Pugs asked for it, so I'll attempt to deliver. We'll see how it goes. (In all seriousness, though, suggestions for posts/topics are always welcome and even encouraged.)
I just read a Denver Post article about roster decisions facing the Colorado Rockies. Predictably, it was the most depressing thing I've seen all year. See for yourself. Let's look at some choice nuggets:
With his bulldog nature, Josh Fogg seems a safer bet to keep on staff than the talented but erratic Byung-Hyun Kim. Fogg might not have dynamic stuff, but he has double-digit wins in four of his five big-league seasons.
Byung-Hyun Kim, huh. Byung-Hyun Kim? Kim's best known for his "performance" in the 2001 World Series, during which he surrendered game-winning home runs in back-to-back games. Not entirely his fault—most managers don't leave their closers in for 61 pitches, watch them fall apart, then put them in the next night—but it's no surprise a player associated with losing would end up on the Rockies. In fact, he's been with the club the last two seasons, going 5-12 in 2005 and 8-12 last year. That 8-12 record is almost too good, actually.
The Rockies are exploring trades for both pitchers, with Baltimore keeping its eye on Fogg and Oakland expressing interest in Kim.Awild-card possibility could be Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Mark Hendrickson.
I'm probably the only person who remembers Hendrickson's brief stint as a washout with the 76ers. (Apparently not.) He was awful, and this was back when the Sixers sucked. Okay, the Sixers suck now, but you know what I mean. This was back when they had Iverson and Jerry Stackhouse on the same team. Anyway, I'm not sure I get the appeal of Hendrickson. I also don't know why the Denver Post thinks "Kim.Awild-card" is one word. Moving on to shortstop...
Clint Barmes and rookie Troy Tulowitzki were supposed to stage a battle royal for the starting job, but Tulowitzki won easily as Barmes struggled at the plate.
Wow, that guy fell off in a hurry. No, not the writer or web-poster who said "Kim.Awild-card" and followed it up with the dreaded "battle royal." Good guess, though. I'm talking about Clint Barmes, whose career derailed after his rookie-year injury, which I think he got carrying meat upstairs. For the record, Barmes—who some might say plays in a hitter-friendly park—hit .220/.264/.335 last year in 131 games. (That's batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage.) That might be okay if you're Neifi Perez in the field, but the Rockies expect some offense from Barmes. And Perez was better than that in Denver, anyway.
At age 42, Steve Finley is certain he still has the skills to be an everyday player, but the starting job belongs to speedster Willy Taveras.
Steve Finley? Who's our catcher, Josh Gibson? No...
Rookie Chris Iannetta developed faster than anyone expected, and he has moved past Yorvit Torrealba for the starting job. But Iannetta s inexperience means Torrealba will catch two or three games a week.
That's a great solution for inexperience: don't let the guy play. This is ridiculous. I'm just going to go ball up and cry for a while.
Comments
it's really fun to read the rockies scouting report, because you (as you now know) have to really stretch to find a new story in the same old themes:
which oldie but goodie will the rockies lazarus this year?
which rookie/newcomer can we over-hype because a. you haven't heard about him or b. we've never seen him play, and ergo, generate excitement.
out in la i've been tempted to become a dodgers booster, but i can't do it.
there's something undeniably charming about what a bunch of losers the rockies are.
and when the hell are we going to get rid of clint hurdle? why are we still sold on the guy?
why are we still sold on the guy who has the widest head i've ever seen and wears a soul patch even though he's in his 50's. not too mention, he's got the same perma-sunburn that mike shanahan has and it really creeps me out.
every time i see him on tv i wonder if i need to get the color adjusted.
i liked this little ditty from the wiki entry on hendrickson:
The 76ers let him go after the season and Hendrickson began a nomadic existence...
it then should've read:...existence, hitchhiking from town to town doing odd jobs such as selling women's hosiery and cleaning bowling alley bathrooms for spare change.
Love your comments on the rookies. The Rockies always seem to stumble across some exciting young prospect no one has ever said a thing about. Since we don't know what his specific flaws are yet, he must be good! Of course, once I started seeing how baseball was covered on a national level-like on ESPN.com, etc.-I realized that no, no one really was talking about our exciting youngsters.
And that's not even to mention young pitchers, who are a whole different story. A highlight of my early experiences watching the Rockies was a Denver Post story comparing young hurlers Jamey Wright, John Thomson, and Bobby "Not that Bobby Jones" Jones to Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz. I kid you not. Basically they'd all had losing records when they started out was the gist of it. Of course, the Braves had started their careers on horrible teams, and the Rockies all had ERAs over 20, but those were just minor details.
Another 8 or 9 decades of this kind of organizational ineptitude, and we'll be ready to be the Cubs.
bichette happens.
seriously though, those blake street bomber days were freaking awesome. hell, we'll cheer any assemblage of talent so long as there's 4 home runs involved.
i have to admit, that 14th inning home run he hit at the coors field opener stil gives me chills
the rockies may have been wanting to do that when we got burnitz, but he was obviously not happy here.