each franchise each season.
• To add depth to these figures, I adjusted many of the boxes.
• If a franchise was in the top three in the league in attendance (top three N.L and top three A.L - total of six teams per season) I bolded the numbers.
• If a franchise was in the bottom three in the league in attendance (bottom three N.L and bottom three A.L - total of six teams per season) I underlined the numbers.
• If a franchise opened a new modern baseball only stadium that season, I highlighted the box in purple.
• If a franchise went to the World Series that season, I highlighted the box in Red.
• If a franchise went to the playoffs that season, I highlighted the box in green.
• If the franchise just had a winning season, I highlighted the box in tan.
• If none of these things happened, I left the box in white. These white boxes with large attendance numbers (particularly white boxes not followed by purple, red, or green boxes) are signs of a loyal fan base.
• Finally, I adjusted the font size of each box. If the franchise averaged 50,000 or more people a game that season, the numbers appear in size 13 font, if the franchise averaged between 40,000 and 50,000 people a game that season, the numbers appear in size 12 font, if the franchise averaged between 30,000 and 40,000 people a game that season, the numbers appear in size 11 font, and so on...

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There’s good news and there’s bad news today.

The Bad News: The Rockies have in all likelihood overpaid for Michael Cuddyer's services.

I’m not altering my stance on that; however, I am willing to turn my focus away from the ugliness of this deal for a moment as I can only stay sane for so long being a "Negative Nancy". So while this post is going to come off sounding as though I support the Cuddyer signing scores more times than I actually do, it’ll probably ruin far fewer people’s weekends than me talking about how much of a mistake it was in the Rockpile. So with that…..

The Good News: The addition of Michael Cuddyer will make the Rockies a better team in 2012, especially offensively.

Now to prove this, we unfortunately have to delve into some of last year’s repulsive numbers. So if you want to take this journey, it’s probably a good idea to have a barf bag on hand. You have been warned: Now take the plunge.

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"Why were the Rockies so bad offensively last season?"

Stop!!! Take a moment and really think about this question. Why were the Rockies so bad offensively last season? In the Spring, most thought the bats would be a strength of this team. And why not? – The Rockies had Cargo and Tulo anchoring their lineup, a distinction that makes them enviable in the eyes of most in the National League. Think about it - Is there another 3-4 combo in N.L. that you’d rather have going into 2012 than Cargo and Tulo?

Yet last season, the Rockies (with a score of 90) ranked a disappointing 11th (out of 16 teams) in the N.L. in the OPS+ category; just barely beating out a three way tie for 12th between the Astros, Giants, and Nationals at 89.

(Note: OPS + is a metric that park adjusts the OPS stat and then adjusts it above or below 100 depending on if the performance was above or below average – Higher than 100 = good, Lower than 100 = bad)

Now, along these same lines, take the two following pieces of information and then try to answer our original question of "Why were the Rockies so bad offensively last season?"

1)Cargo and Tulo combined for 1,148 plate appearances last season and averaged an OPS+ of 130

2)The Rockies as a team had 6,275 plate appearances and had an OPS+ of 90.

The answer is nothing new: There was a colossal pile of trash in the Rockies lineup last season. There simply had to be to end up 10% below average offensively when nearly 20% of our total plate appearances were taken by two guys who together averaged 30% above league average.

Now for the really fun part. We get to dive straight into this garbage dump and pick out the stinkiest, most rancid, foul smelling trash of the season. Namely those who posted an OPS+ lower than 70, also defined as more than 30% below league average. Why less than 70? That’s the point at which each of the following collection of Rockie plate appearances was more of a choke hold on our offense than an equal number of Cargo/Tulo plate appearances was a boon to our offense. (Remember, Cargo and Tulo gave us 1,148 PA’s of 30% above average offense) Here's what we find.

Notice that the 1,506 number for total PA’s of garbage far exceeds the 1,148 PA’s Cargo and Tulo managed. What’s even scarier however is that these 1,506 PA’s don’t even include the 446 Ty Wigginton had in 2011. Granted he did post an OPS+ of 87, but when you consider that it came attached with utterly horrendous defense and some of the most astonishingly inept numbers you’ll ever see with RISP, it’s fair to note that we’re not far from adding this to the towering pile of junk listed above. So while in reality the true number of trash PA’s that need to be taken out is probably closer to 1,952 (The 1,506 PA’s listed above + the 446 Wigginton had), we’ll stick with 1,506 for now so we can perform the next step in our exercise.

Listed below are the total number of PA’s and percentage of PA’s that were taken by players with an OPS+ below 70 for each team in the N.L. (Note: These percentages do not include PA’s from pitchers for any team. They have been eliminated. If they were included, the 368 PA’s from Rockies pitchers for instance would push the total to 30%)

There’s some very interesting numbers here. As expected, all the playoff teams are on the correct side of the board. The Cubs and Mets may a bit of a surprise but once you remember how atrocious their pitch was last season, it’s easier to see how things ended up the way they did. It doesn’t paint a perfect picture, but it certainly reveals some interesting nuggets – Most notably, the best explanation I’ve seen yet as to why the Arizona Diamondbacks won the division so easily last season. Despite having only one real superstar in their lineup (Justin Upton), they didn’t have the glaring holes that the other N.L. West teams did. I guess the lesson here (while it all seems painfully obvious) is minimizing the number of automatic outs in the batting order makes life much tougher on your opponents. Recent Rockies history reflects this as well…..(Below are the percentage of PA’s each of these Rockies teams had taken by players with an OPS+ below 70)…..

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2007, 2009, and 2010 all stick out as better years in this category, and probably not coincidentally, they all turned out better in the standings too. While 2007 and 2009 produced playoff berths, 2010 had other problems that included Ryan Spilborghs ranking third on the team in OPS+ at 102 – In fact, had Helton, Smith, and Iannetta had their 2011 season in 2010, there’s a very good chance that the Rockies would have won the division that season since they were able to hold their garbage PA’s in check around 10%.

So now the obvious question is how do the Rockies get their 2012 numbers in this category down to a reasonable number? – Let’s say 700 PA’s / 12%. To see if this is possible, we need to separate our trash into categories. (I’ll include Ty Wigginton’s 446 PA’s here as even though they were not part of the under 70 OPS+ group, they were clearly 446 PA’s that had to go)

Category #1 (Trash that’s been taken out)

1) Ty Wigginton (446 PA’s) – Traded to Philadelphia

2) Ryan Spilborghs (223 PA’s) – Non-tendered

3) Ian Stewart (136 PA’s) – Traded to the Cubs

4) Jose Lopez (129 PA’s) – DFA last June

5) Eliezer Alfonzo (79 PA’s) - Not gone yet but I’m very hopeful he doesn’t get any PA’s with the Rockies next season.

