Decisions Looming for Rockies
Who says they can’t fire the team instead of the manager?
Or at least shake the team up to see if it works?
The Rockies struggles to open the season have created concern, and manager Clint Hurdle is a target.
While Hurdle could eventually be sacrificed, there are at least indications that the status quo must go.
First came a subtle change, bringing up lefty reliever Randy Flores in place of the popular Glendon Rusch, whose inability to get outs led to a decision to take a peek at Flores in light of a flurry of potential pitching staff moves that loom.
Then came a wakeup call. Leading off the ninth inning of what became a 3-1 victory at Pittsburgh on Friday night, Hurdle pinch-hit Ian Stewart for struggling Garrett Atkins in a move that sparked a three-run, game-winning rally.
Then, on Saturday, Stewart started at third in place of Atkins.
Hurdle’s loyalty gave way to the reality that Atkins, a consistent part of the Rockies offense the last four years but buried in a season-long slump this year. He woke up Sunday morning hitting .193. He had only two hits in his last 33 at-bats. His slugging percentage (.311) lacked oomph.
Thursday’s game against Houston at Coors Field was a low point. His inability to make the routine plays at third base led to a three-run first inning in a 5-3 loss, and even when he did have an RBI-single he was thrown out trying to advance to second on a throw to the plate, looking over his shoulder instead of running hard, on his way from first to second.
Stewart is only hitting .202, but he has been a dangerous hitter when he has played, and has had to deal with playing out of position – in the outfield and at second base – because of Atkins’ presence at third. And Stewart has the ability to dazzle on defense at third, which was apparent when he played the position regularly the final half of last season.
And Stewart is the future for the Rockies.
Sitting Atkins is not an easy move for Hurdle:
–He has a respect for veterans with a track record and Atkins does have that four-year track record that had earned him the cleanup spot in the batting order a year ago.
–There is a $7.05 salary attached to Atkins. It’s third biggest salary the Rockies are actually paying this year, behind Helton ($16.6 million) and Aaron Cook ($8.75 million). Jason Marquis is listed at $9.875 million, but his actual cost to the Rockies is $5 million thanks to the Cubs taking Luis Vizciano and his $4 million salary in exchange for Marquis and also chipping in $875,000 to offset the remainder of Marquis’ salary.
–And the Rockies, unable to create off-season interest in Atkins, are hoping that they can find a market for him before July 31, which becomes more difficult with every day that Atkins struggles offensively.
There are some interesting decisions looming for the Rockies with their pitching staff.
Within the next two weeks, Greg Smith and Ryan Speier will be ready to join an active roster. Both joined High-A Modesto on a rehab assignment last week. Smith started on Thursday, allowing two runs in six walk-free innings. Speier appeared in relief for the third time in four days on Saturday.
It won’t be as quick for decisions to be made with lefty Franklin Morales and reliever Taylor Buchholz, but both have given reason for optimism about their rehab from injuries with recent workouts, and they could both be ready to be activated next month.
The rockies lack excitement and i completely agree that they need to be shaken up. But while you are sitting Atkins you should probably sit Barmes who doesn’t walk 3 walks in 94 at bats and is hitting .236 with a .265 O.B.P. I think they should bring up E.Y Jr. who in AAA is hitting .288 with a .355 O.B.P and 20 stolen bases. Gradually give EY starts and let Barmes back up EY just for insurance. Barmes has had some good years but i feel that he is best suited as a utility man. This would also bring a little fan support seeing the son of a rockies great from the past. While i am talking about bringing back Rockies greats i feel Baylor should be managing games. Hurdle has had one winning season… ever. Since he took over in 2002 he is 530 wins to 618 losses this is a .462 winning percentage. The rockies going on world series was one of the best times of my life. But the honeymoon is over and all i see is hurdles team continuing to struggle and not meeting there potential. I know that Hurdle can not actually make the rockies hit with R.I.S.P, play errorless clean fundamental baseball, and not blow late inning leads, but this is what the Rockies have been doing since that magical run. This can be a very exciting and dangerous team but something must change. The change can come from sitting struggling players, to giving young talent consistent playing and a chance to blossom, to changing managers. Something must be done to save this struggling team from wasting another season.
I agree that Rocktober was definitely one of the best times of my life seeing the Rockies do what they did back in October. I wish they could do it again and this season is still young and I will never give up hope on them. Let’s be realistic:
- Atkins will get hot. Eventually. He has to..right??
- Hawpe is going to be an All-Star. Absolutely crushing the ball.
- Helton looks healthy and is raking. I feel confident saying it will continue.
- Dexter Fowler should NOT be the Rockies everyday center fielder. Now that opposing pitchers have film on this guy, he is struggling in May. I still like Spilly albeit he isn’t as good defensively as Dex.
- Barmes is GREAT defensively at second. Once he starts hitting consistently this team will be very very strong offensively.
- Jimenez is electric. Our ace and will win in the neighborhood of 15 games.
- Cook should get his sinker straightened out and be more consistent.
- Bullpen is coming around. Corpas is throwing much better and Street looks good as well. Manny should be our setup man. If we do get Buchholz back we should have a solid ‘pen.
Bottomline is that the Rockies need to get more consistent. They can still turn this thing around!!
Atkins generally starts slow. He has started slow the last couple of years, and always heated up in June and July. Fowler is inexperienced and will go through some growing pains this year. Calling up E.Y. Junior at this point would be a big mistake, rushing a young player before he is ready. He hasn’t played in a whole lot of spring training games with the big club as I recall.
