Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 281 | Colorado Rockies | Profile & Projection

Episode Date: February 22, 2021

You guys ranked the Colorado Rockies MLB's #26 team. Jomboy, Jake, & Plouffe preview their season (and get mean)! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's another team profile and projection, and this time it is the Colorado Rockies who have landed officially as the 25th ranked team, according to the talking baseball. Faithful. I think they might be being nice, only because I have such disdain for this club right now and what they have done to their fan base.

I'm excited to talk about them a little bit, because I feel like it's a little bit gloves off here. We're not protecting anyone's feelings. I have Jake with me. I have Trevor with me. I have BBD with me. We got some notes from researcher Max, and we're ready to talk rocks.

But first, Jake, cash everyone up on who this squad lost and who they added. It should be a wild ride. Well, I think the one name everyone's familiar with, Nolan Aeronado, arguably the first best third baseman in the game on a Hall of Fame career path, goes on to continue that career in St. Louis. David Dahl, who is supposed to be kind of part of the cornerstone, next step of this franchise. He is gone.

They non-tender him. Daniel Murphy retired. Matt Kemp, Pilarv, some veteran guys. Drew B.U. We're doing it for them. They're all out of town. In comes Austin Gomer. He was the quote-unquote big piece they got for Nolan Aronado.

Sorry, Austin, not to be rude to you. And then, I mean, you know, there's the other names from that trade aren't guys you're going to know. So I'm just going past him. The Rockies haven't brought on a free agent, an MLB free agent since 2018, I believe. Yeah. So, Trev, with that, with that, tell us about this lineup, Big Daddy. Well, line up's going to change a little bit with some of those departures that we talked about. The catcher position, we got Elias, could be Elias.

I'm going to say Elias Diaz. First base, Josh Fuentes, who is Nolan Aeronado? cousin? Yeah. I'm not mistaken. So at least they kept some part of Nolan, Aronado. Yeah.

Yeah, that's good for you guys. Unless they're married. Second base, we got Brendan Rogers. At shortstop, we got a name that we know and love. Trevor Story,

is it going to be there all year? I don't know. They say they're trying to lock him out long term doesn't really fit with what they're trying to do with the team, in my opinion. But he's still there, so that's still fun.

A third base, taking over for Nolan. We got Ryan McMahon. Those are some pretty big shoes to fill. Don't try to fill them, Ryan. Just be yourself. And left field. They still got Ian Desmond out there.

I love him. Former shortstop. I used to play against him in Syracuse and he was with the Nationals. And then in center, we got Tapia and in right field, another familiar name. I stud a guy that,

man, he should get out of there too, Charlie Blackman. Jim, rotation? On the bump, Hermann Marquez. He's got some flash to him. We love him. He's good.

We love him. He's good. Kyle Freeland, Antonio Sanzatella, John Gray, Austin Gomer, part of the trade. there, Ryan Castiani, Peter Lampert,

then in the pen, you got Michael Givens, trade him, Daniel Bard, Yenzi Almonto, Robert Steventon, some of the names to highlight. Yeah, the squad's just different. I mean, this team in 2018 came in second place. They're built different, not in the,

not in the snort emoji way. No, in a sad way. In 2018, they came in second place. And you know who played? majority of their games. I mean, Desmond, story. Those guys are still there. Blackman. Nolan Aronado's not there. DJ LeMayo they let walk. Gerardo Parra played a lot of games. Carlos Gonzalez played a lot of games that year. Yeah. Gone. I mean, they trade Aronado.

Was it the owner that came out and said, like, yeah, not bringing DJ back was a mistake. We regret that. I don't even believe him, to be honest. I think he smiles Like yeah we knew that We knew we were fucking up there And he's like laughs about it I mean it's just so tough They signed Daniel Murphy to the exact same contract

And Murf dog didn't have it And DJ goes on to be a driller for the Yanks And yeah man How quickly things turn You know back to back playoff appearances They're half midway through the season They're still They're in the wildcar position

And then things fall apart And look where we are at now Let's get to some of the exciting things, some of the exciting names, because that's what we like here. Ramil Tapia is a fun player. I think this is going to be the first time he gets full run. Let's see what he can actually do on a baseball field for a full season. A lot of tools, fun to watch. Trevor's story is going to be the story.