6) Alfredo Amezaga (38 PA’s) – DFA last May

7) Cole Garner (10 PA’s) – Non-tendered

Total = 1,061 PA’s (54% of the trash)

Category #2 (Trash that could become treasure)

1) Charlie Blackmon (102 PA’s) – I would expect improvement this season

2) Thomas Field ( 51 PA’s) – Not as sure as I am with Blackmon but I could see an acceptable performance with improvement here too (He’s just not a starter)

Total = 153 PA’s (8% of the trash)

Category #3 (Trash that still needs to be taken care of)

1) Jonathan Herrera (320 PA’s)

2) Eric Young (229 PA’s)

3) Chris Nelson (189 PA’s)

Total = 738 PA’s (38% of the trash)

This is where the problem with the 2012 offense surfaces. None of these players have career numbers that give me any hope that there’s a realistic chance to see dramatic improvement in their performance this season. All are at least 26, and all have a career OPS + below 70. As far as I’m concerned, the fewer PA’s these men have in 2012, the better things will be for the Rockies.

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So how does Michael Cuddyer fit into this puzzle? Well the last six years, Cuddyer has averaged 574 PA’s a season with an OPS+ of 115. Since he can play all over the diamond, his 574 PA’s could eat a significant chunk of the garbage PA’s we saw last season.

1) He could end up taking some of Wigginton’s PA’s. An OPS+ of 115 is significantly better than Wiggy’s 87 that came attached with a boatload of other issues.

2) The Rockies have a solid bat they can stick wherever they need in order to improve other holes in the lineup. Taking a combination of the PA’s from players that were below an OPS+ of 70 could be a large first step to curing what ailed this offense most in 2011.

3) There’s also the possibility, if not probability now, that Cuddyer allows us to shop Seth Smith and get return value somewhere else on the field. If this turns out to be the case, we’ll have to wait and see the details of the move before passing judgment but it should also improve the team. The drawback on the surface here would seem to be that Cuddyer is just taking Smith’s spot, but even that provides additional value for two reasons

A) The Rockies can have Cuddyer in the lineup regardless of what hand the opposing starter uses to throw the ball

B) Cuddyer still gives the Rockies options to fill infield holes if Charlie Blackmon and/or Tim Wheeler surprise.

Source: baseballreference.com

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Now that his time here has ended, I would be remiss

If I never told you about that catcher we had named Chris

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He came from Rhode Island, a wonderful place indeed

Even before his call up in 06, many thought he would succeed

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Adored by most for his quiet work ethic and smile

But truly loved by some for those walks he could compile

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Iannetta was mostly a backup during Colorado's golden age

You know, that one time when the Rockies reached baseball's biggest stage.

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He sharpened his skill set in preparation for 08

And thus a seed was planted for a truly epic debate

Continue reading this post »

It probably seems like an odd idea to relive the Spring of 2011 in November, but it's time once again to vote on your favorite comment of the season - And in this case, Spring's the season we're going to explore.

If you're not familiar with what we're doing, here's a link to the first Purple Row Comment Awards (Summer Edition) - Or you can just take the crash course by reviewing the rules of the Purple Row Comment Awards below.

1) To be eligable for this set of awards (The 2011 Spring Edition), the comment has to have been made during the Spring of 2011 (Between March 20, 5:21pm (MT) and June 21st, 11:16am (MT).)

2) A comment MUST have AT LEAST 6 recs to be considered.  If 3 recs gets you green, you need to have at least double green to have a chance here.  (Note: Not all comments with at least 6 recs will be listed here.  I had to make some cuts as this post is already a monster in length.)

3) Comments that are just gifs of an awesome Rockies plays without something added by the poster will not qualify.  As awesome as it is to see Super Cargo fly in from right field or Tulo turn the front end of an absolutely sick double play, we are really giving the rec to the play, not the post itself.  For a gif to be included, there has to be some other edit made to it.

4) If there are any comments that you think should be included that I have missed, link them in the comments.  If they get enough recs in here, I'll add them to the list to be voted on.

5) I'll keep the list of all 20 comments to vote on up for a week.  After that, we'll take the top five and ties and have a runoff.  The winner of that will be crowned best comment of the Spring.

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As a reminder, our summer winner was was Junction Rox's Jim Tracy press conference.....

"Well, obviously the black hole is a very special astronomical phenomenon, and we felt like it had the chance to do some very good things at third base for us. So far, I think it's worked out very well for us defensively. It's been catching everything, it seems like. But offensively, it seems like we still have some work to do there. We're gonna keep working on it, and I have no doubt it's going to turn around one of these days. You know, black hole is very special and really wants to stay in the lineup, and is putting in some great effort that way. So I'm sure it's going to come. We've just got to give it a little time."

/"Jim, could you address the Tulowitzki situation?"

"Well Tracy, that's obviously a tough one for us. We had warned Troy that he couldn't go too far to his right with black hole over at third. But Troy, as you all know, is a 100% effort kind of guy, and, you know, sometimes you just react. At this time we're not completely sure how this situation is going to, you know, play out. But I can tell you that we've been in contact with some top notch astro-physicists, and they are working on some very special stuff that they hope might be able to get Troy back to us in time for tomorrow's game. One of them even said something about getting him back to us in time for the first game in franchise history, but that was something that went a bit over my head, I'll admit."

The winners of the Spring, Winter, and Fall editions of the Purple Row comment awards will join this comment in being nominated for comment of the year.  Those four winners will then face off at the end of December as we determine which comment made on Purple Row was the best of 2011.  The nominees for the Spring are listed below - Enjoy!

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No, you are not trapped in some bizarro dream world. This place where Yuniesky Betancourt is a postseason force to be reckoned with, this place where the Detroit Lions are 5-0, and this place where I write the Friday Rockpile now is all real.  Okay, so that last part isn’t quite true, Andrew Martin is on vacation and I’m just helping out.  He’ll be back next week with your regularly scheduled Rockpile but for now, yours truly has been handed the keys to the mothership.

Oddly back in the winter of 2009 when Andrew first started writing front page stories here, I was on vacation.  Funny how life comes full circle like that sometimes.  On this particular day, I was in New Orleans perusing through one of those stereotypical gift shops when a clever sign caught my eye.  It read...

