Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 90 | Colorado Rockies | Profile & Projection

Episode Date: February 21, 2020

We're talkin about Jakes Rocks today. We talk about the guys they brought in (no none). The guys they lost. Who may be a deadline trade piece. Their projected win total and what prospects they have down in the farm. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices 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.

Back with another mini episode. Coming into your earphone saying hi, saying what's up. It's the Colorado Rockies. Jake's rocks. My rocks, baby. Closest we'll get to saying the opposite of Jake sucks, which is something we say around here. It's a plain words.

Jake rocks. You're leaving Denver. Leaving Denver. How long is. until you're done with the Denver time in your life where you don't care about them at all anymore. Ooh, interesting. Because I don't have a huge attachment

to the Texas Rangers and I lived in Dallas, but I mean, that kind of sucked because they were the perfect distance away that you can't, like, be attached to them. They're in Arlington. It's like a 25-minute drive. So it's like, okay, it's going to be kind of like an expensive Uber if I want to drink and stuff, or if I drive, then I can't drink it's up.

And then the Rocky Stadium, if you're a baseball fan, it's a must. It's in the heart of downtown. It's a perfect location. And I was lucky enough when I moved out here. I was Craigslist in an apartment. And I lived literally right next to the stadium. It was awesome. So I will always have a little bit of an attachment to the Rockies more so than,

the Texas Rangers. Yes. And you will try to tell me that they're not going to be bad and they're not in a state of total disaster when they are. Aronado is publicly going off and saying he wants out. Then they're like making it. And I told you he'd walk that back in a couple days and he did. For PR reasons, he walked it back because no it's a bad look.

But he did have an honest moment where he said this is bullshit. Because guess what? The Rockies at the trade deadline did nothing. Then they sucked really bad. and then this offseason, the most active offseason we've seen in a while, who did the Rockies add? No one. Unless you want to count Jose Mujica to a one-year deal. They went after no one.

Unless you want to count Eubaldo Jimenez to a minor league deal. They extended Trevor's story, but not even an extension. They just bought out his arbitration that he was already going to be on the team for. they just don't have to arbitrate anymore. They added no one. And they lost no one. May I counter your point? Sure.

Counter away. In 2018, baseball can be a fickle sport. You know that. They essentially had the same team, and they went 91 and 72. Who was their starters then? Same exact starters? Pretty much, man.

Freeland, Marquez, Anderson, Gray, Betis? Freeland, Marquez, Anderson, Gray, Bettis, Sanzatella, yeah. It's a good counter, but you still want your team to get better, especially when you have a terrible collapse.

Right. And I think and I'm not going to be as rocky heavy as as you probably think, hey, they were fifth in attendance in 2018. Go to the stadium, guys. It's great. Fourth last year. How about that? With a terrible season. Anyways, here's what's going on in Colorado. Obviously, Coorsfield, I'm not going to give that spiel to you. Tim Melville is my best friend.

Okay, we're done there. This is their window. And I know when I say that, you laugh a little bit. But the Rockies, they don't operate like a big market team. And they should. Now that I'm seeing those attendance numbers and knowing, you know, they charge nine bucks for a beer or so. They got to roll it out. But they do have to be a little more tactical with their money, especially when you pay one guy, Nolan Aeronado, a lot of money, which is fine. That dude deserves that money. Might be one of the best third baseman ever. So that's fine.

But dude, when you look around, there is a lot of young talent on this team and Kyle Freeland season just fell apart last year. Marquez, I think you'll remember this, Jim. I think he had one game that was what? It was like one inning, 12 run runs. If you take that out, he's actually had a pretty good past couple seasons. were brutal to him. That one game they let him get rocked and eat like 12 earned runs, right? Yeah. I mean, it was it was almost unfair. And I think here's here's where things got crazy because it was right about the time we started talking baseball. They were 44 and 40 last year, 84 games in. I believe they were in a wild card spot at that point. They went into the all star break and they lost, let's see, I think they lost six straight. They hosted Houston and then Eric,

Arizona, and then they came out of the break, and they were still just tragic. They went from 44 and 39, so excuse me, 44 and 39 to 47 and 55, like that. They only won six games in July, and they only won six games in August. I mean, it was a disaster. And then, you know, you go from a wildcard team, we're going to be in it to the end of the season, and basically in the past three weeks, we just blew it. And that's an awful feeling.