Are they going to be able to lock him up if he's in fear of becoming another piece of that free agent class? We just saw what happened with a guy like Marcus Simeon had had that bad. bad year, ends up getting the one-year deal. Trevor's story is actually, I mean, go look at the stats. If you don't believe in the core stuff, I'm sorry, he's awesome. Blackman winding down. The defensive stats are bad. He needs kind of a DH spot, and I think he could rake and get close to being a 40-year-old

guy that can do it. And then it's a lot of young bodies. Brandon Rogers was a huge prospect. He's had some weird injury stuff. He's going to get full run now. Let's see if he pans out. And honestly, this starting pitching staff, I think measures up decently with the teams in this area of the rankings.

This staff was in Texas and not in Colorado, I think you'd be like, okay, hell yeah, they can do some stuff. There's a high end here. Marquez can shove Freeland, Moxie, let's see if he can lock in again, but Sanz Atel and Gray, like those guys have some numbers there. I just don't know. It's the full recipe, especially compared to this NL. West. You know, you put this team in the in the NL Central

And they didn't trade Nolan Aronado And I think we have some fun conversations about them But they are not Yeah, Senzatella had a good year last year So did I mean Marquez is good Yeah Because is good

Very interesting I mean do they Do they trying to win? They should trade story Why would Story get locked up Kind of a different Kind of a different conversation so I'll tell you table it. Trev, when you think Colorado Rockies, what do you think? I think they're an organization that just had all the air let out of their tires.

You got some superstars there. You supplement those superstars. And yeah, you're in a really tough division with what the Dodgers and the Padres have done. But at least you're going out there and you're thinking, hey, we got these guys. We can give it a run. You start trading away those guys, the way that it kind of happened to with how it was like a front office first of players thing that's not good man that's a bad culture we've been talking about the culture here for years and now all of a sudden it really came to a head with the aeronado thing so i think this is going to be look it could go one or two ways all the air gone and it's just going to be puttering through the season which i think is probably the

more likely scenario or look you give some other kids a chance and they kind of rally behind that And they say, let's all, in this locker room, let's all do this together and go prove some people wrong. They're going to say that in spring training. They're going to say, why not us? But, you know, if you're just really objectively looking at it, it's going to be a really, it's going to be a tough year for them, man. I'm curious, I mean, the biggest thing we're going to see is what, what do they do with Trevor Story this year? Because they talked about, hey, we want to extend this guy, but why would they do that? They got trade a lot of people.

And would Trevor Story want that? Trade a lot of people. What's their ceiling? Third place? in the division, but not a wild card? Stebax, Giants. No, I think stealing's fourth place. I don't think they get above the Giants.

The Giants are at least still trying to be competitive, man. I think they could, but it... They could. I mean, you're talking about. The gap between second and third is probably big if that happens in the Giants. Yeah. So, I mean, if that's their ceiling, and I don't think they're going to be in wildcard contention,

like, you got to make some trades. Stories in their walk year. Ian Desmond, you can trade him. Blackman, he's in his last year, John Gray last year, Michael Givens, Freeland's got like one year of Arb left, or no, maybe he's got two. If that's what you're all about, you're going to trade Aronado, trade everyone and like do a proper hair down rebounds. One of the worst farm systems in baseball too.

Like they need to do all this stuff. They need to restock it. The Trevor story thing is tough for me because I get it as. a franchise cornerstone piece. And again, like, go look up the core's effect. What Trevor Story is doing at the shortstop position is special. Like, that's not overselling it. You can slice the numbers up a lot of different ways.

If they do give him the big contract and say, stay here, I'll understand it for Trevor accepting the money, and I'll understand it for the Rockies, because you know what, a shortstop like that doesn't come around a lot, and eventually they can slide over to third base in theory. But it's going to take a while, man. And it's really sad because this team was actually set up pretty well. And now where we're at is doing this debate if they should trade Trevor Story,

which right now there's not a lot of great landing spots for them. And basically what they'd be waiting for is almost an injury this season where you're hoping to get another decent prospector too for Trevor Story. the whole thing is like makes me uncomfortable. Stinks. Do you know Trevor's story's nickname is Joe? Joe. Do you think players actually call him that?