There are three types of jobs.  Good, fast, and cheap.  You may have any two you like.

A good and fast job won’t be cheap.

A good and cheap job won’t be fast.

A fast and cheap job won’t be good.

Unfortunately, this applies almost perfectly to the Rockies options when it comes to fixing 3B next season.  To quickly summarize my feelings....

Option #1: A good and fast fix that won’t be cheap.

This would involve either paying big bucks to free agent Aramis Ramirez or using prospects as currency to land a David Wright, Kevin Youkilis, or Chase Headley type.  Either way it could be a steep price tag.

Option #2: A good and cheap fix that won’t be fast.

Nolan Arenado is coming, and there’s a very good chance he will be a cheap option that solves all of our problems at 3B.  The problem is, he probably won’t get here in time to save the 2012 season.

Option #3: A fast and cheap fix that won’t be good.

The actual move the Rockies would make for this one would probably be the same as option #2, but it would basically involve running some combination of Ian Stewart, Ty Wigginton, and whatever else they can throw at the wall hoping they strike gold. I won't hold my breath on this one.

Bottom line is, there’s certainly no easy solution to this problem right now.  But hey, I’m probably not telling you anything you don’t already know.

Continue reading this post »

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Wild Card Pitching matchups….

Boston @ Baltimore (Lester [on short rest] vs. Simon)

New York @ Tampa (Betances vs. Price)

Philadelphia @ Atlanta (Blanton vs. Hudson )

St. Louis @ Houston (Carpenter vs. Myers)

Anything can happen here from both races being decided to there needing to be a double header of play in games tomorrow. Enjoy this folks - This has the potential to be one of those all time historic nights.

I've spent over two years at Purple Row now.  What started as an ugre to join the party after the SpillySlam game, quickly morphed into a stumbling upon my favorite place on the internet.  A cyber home sweet home of sorts. 

My fascination with Purple Row runs deeper than the consistently outstanding work the writers post on a daily basis - That's only the start.  What really makes this spot unique is the people who gather here.  I am constantly amazed by the level of knowledge, wit, pride, and passion poured into the posts within this little slice of the internet.  So much so in fact, that I want to preserve some of the best the Row has to offer - And with that, I'm going to try something new.

So - Welcome to the first ever "Purple Row Comment Awards"!!!  (I'm sure we'll come up with a better name later, but we'll work with that for now.)  Here's how it will work.  I'll collect the best comments of the season, (in this case summer), and then we'll vote on our favorite as a community.  So a few guidelines.....

1) To be eligable for this set of awards (The 2011 Summer edition), the comment has to have been made during the summer of 2011 (Between 11:16am (MT) and June 21st and 3:05am  (MT) on September 23rd.

2) A comment MUST have AT LEAST 6 recs to be considered.  I firure that if 3 recs gets you green, you need to have at least gone double green to have a chance here.  (Note: Not all comments with at least 6 recs will be listed here.  I had to make some cuts as this post is already a monster in length.)

3) Comments that are just gifs of an awesome Rockies play without something added by the poster will not qualify.  As awesome as it is to see Super Cargo fly in from right field or Tulo turn the front end of an absolutely sick double play, we are really giving the rec to the play, not the post itself.  For a gif to be included, there has to be some other edit made to it.

4) If there are any comments that you think should be included that I have missed, link them in the comments.  If they get enough recs in here, I'll add them to the list to be voted on.

That's all for now so with that, let's get started.

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Today I stumbled upon three statistics.  The first is common knowledge, the second is a frustrating reality, and the third is unsurprising.  By themselves, each seems to tell us something we already know; but placed together, they tell a fascinating, yet truly heartbreaking tale.  They are...

• 1) The Rockies currently sit 8.5 games behind the division leading San Francisco Giants (Doesn't that sentence make you want to stab yourself?)
• 2) The Rockies are 1-36 this season in games they trail heading into the 8th inning.
• 3) The Giants are 7-33 this season in games they trail heading into the 8th inning.

At first, it doesn't look like earth shattering news.  Sure the Rockies have only managed to make one comeback when down after seven innings all year and the Giants do it on a constant basis, but anyone who watches the games could tell you that.  Does something else jump out at you though?  It should - because if you forget the records for a moment and just look at the chances each team has had, these three stats are unbelievable.  To nail home what I really want to get at, I'll make a slight changeto the last two.

• 1) The Rockies currently sit 8.5 games behind the division leading San Francisco Giants (If you haven't already, doesn't that sentence make you want to stab yourself?)
• 2) The Rockies have trailed 37 times this season heading into the 8th inning.
• 3) The Giants have trailed 40 times this season heading into the 8th inning.

Now that I find amazing!!!  The Rockies, a team that is nearly buried in this division race, has actually outplayed the team in first place during the first seven innings of games this season.  ALL of the 8.5 game deficit they face - plus a couple of extra games - can be directly tied to what happens in the 8thinning or later.  And just to add another layer to the madness, it has nothing to do with the Rockies having trouble closing out games.  The Rockies and Giants have almost identical records when leading heading into the 8th and 9th innings.

Rockies record when leading going into the 8th: 37-5

Giants record when leading going into the 8th: 38-5

Rockies record when leading going into the 9th: 40-1

Giants record when leading going into the 9th: 37-1

So how did these teams end up 8.5 games apart? Simply put, the Giants have executed in big situations during the late innings while the Rockies have not.  (Okay really, I may have to go stab myself.....). 

Nowhere is this more evident than in the number of games each team has won when they didn't have the lead going into the 9th.  For the Rockies, 40 of their 43 wins have come when they already held the lead heading into the final frame.  This leaves only three wins for when they were tied or trailed in the closing stages, and the numbers are not pretty.  When trailing heading into the 9th, the Rockies are an abysmal 0-39; and when tied going into the 9th, they are an unimpressive 3-8.  Compare that to the Giants who have only 37 wins when leading going into the 9th (THREE FEWER THAN THE ROCKIES), but have racked up 14 WINS when either trailing or tied going into the 9th.  The difference is that simple.

UGH!!!!!

Source: baseballreference.com

I don't want to break Purple Row so I suggest we use this as our overflow since the other thread was approaching 1200 comments.

Also, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE be Okay Cargo; and Rockies, please win this game.

And I guess I have to get this to 75 words so uh I'll just ramble on a little.