And the wheels fell off. And I don't see the Rockies being competitors, but I find it hard to believe if you dig into the players, the numbers, I don't think they're going to have a record nearly as bad as they had last year. I don't know, man. Like, I mean, and here's, here's before, I will let you go.

but when you really line these up, when we get to the Diamondbacks, when we get to the Padres, when you line up those three teams on paper, man, you really start splitting hairs. I think the Diamondbacks with their recent Starling Marte trade might have gotten a little one up, but you also have to buy into Catelle Marte being the player he is. Did you put those three things down on paper and you're Jake out?

And so that's kind of my biggest pro-Rocke's argument I will give. Yeah, I don't know, man. I mean, like the pitching staff, Sancatella, career 533 ERA. His best season was in 2018 with a 438. John Gray, career 446 ERA. His best season was 2017. Last year, he was the only one that was pretty good. Hermann Marquez, 478.

It did get screwed by that one. but his best season was 2018. Kyle Freeland, best season, by a long shot, it's 2018. So the fact that they're just rolling the dice, like that's the norm when it's really like all these guys, exceptions, not the rule, like I don't believe in that. And that's fair. And you shouldn't believe in all of them,

but you should also give them all a little more credit. I mean, think about we just came back from talking about the giants. Everyone you just mentioned isn't approaching 30. Everyone is 28 and under. A lot of guys are closer to 25. I mean, last year, Hermann Marquez was 24 years old. Kyle Freeland, I mean, think about how far we've come. Dude, baseball can be a real bitch.

Think about how much we loved Kyle Freeland when he was a pile card game. And we're talking about this dude with moxie. And yeah, he doesn't strike dudes out, but he's from Colorado. He knows how to pitch there, blah, blah, blah. I mean, Kyle Freeland isn't going to have a 6-7-3 ER. RA this year. I mean, that's, that's crazy. And again, like, John Gray, when Rockies were talking last season, they were saying, hey, if John Gray figures it out, we might really compete. John Gray was the one that figured it out. Everything else kind of fell apart. So, and again, what for me, what does this

add up to? And I, you know, I don't want to jump ahead to the overunder, because I, when I, I'm going to say a lot of positive things, because I know you're not too, too high on my rocks. I mean, I'm seeing a 500 baseball team. Oh, that's fine. That's bad. Yeah. But yeah, good. Yeah. Um, so I mean, that's when, uh, I'll, I guess taper my expectations or I don't know what the phrase is, but I, I don't want you thinking I'm hyper bullish. Like I, I, do you think they, do you think they're going to have a shot at the wild card? A lot would have to go right. Like, I'm going to say no. Um, okay. It's baseball and

and stuff can happen, but a lot of stuff would have to happen. They may have a shot at second place. in the NL West, but like not the wild card. Right. But I mean, think, think about that. I mean, what's like, what's the worst record you can have and finish second place in your division? You know what I'm saying? Well, like 70 and something. I think you have to be over 500 to finish second in your division, right?

Maybe. I guess so, yeah. I mean, news, yeah. Yeah, man, I mean, they have the stars. Like, the top four are great, right? I mean, you got Aronado. It's incredible. Trevor story is best of his position. Blackman's there. It's David Dahl. We're counting him. He had a good season last year. I don't know.