He said he showed up to spring training in 16 and was trying to make a name for himself and they just started calling him Joe and it stuck. I mean, there's no story there. Yeah. That's how a lot of nicknames start. Maybe he wants everyone traded away that calls him Joe. Yeah. And then he's going to stick around.

He just turns on them hard. And then like all the new kids are going to be there. I'm like, my name's fucking Trevor. Never. Oh, shit. Oh, sorry. Told us to call you Joe. Sorry, Joe.

I don't know, man. Yeah, I think trade Marquez, trade Freeland, trade Sinsatella, trade gray. Trade everyone. That only has a year and a half left. I'm team lockup story. Have him be the face of your franchise and you've got that. I feel bad for a story. It's rude for story.

If he gets a contract over 200 mil, I don't feel bad for him. If you're the Rockies and you're, give out another huge contract. You should have the team taken away from you. Tough. They should. Why? They sell out a lot of tickets.

They got a great fan-based garage stadium, and they're going to just do the same thing over and over again, rinse and repeat. I'm happy for a guy getting paid. Me too, but I'm not happy for the fan base who then now it's just going to, I mean, if they lock them up for that much money, then when they trade, I'm not going to get anything back. They didn't get anything back for Aranato.

Right. I'm saying you can sign guys and not trade them. Not if you're the Colorado. Rockies. Okay. So that's the difference in the conversation. Yes, that's not going to happen. They need a new approach.

They've paid Plackman and he's been there for a while. What's the Dodgers window right now? Is it like exponentially open? This decade. And then the Padres is the next five years, maybe more because they also have a great farm system. Like worst case for the Dodgers would be like four years. Worst case for the Padres would be like three.

So what, I mean, yeah, the Rockies, you got to, I mean, I don't know. I hate telling teams to just ship it and go get draft picks, but they're at the point now, like, they're floating in the ocean without any help. Like, what do you do? I hate saying it, but they just got to blow it up, man. They picked up our guy, Bragg Gerd. Greg Bird. Greg Bird was the first big leaguer that openly interacted. not openly, I guess,

but interacted with Jake and I, invited us to the cages to hit with him. Josh Toley was there. We'll appreciate that forever. We'll appreciate that forever. Yeah. I'm friends with... So good luck to Gerber.

He's also from Colorado. Friends with some rocky guys. DNVR shout out. I texted them after the Aeronado trade. I said, I'm sorry, lads. And one of them, I'll keep them nameless just in case it somehow circles around.

But he said, you mean for covering a baseball team whose owner hates their own fans? LOL, yeah, brutal. Yeah. So that's what's going on with the Rocks. We talked about the owner when we're a labor negotiations pod. Yeah. Not a nice guy.

Kind of not cool, dude. Yeah, so the Pocoda projection for the Rockies is that they lose 102 games. Again, I like doing this. I went to Reddit. I went to the Rocky subreddit. I went to see what their reaction to this was. if they were like, what the fuck or whatever, the most outvoted comment is good.

Good. Good. I think they're on that page. They want draft picks and high ones. Started from the bottom and we all stayed there. That's another comment on there. What, but we're built to compete. Brick went to Harvard.

So this is the state of Rockies baseball. I'm hoping for 40 wins. I mean, we got a Stanford guy on staff here. Good. That's how you start a rebuild. That's a lot of comments. So like 102 losses is a lot. I think the Rockies should be the worst team in baseball by design.

Really? By design. By design. Yes, I think they should trade everyone. Right, right, right. They should have placeholders. They would sign up for that right now. If you told their front office, you're going to be the worst team in baseball, they'd be like, yes.

There's so many guys they can trade. Yeah. So just trade everyone. Be as bad as you can be. and hopefully get a bunch of picks. But you should never want your organization to be in this position. But since they're already in this position and it's self-imposed essentially, like if you're the fan base, you're like, okay,

I'm going to go to the field only to get some beers and to be outside because I don't care about the team. Yeah. And I mean, Trave, how much does motivation play? Like after the are not our trade? You know, are these guys looking around the room? like who's next or like, well, I guess we're not like, you know, well, you know, this owner's group doesn't really care about this year.