Go Rockies

Go Rockies

Go Rockies

Go Rockies

Go Rockies

Go Rockies

Go Rockies

Go Rockies

Go Rockies

Go Rockies

Go Rockies

Go Rockies

Go Rockies

Go Rockies

Go Rockies

Go Rockies

Go Rockies

Go Rockies

Go Rockies

Go Rockies

Go Rockies

Go Rockies

Go Rockies

Go Rockies

Go Rockies

Go Rockies

Go Rockies

Go Rockies

For no other reason than I'm a glutton for punishment, I decided to take another look at Ian Stewart's numbers since being sent down to AAA Colorado Springs on May 13th; and of course, they continue to be profoundly frustrating. 

You can view Stewart's splits here as well as his game logs since being sent down.

Having a guy with an OPS sitting just under 1.000 in AAA and knowing he can't help the Rockies at all right now is as baffling as it is disheartening - But then again, I guess we shouldn't expect anything else from the one and only Ian Stewart now should we?  That healthy looking OPS continues to be a complete mirage as it's boosted by a bloated .624 SLG% that can thank its existence to both an inflated number of HR's off pitches Stewart simply won't see in the majors, and the friendliest hitting environment that exists this side of Mars.

At the same time, other barometers of his progress (or in this case, lack thereof) reveal downright alarming numbers.  His line drive rate, which for his major league career stands at a solid 19%, is an embarrassing 8% since being sent down to the Springs last month.  His K%, which was ugly to begin with, has swelled to just over 28% in his current stint with the Sky Sox - And perhaps worst of all, Stewart's numbers are somehow, actually getting worse.  Since June 13th, Stewart has posted just a .246 OBP, only walked 3% of the time, and STRUCK OUT AT LEAST ONCE IN EVERY GAME!!!!!  All signs of a player doing anything but making progress.  To top it all off, Sky Sox manager Stu Cole recently had some harsh words for Stewart; and in his statements, he perhaps revealed more about the organization's true feelings towards Stewart's attitude than they really want us to know.

I draw two conclusions from this mess.

• 1) Ian Stewart is not making progress toward the goals to organization set for him when they sent him down to Colorado Springs last month.
• 2) Something needs to be done about this.

I've got one idea that's probably more crazy than crazy enough to work but since it's all I have, I'll throw it out there.  My suggestion: Send Ian Stewart down to AA Tulsa.  If all goes well, it will do two things.

• 1) It will send Stewart a message about just how angry the organization is with his current performance, and possibly attitude.
• 2) It will take Stewart out of the Colorado Springs hitting environment which begs hitters to swing for the fences and is really not conducive in assisting Stewart with what he really needs to work on right now.

The more neutral hitting environment in Tulsa could outweigh the inferior pitching of AA in helping Stewart's progress.  I'll admit it's a long shot, but at this point I'd be willing to try it because so far, Stewart's trip to the Springs has been nothing but a failure in my mind.  Short of putting him on the trade market, which I don't want to do because I A) still believe in his talent and B) don't want to sell low, I think this is the only other rational option.

If you have any other ideas, please feel free to chime in below.

It's a scene that's played out far too often this season.  The Rockies have men on, the batter smokes the pitch, and it finds an opponent's glove.  Rockie fans everywhere curse the luck dragon and threaten to rip the BABIP Fairy's voice box out - (Come on, you know you've done it).  Whether the Rockies have been unlucky when it comes to BABIP this season is not debatable, the only question is just how unlucky have they been?  Let's find out.

Note:  (If you're unfamiliar with BABIP, you can read about it here.)

Second Note: All numbers in this piece reflect what they were entering Thursday's game.

Here are the Rockies BABIP splits as a team so far this season.

Okay, so what does it mean?  Without context, an overall BABIP of .283 doesn't sound so unlucky, and certainly not unfortunate enough to have a huge impact on a team's season; but that's only a small piece of the puzzle.  To find the real answers, we must dig deeper into the numbers.  So let's see how the Rockies overall BABIP ranks among other National League teams.

13th is certainly not satisfying, but it also doesn't look too bad in Washington, Atlanta, and Philadelphia right now either.  Looking at this alone, it would seem as though the Rockies BABIP woes this season have been greatly exaggerated.  Except for one thing; it fails to take into consideration the most important factor of all - Coors Field; and what it reveals, is astonishing.

Below I have taken the Rockies team BABIP for each of the last ten seasons and calculated where it ranks in the N.L.

Look at what playing half their games at Coors Field does to the Rockies BABIP!!!  This should be anything but a surprise but it does do an excellent job of putting that 2011 team BABIP of .283 and NL rank of 13th into perspective.  Once you realize that the Rockies average BABIP over the last ten years is 28 points higher than it is right now and that the Rockies have never ranked lower than 4th in this category in team history, you can start to understand just how awful their luck has been this season.

It gets even worse when you just look at the numbers at Coors Field.  Here's what they look like over the last 10 years. 

Now consider that the Rockies have a .291 BABIP at home and a 13-15 record at Coors Field entering this series against the Dodgers.  The season suddenly makes a lot more sense.  The Rockies have survived on the road (16-17 with a slightly below average BABIP) but have gotten burned at home (the place where they usually excel) by a BABIP that's 43 POINTS below what the average has been over the last ten years.  In other words, the Rockies' opponents have been benefitting from the generous BABIP Coors Field provides and they have not.

Nowhere is this truer than in Troy Tulowitzki's splits.  Heading into this series against the Dodgers, his numbers were considerably better out on the road than at the friendly confines of Coors Field.

What's about to happen here should be obvious.  Tulo's remarkably unlucky .220 BABIP at Coors Field will rebound in a huge way and his numbers will soar.  (They pretty much has to; Tulo's BABIP is 104 POINTS below his career BABIP at Coors of .324)  And the best news of all, whenever Tulo's numbers start to skyrocket, the Rockies record usually follow suit - (See September 2007, June 2009, September 2009, the 15 game stretch last September where Tulo hit 14 HR's, and April of this season for reference).

Throw in the rest of the team who has also been unlucky at Coors this season and the fact that the Rockies are entering a stretch where they play 16 of 22 games at home, and it looks like things are about to get awfully fun in the LoDo.

_____________________

Sources: www.fangraphs.com  & www.baseballreference.com

Pessimist: "Ugh!!! That was awful – and by "that" I mean the entire month of May."

Optimist: "Yeah but its June now.  Cheer up."

Pessimist: "Ha!!! You really think the Rockies are going to start playing better just because we flipped a calendar this morning? 