Isn’t that what the Rockies did with Dex?? Okay he had a DECENT april, but yes he is going through a rough patch now. I say send him down. Disagree with me if you want. Needs to get comfortable with his swing.
Dex forced his way onto the roster with a supurb spring.
this seventh inning has been a complete mess. It has happened a lot this year, a couple things go wrong, someone makes an error or a mental laps and it just spins out of control. Its pretty much the same group of guys who were so adept at handling adversity a couple years ago… its a puzzler.
This objective fan albeit a homer says, “You can’t fire the whole team.” and a lot of time has already been wasted waiting to do it.
Porter Lansing with the mystical advice.
Dumping Rusch was stupid. “Inability to get outs.” Yeah, right. Check out his FIP numbers this year. Same old Rusch, serviceable 6th man in a bullpen, but some real bad batted ball luck so far this year. Someone will pick him up and he’ll have an o.k. run.
Fowler should swap places for now with Carlos Gonzalez. CarGo is hot with the Sky Sox, and you can easily plug him into CF. Both these guys are the future, and they both need to play everyday. No problem swapping them for each other for the time being. I just want to make sure they both start everyday for this club (which will likely be approx. 20 games out by then) in August and September.
Sorry, Dan O’Dowd, the USS Atkins Trade Ship sailed away in December. The Rox held out for more than he was worth. We could’ve had a decent prospect for him. But given that he was offered arbitration, and given that arbitration salaries didn’t reflect the overall decline in free market salaries this winter, he’s now a slightly overpaid, weak defensive third baseman, off to a horrendous start. He has zero trade value. So you’ve gotta play him, hope he rebounds a bit, and hope to deal him for the proverbial PTBNL in July. That way at least the Monforts will be able to save a couple million salary bucks. Last time they did that (Larry Walker) it allowed them to sign Fowler. So that’s the best plan right now.
Torrealba probably has a little bit of value now, so wait till some contender’s catcher goes down and hope to get a C grade prospect for him.
Hawpe and Street probably have the best trade value of the non-untouchables (I’m putting Tulo/Iannetta/Ubaldo/Fowler/Stewart on the untouchable list, Cook on the “it would have to take a really good deal to pry him loose” list, Corpas on the “you can’t move a guy with a long-term deal who’s pitching this poorly” list, Helton on the “salary makes him unmoveable” list, and Spilly/Barmes/Marquis/Grilli/Smith/Embree on the “you could swing a really small-time deal for them if you want to” list), and I’d explore all options with them. Yes, it’s “wait till next year” time in Rockiesland. Dan O., how about selling high (on Hawpe) for a change? Yes, I’d hate to see him go, but his arbitration salary will push 10 million (more if he keeps it up this year) in the offseason; ask yourself, is that really do-able given the upcoming attendance figures? Committing a combined $27 million to just Helton and Hawpe? I think you’ve gotta try to get younger and cheaper fast, to build some more flexibility going forward. Look, we’ve seen what this blend of players can do, and it ain’t pretty. Time to move on. O’Dowd, if he doesn’t (and yes, a new field manager is probably part of the mix, too) will see his own job disappear after this season.
After Sunday’s game, this team is on pace to lose 99 games this season, so I hope decisions are looming.
Agbayani,
A financial point to be made about Hawpe. There’s no worry about what heights his salary will rise to via arbitration. That’s a moot point because of his multi-year contract. The three-year deal he got in March 2008 includes salaries of $5.5M this year and $7.5M in 2010. In 2011, which is the first year Hawpe is eligible for free agency, the Rockies hold a club option for $10M with a $500K buyout.
I point this out not in any way to find fault with your logic and your trade-category characterizations. But the Rockies have cost-certainty with Hawpe, so a decision to trade him can revolve around what he’ll bring, the void he’ll leave, the progress of Carlos Gonzalez, who is playing CF but profiles as a RF because of his plus arm _ in other words mainly baseball decisions.
Of course the money to be freed up by trading Hawpe would enter into the front office’s thinking, but the Rockies have him for two more years after this season. He’s certainly enhancing his value this year and has proven to be a very dependable hitter, a power hitter with mental toughness who enjoys being in clutch situations and a veteran with great work habits who is an ideal teammate and sets an example for younger players.
Tracy,
In all honesty, why haven’t the Rockies pulled the plug on Clint yet? It is not all his fault that things have gone so badly thus far, but a change may wake everyone up. It would be considered a sacrifice, sure, but the Rockies will be playing to an empty ballpark this summer if something isn’t done soon. He can’t hit, pitch, or field for the players, but manager’s decisions can have the most impact in close games. Look at their record in 1 and 2 run games.
The Monforts continue to drive the team into the ground. The World Series run was great, but how can a team be so bad so consistently? Leadership must be held accountable.
Jack, thanks for reminding me about Hawpe’s contract extension. That makes him more affordable. Of course, it also makes him a more attractive acquisition for other clubs, raising his trade value.
And the rockies pitching woes continue, this time with batting woes too…… at least Matt Holiday isn’t batting .375 with 12 homers with the A’s. He’s probably regretting not taking the 100 million dollar plus contract from the rockies now. I think he’s got 5 homers and a measely .230 BA. That should win ya a big one matt and scott.
Will somebody please fire Bob Apodaca? It’s obvious to me that he’s not getting the job done.
I said it before the season began, and I say it now: Rockies will not win 65 games this year. And as a fan since conception, that hurts to say.