SB Nation User Blog: jrockies

Helton leaves with Migraines

jrockies — Tue, 26 May 2009 05:32:06 -0000

Helton leaves with Migraines

Not much to say here except that the official site says he left today with migraines.

Upcoming 2009 Milestones

jrockies — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:17:59 -0000

With the season fast approaching and the Rockies one year older the individual players are beginning to reach some "milestones". Most of the players are young and still have plenty of time reach higher numbers and show that they did something for the Rockies and baseball if they ever move on. Here are some of the "milestones" the players are reaching and where they are now:

Player	Milestone	Current
Huston Street	100 saves	94 saves
Manny Corpas	50 saves	23 saves
Aaron Cook*	59 wins	52 wins
Chris Iannetta	50 home runs	24 home runs
Garrett Atkins	100 home runs	89 home runs
Garrett Atkins	500 RBI	431 RBI
Troy Tulowitzki	50 home runs	33 home runs
Troy Tulowitzki	200 RBI	151 RBI
Brad Hawpe	100 home runs	88 home runs
Brad Hawpe	400 RBI	341 RBI
Todd Helton	2000 hits	1957 hits
Todd Helton	500 doubles	471 doubles
Todd Helton	1200 RBI	1116 RBI

I think all of these can be reached this year but then the question becomes, WHEN? The MLB website has a milestone tracker but the only Rockies player it has listed is Todd Helton, with projected dates of: May 22, for 2000 hits; August 23, for 500 doubles; and he won't get his 1200 RBI this year. When do you think these will occur? Are the projections for Mr. Helton accurate or will he play like he has all spring and beat these projections a lot faster?

Pics From Tucson

jrockies — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 02:29:54 -0000

Pics From Tucson

These are the pictures my dad and I have taken from Tucson. They don't have captions but feel free to imagine things as you go along.
JFK

Live From Tucson 2

jrockies — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 01:24:38 -0000

WARNING: A wall of text follows.

I don't know where to start as today was a long day for me. I showed up at the ballpark at 8:15 this morning and there was some activity going already. There were some minor league position players hitting in the batting cage and some catchers working on getting out of their stance to throw to second. This was surprising to me because the players usually come out around 9:00, which they did.

The minor league pitchers began doing PFP (pitcher fielding practice) drills. These included comebackers and bunt fielding with throws to second. Some other groups worked on pickoff moves, 3rd to 1rst. They practiced bunting and threw bullpens. The catchers were working on fielding high popups, and more throws to second.

There was a set of major league players who came out. All of the pitchers came out and participated in the same drills listed above for the minor league players. The major league position players that made appearances were: Fasano, EY2, Hector Gomez, Podsednik, CarGon, Christian Colonel, Baker, Paul Phillips, Bellorin and Mike McKenry.

The drills the position players went through were the same drills as those from yesterday: bunting, hit and run, moving the runners over among others. They also worked on base running and getting a good jump on balls in the dirt, double steals, and moving two bases at a time. These events were judged by Rick Matthews. By the last event, ground balls to the right side, only EY2 had been completely eliminated.

They then proceded to have a small homerun competition, when Hawpe showed up to take flyballs a little bit later. He said that EY2 "should get counted for a homerun if he hits it past the centerfielder." Paul Phillips, a new guy to the Hi Corbett complex, was having some difficulty finding Field 5 where everyone was working out. He walked across one field and yelled at Bellorin asking for directions to the field. He spent another 5 minutes walking around to try and get to the field before he finally arrived.

Hawpe, Baker, and Gomez did not hit in the drills due to injury, I would assume. They did, however, start fielding balls. Hawpe took both grounders and flyballs in the outfield and was throwing the ball to the cutoff man. Baker and Gomez took about 50 groundballs a piece at second. This was encouraging because Baker looked like he was a lot more mobile even if he wasn't going all out and he could be ready for more intense things beginning Thursday (from my perspective).

Game Observations:

Before: The team actually took infield and outfield before the game, much as a highschool, college, or little league team would.

1st: JDLR had no control with any of his pitches. This led to the Athletics teeing off on the fastballs he could locate. A big thank you to MATT DALEY for coming in and not letting a run score. Ryan Spilborghs was picked off because he anticipated the pitcher going to the plate but the pitcher held the ball a little bit longer than expected.

Skipping a few well pitched innings by Daley.

4th: Every ball that was hit in this inning was hit hard. The double by Torrealba was slightly misplayed by Holliday and the triple by Spilborghs hit the 360ft sign in right. I hope Ryan Speier doesn't bat during the season because he looked funny batting.

5th: Tulo had a sacrifice bunt attempt but Koshansky was thrown out at third because he slowed down approaching the bag and he did not slide.

6th: Fowler showed me his speed on a ground ball to center when he went first to third with ease. It really is incredible how fast he is.

7th: Morillo was very dominant in this inning. He located his fastball well, and he just blew it by the hitters.