Optimist: 'I actually flipped mine last night before I went to bed.  I’ve been ready for this."

Pessimist: "Whatever.  This team has been pretty terrible for a long time now – like 26-42 in their last 68 games terrible."

Optimist: "It will get better.  Trust me."

/Optimist whips out his computer.

Optimist:  "Here, take a look at this chart.  It shows every month in Rockies’ history where they posted a winning percentage under .300 (as long as they played at least 22 games).  It also shows their record during the month right after it.  Look how much of an improvement we can expect this June.  I bet we’re back on the other side of .500 by Father’s Day!!!"

Pessimist: "Oh look, its 1993, 1997, 2000, and 2001; four years we didn’t make the playoffs."

Optimist: "There’s a reason for that.  Take a look at my next chart."

Pessimist: "This ought to be good"

Optimist: "Here I’ve expanded the data to include any month in Rockies’ history where they posted a winning percentage under .325.  This gives us a little bigger sample size to negotiate.  Now, if you-"

Pessimist: "Oh look! More years we didn’t make the playoffs."

/Optimist brings up the next chart.

Optimist: "I’m not done yet.  Now if you take those months and look at both the Rockies season total record to that point each season and how far the Rockies found themselves out of the division lead after playing that poor, you’ll see that the 2011 team is in by for the best shape to still capture the division crown.  The only other teams who are close are the 1997 and 2000 squads – and they were that far back at the end of July, meaning they only had half the 108 games we have now to make up this deficit.

Pessimist: "We have to watch this team for another 108 games? You’ve got to be kidding me"

Optimist: "Nope.  It’s gonna be awesome.  Ubaldo will pitch better, Tulo and Cargo will break out of their slumps, and Seth Smith will ride his unicorn over rainbows leading us to victory.

Pessimist:  "Uh Huh?"

/Pessimist rolls eyes

Optimist: "Okay, I’ll cut to the chase.  Here we have two charts.  The first shows the Rockies season total record at the end of each of these bad months along with their records in games after those months ended.  The second chart breaks the same thing down by winning percentage so you can see just how much the Rockies improved.  We can use this and average it to try and guess where the Rockies will finish this season.

Pessimist:  "Why is there a "?" at the end of the "average/change in WP" column?"

Optimist: "Well, you see, it depends how you break it down.  If you take the median number (the +152 WP from 2008), then we can expect the Rockies to improve .152 WP points on their current .463 mark; meaning they will play .615 baseball the rest of the way, go about 67-41, and end up with 92 wins."

Pessimist:  "And if you use the mean?"

Optimist: "It’s still solid, but the number drops to a +103 WP. With that we can expect the Rockies to play .566 baseball the rest of the way, go 61-47, and end up with 86 wins."

Pessimist:  "86 wins is not taking this division."

Optimist: "You never know, and also there’s another way to look at this.  Since that -76 number in 2003 is A) an outlier and B) the smallest sample size, one could argue that the fairest way to do this is eliminate the best and worst seasons (1993’s +174 and 2003’s -76) and average the mean from there.  If you do it that way, the Rockies will improve on their current .463 mark to .588 the rest of the way, go 64-44 in their last 108 games, and end the season with 89 wins"

Pessimist:  "Yeah, you can’t do baseball that way.  This team is not that good and you’re just going to have to deal with that.  I’m headed out."

Optimist: "Bye!!!!"

I'm still trying to digest the events that transpired in the middle innings of last night's game between the Giants and Rockies.  On one hand, the Rockies lit up Tim Lincecum but at the same time, it was almost as if Jim Tracy and Bruce Bochy were determined to gift wrap the game for the other team.

Here's my take on how it went down.......

Note:  (Despite what you are about to read I like both Jim Tracy and Bruce Bochy and think that overall they do a pretty good job as managers of their clubs.  I just can't quite wrap my brain around what happened last night.)

5th inning - Lincecum gives up a leadoff walk TO THE PITCHER and then a single to Dexter Fowler.

Jim Tracy: "Let's see here, Lincecum has four walks (including the one he just issued TO THE PITCHER), he's throw as many strikes as balls, and he's been skating on thin ice all night...................I KNOW!!!!!!!! I'll give him a free out by bunting!!!!!!

(Jim Tracy 1 / Bruce Bochy 0)

/Herrera bunts the runners over / Lincecum walks Cargo / Tulo plates a pair with a line drive single.

Jim Tracy: Wow!!! Lincecum's faced five hitters this inning and the only out he's gotten is the free one I gave him by bunting. You know what would be a good idea here? A double steal!!!!! That way Lincecum will have another opportunity to get an out he doesn't deserve.

/Cargo is gunned out at third on an outstanding throw by Posey and Helton flies out to end the inning.

(Jim Tracy 2 / Bruce Bochy 0)

Let's fast forward to the bottom of the 6th inning now, because this is when things REALLY get good.

Bruce Bochy: "Well I have Lincecum approaching 100 pitches, he's walked five guys tonight, and the only reason he has a decent line is because last inning he got two of the outs on a bunt and a caught stealing. Ah what the hell, I'll send him out to face Seth Smith to start the 6th even though Smith's always hit Lincecum well and I can bring in a lefty from the bullpen.  I mean, what's the worst that could happen?"

/Smith hits a bomb

(Jim Tracy 2 / Bruce Bochy 1)

Bochy: "Oh yeah that.  Oh well, I'm still leaving him in."

/Lincecum gives up a single to Jose Lopez

(Jim Tracy 2 / Bruce Bochy 2)

Bochy: "That's not a sign of trouble at all. I'm still leaving him in."

Lincecum throws a DP ball away (It's first and second with nobody out and Lincecum is over 100 pitches)

(Bruce Bochy 3 / Jim Tracy 2)

Bochy: "You think that's gonna change my mind? HA! I'm still leaving him in"

(Bruce Bochy 4 / Jim Tracy 2)

Jim Tracy: "Hey, let's bunt again!!!"

/Amezaga fails to get the bunt down twice and after giving Lincecum the two free strikes he couldn't seem to throw most of the night, he strikes out

(Bruce Bochy 4 / Jim Tracy 3)

Jim Tracy: "No reason not to bunt again."

(Jim Tracy 4 / Bruce Bochy 4)

/Fowler also fails to get the bunt down but still manages to get the hit that ties the game later in the AB because Lincecum is pitching so badly.

........So here we are, the game is tied at four and the Bochy vs. Tracy "Fail War" is tied at four. Something's gotta give.......