David Dahl was an all-star. Yeah. Their outfield defense last year was the worst in the league. So that's fun. Or second worst. I think the Orioles were the worst. Yeah. I mean, the outfield defense was disastrous. I don't really know what that was. Jim, I will ask you because he's someone that I know my Rockies podcast, people will be happy if I talk about. Bring up the red ball blue ball. Bluebe. ball chart with Ryan McMahon. He's a young guy, 24 who I think he's on the verge of breaking out. He had 24 home runs last year and his, I think, I don't know, I forget if that was officially

or unofficially his rookie season. They are going to hit. And I mean, it's the story of the Colorado Rockies, dude. Like, why even dance around it? This team is going to hit a lot and their pitching's going to get roughed up. And they're, I won't say Achilles heel. Dude, their bullpen is terrible. might challenge the Mariners for worst bullpen in baseball. Okay. So Ryan McMahon was rookie year. It was 2018. Last year, he had a 779 OPS, an 87 OPS plus, and his baseball savant is high in exit velocity, high and hard hit rate, poor in expected batting average, poor in Wobah, poor in slugging.

Not an impressive stat guy. Hard hit rate, baby. Yeah, he hit 91st percent on hard hit rate, but everything else is under is below average. It's hitting it hard, baby. So, I mean, you can hang on to that, but the Yorba Linda kid, the eye test might be better than the stats. I'll say that. Yeah. And, hey, it was a 24-year-old that landed 24 home runs that can play second base for you.

But, dude, I mean, story is one of maybe the most underrated play. players in baseball. He kind of had that crazy start. Like the things he does at shortstop is incredible. Aronado, obviously, I don't need to dive into that. David Dahl was an all-star last year. He's 25. He's only going to get better. Charlie Blackman continues to rake and play atrocious defense. Talk about a team that could benefit from the DH. Daniel Murphy was their big mistake.

They signed him to basically the same contract as DJ LaMayhew, the homegrown. guy. Daniel Murphy's weird. It's a weird fit. He's bad defensively. And, you know, you could talk yourself into it last off season like, hey, he's a guy that he seems like the typical Colorado Rocky's guy that you're like, hey, man, I could see him ended up, you know, hitting 325 next year. It didn't work out. He's a weird clubhouse guy. They're going to rake. It just depends how many of the starting pitchers figure it out. Yeah. I mean, everyone will rake at course. So, Got a pitch. A lot of guys.

I mean, it's... Not Daniel Murphy's weird. I mean, he looks like the boyfriend on Roseanne, and he's weirding up the whole clubhouse and just weirding out the whole everyone's vibe. And I'm not, I say that from no point of knowing it's true or hearing rumors or hearsay that that's true. I just look at him and think it. And that's all I know. Right.

Here's what I'll say, Jake. they better get off to a hot start. I think we've been saying this a lot. But if they like start sucking right away, I think we're going to hear some more shitty quotes. We're going to hear like, I think the GM's going to try and fire the manager. So it's like not his fault.

It's the manager's fault. Like it reached a boil in the off season. And then they quickly went to simmer. We still got hot water in the pot. And if things go, things get ugly, I think it's boiling again quick. No. I don't think we're saying that as much as you think.

I mean, like with the San Francisco Giants that we just talked about, like it would be good for them. But I mean, their season ends with disaster anyways. Like the Rockies could be 70 wins to 85 wins. And I think a hot start is a big factor in that. Yeah, man, they've got some young dudes. They gave Brendan Rogers a call for a little bit last year. It wasn't good.

But he's a big time prospect. I don't know, man. their bullpen is bad. I mean. Okay. Why you don't like Oberg Davis? Shaw. Like crazy bad.

I mean, are you looking at Wade Davis's stats from last year? They traded Philip Deal for Talkman. And that's the other thing. There's a couple transactions that have happened. And you're right with the stuff that's going on with the media. If the wheels fall off on this season, whether it's early, middle, or late, when that happens, it's going to get ugly. You know, their dream season is probably like 88 wins.

If everything goes swimmingly, that's like a dream dream. After that, I don't know, man. I think you're looking at around 500. If the wheels do fall off earlier, if someone like Freeland just seems like he doesn't have it, yeah, man, I don't know. I'm rooting for my rocks. I'm very interested to see what the over-under is.

and the other guy that I feel like Rocky fans would want me to mention is Sam Hilliard. He's a decent prospect for him, big boy outfielder. It'll be interesting to see what he brings to the table. Yeah, man, this pitching staff is tough. I will give this. Tough field. Tough field. I will give this information to the people.