8th: Hynick supposedly hit Wimberly on the foot, but Wimberly did not think so and he wanted to continue his at-bat. The homerun for Fasano had to travel at least 480 feet to left as it towered over the lights surrounding the stadium.

This was a great trip, as it always is for me. I love baseball and learning what the coaches have to say to the players. I always enjoy talking with the players because they take encouragement well and are always quite humble. I have spent the last year trying to get a NL Championship Shirt signed by all of the members of the team. This weekend I got, Jason Hirsh, Bob Apadaca, Todd Helton, Jeff Baker, Juan Morillo, and even Matt Holliday to sign it. There are only two current Rox left to sign, Fogg and Corpas, and quite a few former Rox including Matsui, Affeldt, Carroll and Hawkins.

Thanks for reading this wall of text. I cannot wait to read the updates from my fellow Rowbots that are coming in to town this weekend. For now, I'm out.

JFK

Live From Tucson

jrockies — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 01:19:08 -0000

As everyone knows it is the beginning of the third week for Colorado Rockies Spring Training. I am happy to say that I have been watching with enthusiasm and a critical eye for the last two days.

Yesterday was pretty simple. The major league club did not come out to the backfields because they had a game. Instead it was the second day for full workouts for the minor league pitchers and catchers. The pitchers completed drills involving pickoffs and bunting. The coaches were trying to get the players to control their pickoffs and stay balanced in the process. Trinidad Hubbard, was in charge of the bunting drills. Some of the pitchers could not bunt very well at all.

The game was well documented. Helton hit a homerun and Reynolds pitched really well. Morillo gave up a run in his one inning but it was earned by the Padres. Two singles on good pitches down in the zone, the second moving the runner on first to third. The double was on a mistake pitch but the ball still just squeaked between the outfielders. Overall the game was a lot of fun.

Today there was an intrasquad game but it was closed to the public. Instead I stayed on the back fields and watched the practices. Many of the regulars came out for batting practice and situational drills. The drills were: sacrifice bunting and slug bunting, hit and run, hitting with the infield in, and groundballs to the right side.

Participating in the drills were: Sal Fasano, Garrett Atkins, Clint Barmes, Troy Tulowitzki, Scott Podsednik, Wilin Rosario, Seth Smith, Matt Murton, Ryan Spillborghs and Yorvit Torrealba.

Everyone had trouble bunting the ball to third, and they frequently bunted them foul. The purpose of simulating the infield in was to get the players to hit the ball over the infield deep to the outfield or on a line. The players did fairly well with this but at least four of them had weak ground balls to third base. During the ground balls to second drill a lot of balls were lifted in the air for fly outs to the right fielder. Sal Fasano would do the best at moving the runner to third from what I saw. The slug bunts were funny to watch, especially since I hope none of the players ever use it in a game.

These drills were being judged by Rich Dauer on a point scale, if the player received a specified amount of points he could leave. If the player did not get the points he had to stay and run sprints with the rest of the team. Those that had to run were, Barmes, Tulo, Rosario, Smith, Murton, Spilly, Torrealba. Hawpe also showed up at the end to run with everyone while they gave Garrett a hard time for not wanting to stay and run.

Batting practice took place before the drills and you can add Todd Helton to the above named players for those who took batting practice. He did not work on the drills, I assume, because he played in the intrasquad game. Each of the players had simple strokes to the ball and were spraying line drives all across the field. Helton, along with the others, started simple and then turned up the pace by launching balls over the 25 foot high fence in the outfield. This was a lot of fun to watch because they were the big boppers and line drives are always promising, even if it is batting practice.

Thanks for reading this and I hope it has been somewhat informative as to the happenings in Spring Training from a Rowbot point of view.

JFK

Spring Training

jrockies — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 02:09:07 -0000

With Spring training off to such a horrible start I started to wonder, are there any Rowbots headed down there in the next week. It would be fun to catch up with someone and go watch games. I am planning on getting down there and being on the backfields starting this coming Sunday. I will have to leave on Wednesday but it would be fun to talk baseball with other people.

If you are still interested there are still three slots open in the Rowbot Fantasy Baseball League.

League ID #: 60759

Password: rockies

Type Roto

Live Draft March 12 at 7:00 MDT

Ringolsby says Ramirez is NOT the key in his Final Article

jrockies — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 01:53:13 -0000

Ringolsby says Ramirez is NOT the key in his Final Article

He's moving on but he's not leaving Colorado or the Rockies (both kinds).

Manny Declines Dodger Offer

jrockies — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 20:31:32 -0000

Manny Declines Dodger Offer

I think this is good for us, as Manny seems to be stalling for some reason. Can't he tell he's getting the best offer.

Ubaldo To Start WBC

jrockies — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 00:42:48 -0000

Ubaldo To Start WBC

There will be 5 Rockies on the WBC Rosters.

Signing Former Rockies

jrockies — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 06:15:41 -0000

Signing Former Rockies

The Rockies are bringing back another former Player by the name or Randy Flores. He did not pitch well with the Rockies in his brief stints but did fairly well for the Cardinals. Now he's coming back to the Rockies after surgery.