Bochy: "I'm still leaving him in"

/Herrera lines a base hit to centerfield that gives the Rockies the lead and Bochy the award for worst manager of the ni...........Huh?.........What the hell is this!?!?!?!?!?!? Morales and Fowler are both on third, no run scores, AND the Giants get an out??

(Jim Tracy keeps it tied with assists from 3B coach Richie Dauer, Jose Morales, and Dexter Fowler)

(Bruce Bochy 5 / Jim Tracy 5)

BRUCE BOCHY FOR THE WIN................................

Bochy: "I'm still leaving him in"

/Cargo launches a moon shot over the centerfield wall

GAME!!! SET!!! MATCH!!!!!

Beware fellow N.L. West pitching staffs!!!  When the sun rose on the great expanses of the American west this morning, it marked the beginning of a new era.  An era in which at least seven years of trepidation will descend upon your kingdoms.  Pitcher friendly ballparks won't save you.  Superstitions that may work against other teams won't save you.  Even the past experience you've had against our two titans won't save you. 

WHY???..........

Because today marks the first time that Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki will be batting back to back all season long; and while that may not seem like earth shattering news, it should send shivers down the back of every pitcher's spine in this division that doesn't wear a Colorado jersey.  Sure Cargo and Tulo were scary to face before, but having to face them back to back for 18 games a year is a task that's going to prove even more daunting.  You may think you've had to do this before, but the dirty little secret is you haven't.  You only received a small dose of the frustrating days that lie ahead last August and September; and if what happened when Cargo and Tulo were at the dish during that time at all foreshadowed what's to come in the eons ahead, it's going to be a long seven trips around the sun for you.

My recommendation: leave your feelings in the dugout when having to face Cargo and Tulo because if you bring them out onto the mound, they're probably going to get hurt.  Just ask Jon Ely.

(Hat tip to hjrrockies for creating this awesome gif)

Continue reading this post »

There's trouble in paradise; or at least in Philadelphia.

While on the surface the four time defending National League East Champion Phillies seem like a lock to win their division for a fifth straight season, there are problems brewing beneath the baseball waters which encompass their upcoming voyage.  Sure the Phils are the favorites to win the World Series according to the uh, ahem, "establishments", boast arguably the greatest rotation of all time, and look so good on paper that their own fans are willing to test fate.  However, that same starting rotation of Halladay, Lee, Oswalt, Hamels and "who the hell cares because the first four are so good'  which has us asking "Is it the greatest of ALL TIME!?!?", is turning our attention away from other very real, and in some cases very big problems that are going to surface once the games get underway.

Let's explore five of them.

Continue reading this post »

Well the first Spring Training game of 2011 is nearly upon us; but before we get there, I thought it would be a good idea to take one final look at 2010.  Over the winter months, the Purple Row Staff has been working diligently to keep diehard Rockie fans everywhere both informed and entertained.  One of the most prevalent features we've seen has been the 2010 Rockies Player Reviews and now that they are (almost) complete, it's a good time to take a look at the grades our players received.  (If you're left wondering why a player received the grade they did, click on their name in the "Organized By Player" section to see their review.)

Also, if you have not read Andrew Fisher's "Ian Stewart's player review" yet, I highly recommend it.  It's three parts, but it's well worth your time. (Part1, Part 2, Part 3)

Okay, without further ado, here are the grades for the 2010 Colorado Rockies.

Organized By Player:  (Note: Ubaldo Jimenez, Samuel Deduno, and Seth Smith are not listed here because they don't have a review yet.  Melvin Mora is not listed because his article can't be found.)

Organized By Grade:  (Note: Troy Tulowitzki is listed under both the "A" and "B" section because Rox Girl gave him an A+/B-.)

CHARLOTTE, NC - JANUARY 26: NASCAR CEO and Chairman Brian France speaks to the media during the NASCAR Sprint Media Tour hosted by Charlotte Motor Speedway, held at the NASCAR Hall of Fame on January 26, 2011 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR)

This probably isn't the best time for this piece.   As we enter the heart of Daytona 500 build up week and the excitement for "The Great American Race" continues to mount, the Chase for the Championship this Fall is probably the furthest thing from your mind.  For this reason, I'll keep it short and not bore you with a long list of byproducts that I think Nascar's new "simpler" point system is going to create.  With that said though, there is one point I want to address right now.

Last month when Nascar announced their new point system, Brian France made the following statement.

"The fans have been clear; they care about winning"

Yes we do; or I least I do.  I can't speak for the entire Nascar fan community as a whole but I'd venture to guess this is the case.  Unfortunately, the new simpler point system that Nascar recently created only makes winning less important once the Chase begins.

Notice I bolded "once the Chase begins" in that last sentence.  I can't stress this enough.  I applaud Nascar for their new 11th and 12th spot "Winner's Wild Card" Chase positions.  Those will undoubtedly make winning more important during the first 26 races and will likely create an abundance of drama during the summer months; especially once a handful of teams realize that they have to win in order to have any shot at the Chase. 

However, once the Chase itself begins, it's going to be a different story.  If you thought consistency was king before, just wait until this Fall when Nascar's new simpler point system brings the hammer down on anyone who dares gamble for a win and ends up with a DNF instead.

To illustrate this point, I created the boxes below.  In the first box, you can see the results of two drivers during a four race stretch and the number of points they would have received under the old point system if they finished in those positions.  Driver A is Mr. Consistency; he finishes 7th all four races while driver B has a "checkers or wreckers" mentality and wins three of the races but has a 40th place finish thrown in there as well.  Let's see who came out on top.

(Note: For all scenarios in this piece I give drivers bonus points for leading a lap when they win but not for finishing anywhere else.  None of the drivers here receive additional bonus points for leading the most laps.)

As you can see, Driver B is able to overcome that 40th place finish in Race 3 and still beat Driver A (Mr. Consistency) by 29 points under Nascar's old system.  Now watch what happens when these drivers finish in the same positions but earn points under Nascar's new simpler point system.

Woha!?!?!?!  Look what happens here.  A win just simply doesn't go as far in erasing a bad finish under the new system as it did under the old one, and I think that's disappointing.  However, what irks me the most is Brian France preaching the importance of winning while simultaneously revealing his new simple but consistency laden method of determining a champion.  Mr. France is either being dishonest with the fan base when he says he wants to make winning more important, or doesn't understand how his own point system functions; and both of these possibilities are unacceptable to me as a fan.  What Nascar failed to understand here, (or just plain ignored, take your pick) is that the exact features which made the old system more complicated, also helped protect winners (a little) from bad finishes over the long haul.  In short, it's weighted difference in positions in spots other than 1st and 2nd were one of it's key features.