Like, why should we? Like, does that, it feel like it's only human to kind of read the room a little bit? You're going to, again, they're going to go into spring training. They're going to have the talk. Why not us? Everyone's going to be sitting there thinking, well, because the Dodgers and the Padres are really good. But you start to convince yourself and then it becomes more of like a selfish thing for players,

which it should be at this point. Go get yours. Go have a good season. Like a major league situation. Rally around each other. You know, that's what they're going to do. The biggest thing that's going to happen is around the trade deadline, when they start to ship some people out, which they for sure will be doing this year, that's when it becomes like, oh, my gosh, now it's August. We're already in a horrible position.

We know we're going to go home as soon as the season's over, and now we just lost these other guys. and it becomes very tough to finish out the season at that point. I've been around some bad teams before. It's not fun, man. It's showing up to the ballpark knowing you're going to get your butt kicked every day. It takes a toll on you. So they're in for a long one. We said the same thing about the Orioles last year.

I think it might even be worse for the Rockies this year. Jake and I had a ton of fun. Jake and I had a ton of fun freshman baseball, and we knew we were getting our ass kicked over here. Yeah, I was going to say every day of my life. I pretty much plan for a good ass being. they'll have fun. I hope they go out when they go to New York or do whatever.

Are they going on New York? They're not going to New York. Wherever you go to these big cities, go have some fun. Enjoy being a big leagueer this year because the most fun you're going to have is probably off the field. What's the over under? 102 losses, so that's 60 wins? 60 wins, yeah. I'm taking the over and I think it's easy.

I think it's free money. Going back to talent on a roster, look at some of these teams when we did the second best player game. Like Trevor Story and Charlie Blackman are still. like really good baseball players. That starting pitching staff ain't like ugly. Like you can talk yourself into those guys. Like I think there's still talent on this roster

and then the question becomes who do they trade away and I think it's one or two guys but I also think they don't. I think they might throw the bag at story and I think he might bite and I don't believe in the front office to do necessarily the right thing and trade away Kyle Freeland if he's having a good year

Herman Marquez when his values at an all-time high. I don't think they'll do it either either. I think they'd rather put out a 72-win product. My one case to try and get you to consider taking the under on wins here is that, like Trev said, if they're out of it come end of August or even mid-August, their September schedule, Braves, Phillies, Braves, Nationals, Dodgers, Dodgers, nationals. And if all those teams are hunting wins and wildcards, that might be an ugly, ugly September for a bunch of Rockies players who just want to be the offseason. Yeah. I didn't know this was the,

they were facing the NL East. Well, wait, what am I talking about? Sorry, sorry. They are the NL. I did the same thing in my head and I was just like, wow, I'm glad I didn't speak like Trevor did. I No, I don't know For me, that argument can always spin the other way too Like, you know, there's a world where these pesky Rockies are a bunch of MLB guys fighting to be major leaguers And say the Philly season goes to crap

Like you can start spinning that the other way So I don't know, I just think there's There's enough talent on here When we compare this to Pittsburgh or Texas Or some of the other teams we've done, I think the just on paper check I think this team is a lot better significantly. I'm also taking the over, if it's set at 60,

because unlike the Orioles who we just did, and I said about the Oriors, like, they don't have a pitcher out there that, like, hey, at least he's going. They have, you know, a couple of these guys on the Rockies. You know, Marquez, if he's doing his thing, if Sinsettelo repeats last year, if Gray or Freeland find their form,

they could feel pretty good about at least, you could be pretty good about the starter on the bump. So I'm going to take the over as well. I really think it's in their best interest to trade everyone and lose everything. But I don't think they will. Treb? What are you taking? I wish I had a spreadsheet.

I'm going to start keeping track of how many teams I say have 100 losses. We can do that. We can keep track. I don't think I've given a team 100 lost season yet, which now makes me upset because I think I'm going to... Oh, you didn't even do the pirates, yeah. Yeah.

I think I'm going to give them 100 lost season. So I'll take the over here. I think the Rockies are going to lose 100 games this year. Ooh, there you go. And that's your Colorado Rockies. Thank you very much for tuning in. One more note, Jake. Daniel Bard is closing for them, and that's really cool.

That is really cool. That's really cool. So go shove Daniel Bard and get traded. Hell yet.