Hermann Marquez, Scott Oberg. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Strike that, reverse it. Jake McGee, Brian Shaw, Daniel Murphy are on contract years. And can maybe their deadline targets, most likely they're not. Yeah. But who knows? I don't know.

Who knows? I don't know. And then do they have any prospects like that are coming up? So I mentioned Brendan Rogers. He's their number one. He got a cup of coffee last year. it wasn't great. Honestly, man, they, Daniel Murphy and Ian Desmond utility guy that's actually,

I think, well liked by the Rockies, but what they paid him isn't what he's doing. Those two contracts are kind of hurting them because they have young guys that can do what those guys do, especially on offense, and they need all that money devoted to pitching and the front office won't do it currently. But yeah, there's a world where Brennan Rogers is a name you need to know. in the future, talented middle infielder. And I mentioned Sammy Hilliard. He, you know, he's going to get a chance to play this year.

But it's a tough ballpark, man. Would you want to play there for money? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Same. Yeah, I mean, last year they were last in ERA, last in whip. Those are a couple big ones. Fifth and batting average ninth and OPS. So, yeah, I'm excited to see what the overrunners.

Okay, well, the over-under is 78. 75 and a half. Okay. And you know what? I'm going over. Nice. Because the N.O. West, I don't think is,

I don't think the other four teams in the NL West, I think it's going to be a bloodbash of mediocrisy between the Diamondbacks, who I think will eventually get second place, the Giants and the Padres. I think there is easily a world. where, you know, baseball is not a simulation. If you ran a simulation with this year's NL West,

a hundred times, the Dodgers win it a hundred times. The Rockies, yeah, the Rockies, D-Backs and Padres, man, I mean, it's either, any of them can fall two through four with a little bit of injuries or a little bit of this. I'll go over.

I'll go over. Love my rocks. I'm wearing purple today. I know. I saw that and I thought, did he know? But I didn't actually think that because there's zero chance. No chance. No chance.

Zero chance. Zero chance. Hey, also coming off the Giants, I mean, does this not seem like a watchable team or am I being too polluted by the stadium and living out here? I don't think it seems like a watchable team. Besides the main stars. But with the Giants, I say,

said like I like that. So I was a little biased. I said I like that stadium. So they're still going to go enjoy baseball. So I think we're saying the same thing there. Okay. No, there's no. I mean, you do have stars.

You have like three stars. So I'll give them that. You've got a couple stars. And I think there's a couple young guys you can be excited about. So that's not too bad. I mean, what would you say the zeitgeist of Rocky's nation is? I have no idea. But my guess would be they're not that enthusiastic about the offseason

and everything that's gone on. Yeah, you use zeitgeist a lot. And I forget the definition every time. It's like the common thought of the people of the time. I mean, it's just nervous times because like I said, this was their window. In 2018, this was a 90 plus win team. And then they brought back essentially everyone and signed Daniel Murphy thinking that would boost them. And they landed up being a 71 win team.

I mean, that's, that's drastic. So they're saying, like you said, a hot start would be pretty nice if they could if they could convince themselves like wow the wheels fell off last year and that was a mess but yeah they're they're really they're bummed out by if they could if they could get rid of the daniel murphy and ian desmond contracts and put that money towards pitching people would be really bullish on that they can't do that nobody wants them so yeah man they're uh they're hoping that they're good enough to keep nolan aeronado in town yeah I hope they are. I like when guys stay and they get better within. So there you go. I mean, they have two potentially, depending how Trevor Story's rest of his careers goes,

they have two potentially generational guys on the left side of the infield. And it's going to suck if they feel like they wasted that. And DJ Lemayhew, who they did waste. And they brought Murphy besides him. Yeah. All right. Yep. Thanks guys.

Thanks for listening. Hey, guys, thanks for listening. Thank you. Do you want to say anything?