Quick example:  Under the old system, the difference between finishing 2nd and 12th was 43 points while the difference between finishing 32nd and 42nd was only 30 points.  In other words, Nascar correctly (in my opinion anyway) realized that the difference between a 2nd place day and a 12th place day was greater than the difference in a 32nd and 42nd place day.  Sadly, this new one point for every position system treats these differences as equals as the gap between 2nd and 12th is now the same ten points as the gap between 32nd and 42nd.

I honestly don't think making winning less important in the Chase was Nascar's intention when they formulated this new points structure but as you can see from the example above, that's exactly what's going to happen.

What a shame.

In today's Rockpile, Andrew Martin linked an article by Tristan Cockcroft which made the following statement about the youngest member of the Rockies rotation.

"Chacin's talent might not be any less than Ubaldo Jimenez's, even right now."

I'm sure many saw this and had the following reaction:  "THAT'S ASININE!!!!!!!!"

/Fan goes to compare Jimenez's and Chacin's numbers as he mutters to himself...

"This guy is an idiot.  He either has no clue how awesome Ubaldo really is or he's placed Chacin on a pedestal where he simply doesn't belong.  There's not a snowball's chance in he..................."

/Finishes comparing the numbers.

"Huh?......  Really? .....  That's Just ..... Mr. Cockcroft may be right?!?!?!"

I know Ubaldo, at first I couldn't believe it either but there's a chance that Chacin might actually be as good as you.  Don't worry though, you're still the ace for now.

*********

The birthday's of Ubaldo Jimenez and Jhoulys Chacin help make their career paths remarkably easy to compare.  Ubaldo was born on January 22nd, 1984 while Chacin was born almost exactly four years later on January 7th, 1988.  Even more convenient is that they both started pitching in the Rockies' minor league system when they were just 18 years old; Ubaldo at Casper for 62 innings in 2002 and Jhoulys for the DSL Rockies for 72.2 innings in 2006.

If we're trying to compare the two, one way to do that might be to say that Chacin should be doing everything four years after Ubaldo.  In other words, spring 2011 Chacin should be right where Spring 2007 Ubaldo was.  Well if that's the case, then Chacin is well ahead of the standard Ubaldo set.

Ubaldo did pitch 7.2 innings with the Rockies late in 2006 after being a September callup but he would spend more than half of his 2007 season in the minors.  Chacin on the other hand already has 148.1 innings of major league experience going into 2011 and an almost guaranteed spot in the rotation.

What I find most astounding though is the difference in the minor league career's of these two players.  Look at the numbers in the box below.

During his five seasons in the minors, Chacin posted an ERA that was two full runs better than Ubaldo's while walking significantly fewer batters and surrendering fewer home runs.  Ubaldo did have the advantage in strikeout numbers but even that is a smaller margin than you might think.

What can we conclude from this?  Well, I think it's pretty safe to say that the 23 year old Jhoulys Chacin is a better pitcher than the 23 year old Ubaldo Jimenez was.  That doesn't mean that the 26 year old Chacin will be better, or even as good a pitcher as the 26 year old Ubaldo was last season; but it does put Chacin on quite a path to stardom.

**********

Back in November, Andrew Fisher wrote Chacin's player review and touched on his increased K/9 numbers since coming to the majors.  In the comment section of that piece, I pointed out that Chacin's 7.9 K/9 rate in the minors was better than most people gave him credit for and that could explain some of the jump we saw when he got to the majors this season.  Even I'll admit though that a 9.2 K/9 ratio in the majors is ridiculous and probably unsustainable for Chacin.

With that said though, look how well some of his numbers from last season (albeit in small sample size) compared to Ubaldo's career year.

Ubaldo's obviously better but that's not what you want to take away from this.  What's important here is that Chacin as a rookie posted an ERA, K/9, and BB/9 numbers that come close to UBALDO'S CAREER YEAR.  While it's likely that Chacin's K/9 rate will drop next season as Andrew mentioned, it's also possible that his BB/9 and HR/9 numbers could improve since those were huge strengths in the minors.  And if that happens, we've got a pitcher who will put up Ubaldo like numbers, only at a younger age.

Remember a couple of years ago when Rockie fans would see the talent in Ubaldo and say that if he ever learned to limit the BB's and HR's he would become a hitter's worst nightmare?  Well last season, we finally saw Ubaldo harness his talent and become that dominant force on the mound.  Here's the key to the whole thing though, Chacin is much closer to putting it all together than Ubaldo was at his age, and while Ubaldo probably has better pure stuff than Chacin, Jhoulys's control has been so impeccable for a young pitcher, that he has a chance to be just as effective. 

We are talking about a guy who has had success everywhere he's pitched and knows how to locate all of his pitches exceptionally well.  Despite Baseball America only ranking Chacin as their #71 prospect going into last season, he has a career 2.40 ERA in the minors and has never posted an ERA higher than 3.14 at any level down there.  They really missed the boat on this one but at least they weren't alone.

Maybe it's because he isn't flashy, maybe it's because it never quite feels like he's dominating you, or maybe it's because some people are still trying to figure out how to pronounce his first name, but for some reason, Chacin has been constantly underrated by scouts, media, and fans alike for his entire career.  All this guy's ever done is post a consistently low ERA.  Dare I say he's almost "Machine" like?

Sources: Baseballreference.com

I'd like to introduce you to two of my favorite players in all of baseball.  Actually, you already know them but for the sake of this exercise, I'm going to keep their identities a secret until after we look at some numbers.

The first player had an amazing rookie year in 2007, but saw a huge drop-off in production in a 2008 season that included two trips to the DL.  Then, after 49 awful games in 2009, he disappeared from the major leagues altogether.  His career numbers, and numbers averaged over a 162 game span (season) are listed below.

Note: The WAR scores here are fWAR (Fangraphs WAR)

The second player is remarkably similar to the first in so many ways.  In fact, he plays the same position, for the same team that the first guy did.  He also wears the same number, is the same height (although he does stand much taller in the batter's box), and has an appearance that I swear wouldn't be distinguishable from the first guy if it wasn't for his choice of hairstyle.   

That however, is where the similarities end.  Our second player has only 224 career games under his belt and has never played more than 122 games in a season; but his numbers are so mind blowingly spectacular that if he just plays the entire 2011 season with no improvements at all, he'll likely not only win an MVP award, but also become known as the best player in all of baseball.  His career numbers, and numbers averaged over a 162 game span (season) are listed below.

Do you know who these players are yet?  Scroll past the jump to find out.

Continue reading this post »

The results are in for the 2011 Purple Row Hall of Fame voting and four candidates received enough votes to break the 75% threshold needed for entry in some of baseball’s most hallowed ground. As it turns out, our community was slightly less frugal with our votes than the Baseball Writers of America as we not only elected more players, but also kept a couple extra on the ballot. Only 13 ballots were cast so these results are a little fluky but nonetheless, they, as well as the actual results of the Hall of Fame voting are below for you to compare.

Note: (Green means the player received enough votes to be elected into the Hall of Fame and red means the player did not receive enough votes to remain on the ballot next season.)

Just a few things I noticed.  (Feel free to add others in the comment section)

1) Despite Lee Smith getting 45% of the vote in the actual voting, he did not appear on a single Purple Row ballot.

2) Both Larry Walker and Tim Raines received much more support in the Purple Row voting than the actual Hall of Fame voting.  (Walker shouldn't be a huge surprise here as this is a Rockies site after all.)

3) Rafael Palmeiro didn't get much love from either the Baseball Writers Association of America or our community but did get enough votes to remain on each ballot next year.

Finally, I just want to add a thanks to all those who participated.

All of the lively debate last week about the possible 2011 Hall of Fame Class got me wondering what the Purple Row community as a whole thinks about this topic.  Thoughts ranged from Andrew Martin's "Small Hall" preference to Jeff Aberle's exceeding the mean idea.  Rox Girl also has her own thoughts about what qualifies as being a Hall of Famer and even I weighed in on the issue.


Now that we've talked at length about it, I want to know what Purple Row's 2011 Hall of Fame class would look like.  The same rules will apply as the real Hall of Fame voting; a player needs 75% of the vote to get in, and if he doesn't get at least 5% approval, we drop him from next year's ballot.

There are three different ways you can vote.

1) Fill out this document, (Vote "Yes" or "No" next to each person's name) save it to your computer, and email it to me.

2) Just email me a list of people you think should be in the Hall.  (I'll assume everyone not on your list is a "No" if you go with this option).

3) Give your ballot in the comments section of this post.  (Choose this option only if you want others to see your ballot.  I'll keep your ballot a secret if you choose one of the first two options)

Note: My email can be found by clicking on my username.

If you want to look at the career numbers of the players eligable, they can be found here. 

I'll keep the voting open until January 5th when the real 2011 Hall of Fame results are announced.  After that, I'll tally up the Purple Row ballots and we can compare the real Hall of Fame voting to ours.

Alright, start voting people!!!!!!!

Last week I was searching for a place where I could track all Type "A" and Type "B" MLB free agents as well as the compensation draft picks (if any) they provide.  While I was able to find bits and pieces of this information all over the internet, I was forced to put it all together myself.  Here's what I came up with.

First I separated all the Type "A" and Type "B" free agents this offseason into four categories.  

1) Type "A" Free Agents Offered Arbitration

2) Type "B" Free Agents Offered Arbitration

3) Type "A" Free Agents Not Offered Arbitration

4) Type "B" Free Agents Not Offered Arbitration

Type "A" and Type "B" free agents are determined and compensated as follows

A Type A free agent is ranked in the top 20 percent of players at his position. A team that signs a Type A player gives its top draft pick to the club that the player is leaving; that club also receives a supplemental pick in the sandwich round between the first and second rounds. Compensatory picks that one team gives another via this method are the highest available pick that team has, with the exception of picks in the top half of the first round.  These picks are protected from being used as compensation. If a team that picks in the top half of the first draft signs a Type A free agent, they would give up their second round pick. If a team owes two other teams draft picks via Type A free agents, the team whose departing player had a higher score gets the higher ranked pick. A team cannot lose picks it has earned via compensation.

A Class B free agent is ranked below the top 20 percent but in the top 40 percent of players at his position. A team that loses a Type B player receives a supplemental pick, but the signing team does not lose a pick.

However, only the teams who offer their Type "A" and Type "B" free agents arbitration receive draft pick compensation.  (Hence why we need four categories for this fanpost instead of two.)

Below is a chart that breaks the free agents into the four categories listed above and tracks where they are now.

Teams highlighted in dark green will receive a draft pick(s) as compensation for losing a player.

Teams highlighted in light green will receive a draft pick(s) as compensation as long as they don't sign the player.

Teams highlighted in red will lose their first round pick for signing a Type "A" player.

Teams highlighted in orange will lose their second round pick for signing a Type "A" player.

A ** next to a player's name means the player accepted arbitration

Type "A" Free Agents Offered Arbitration (14)

Type "B" Free Agents Offered Arbitration (21) 

Type "A" Free Agents Not Offered Arbitration (15)

Type "B" Free Agents Not Offered Arbitration (20)

Now let's break it down by team and see how many draft picks everyone has accumulated.

A number highlighted in green means that team will receive at least one additional first round pick.

A number highlighted in red means that team will lose its first round pick for signing a Type "A" player.

A number highlighted in orange means that team will lose its second round pick for signing a Type "A" player.

(Note: The following chart assumes that all reamaining Type "A" and Type "B" free agents who were offered arbitration will not sign with their original team.  Also; Grant Balfour, Adrian Beltre, Carl Pavano, and Rafael Soriano are all Type "A" free agents who haven't signed with a new team yet meaning that up to four more teams could still lose draft picks.)

Finally, let's take a look at the draft picks gained and lost by division.

What have I learned after putting this together?

1) The AL East is even more ridiculous than I thought as over 50% of the compensatory draft picks will be headed to that division.  (Somehow this just doesn't seem fair but since only one of these picks will be going to the Yankees, I'm not going to complain about it)

2) Despite losing a bunch of talent this offseason, the Rays should be back and stronger than ever in a few years with those TEN DRAFT PICKS!!!!!!!  (Somebody please approve a new stadium for them.  I don't want to watch any more playoffs games in that dome)

3) The Orioles are hopelessly screwed both now and going forward.

4) While not making any major free agent splashes, the NL West quietly accumulated seven draft picks and should remain strong.

5) The AL Central may have only three first round draft picks as both the White Sox and Tigers lost theirs.

6) Despite losing their first round pick for signing Carl Crawford, the Red Sox could still have two first round selections if another team with a record over .500 last season signs Adrian Beltre.