KTE: Colorado Rockies (April 13-15)

[Gwreck]

Know Your Rockies 2010

Last year:
92-70; Wild-card and lost the division series in 4 games to the Phillies. Series was tied 1-1 and then Phillies beat closer Huston Street in the 9th inning of games 3 and 4. Manager Clint Hurdle was fired during the season and replaced by Jim Tracy and the team immediately won 20 of 25.

The Mets took 3 of 4 from the Rockies in late July last year, one of the few good things of the second half of the year and dropped 2 of 3 in a forgettable early September series in Denver.

Rockies were 51-30 at home last year, 2nd best (by 1 game) in the NL.

This year:
3-3, winning a series against the Padres and losing one to Milwaukee. They project to again be contenders for the NL West and/or Wild Card this year. Rockies have a solid team with Tulowitzki on a favorable long-term deal, several promising young players, reworked Helton's contract in the off-season and probably could add money during the year if they needed an additional body.

Pitching Matchups:
Fortunately, we miss staff ace Ubaldo Jimenez who beat San Diego on Sunday and is a possible Cy Young candidate (behind Lincecum/Halladay).

Tuesday - 8:40 EDT gametime
Greg Smith (L) v. John Maine

Smith only pitched 49 minor league innings last year due to shoulder problems. Was nothing special in his 2008 rookie year with Oakland. Got knocked around a bit by Milwaukee last week. Never faced the Mets before.

Wednesday - 8:40 EDT
Aaron Cook ® v. Jon Niese

Cook is the second-longest tenured Colorado player (after Helton). He's an innings eater and was 11-6 with a decent 110 ERA+ last year; pitches to contact and doesn't strike out that many. Had several good starts against the Mets in '07 and '08 but he hasn't faced the Mets since July 11, 2008 when held the Mets to 6 hits and 1 run in 6 innings. Cook trivia: was the Colorado starter in the Endy Chavez drag bunt game of a few years back.

Thursday - 3:10 EDT
Jorge De La Rosa (L) v. Mike Pelfrey
De La Rosa was 16-9 with a 4.38 ERA last year but his key stats were a 2.33 K/BB ratio and 9.4 K/9 inning ratio. Opened his season with a good start against San Diego on Friday, 1 hit, 1 walk and 9 Ks in 7 innings. Had two solid outings against the Mets last year (6 1/3IP, 2ER, 5K, 3H, 3BB in July; 6IP, 1ER, 6K, 4H, 3BB in September).

Bullpen:
Closer Huston Street is out with shoulder inflammation and won't be back before May 1.

Franklin Morales (L) is closing games in Street's absence and already has a couple saves this year. Tatis nailed him with a tie-breaking grand slam in the bottom of the 8th of this game last year.

Rafael Betancourt ® is the top setup guy. He was a mideseason acquisition last year from Cleveland and was great with the Rockies: 17H, 5BB, 29Ks and a 1.78 ERA in 25 innings.

Matt Daley ® has a live arm and was a rookie last year. He grew up a big Mets fan in Garden City. Story about his first trip to the Mets' home park as a player last year.

Manny Corpas ® also has a live arm and had a 3.4 K/BB ratio last year despite a 5.88 ERA. Randy Flores is a situational lefty.

Lineup:
LF Carlos Gonzalez (L)
The big prize from Oakland in the Matt Holliday deal (the As got him from Arizona for Haren). 24 years old and a potential star in the making; this will be his first season as a full-time player. 120 OPS+ last year with .525 slugging percentage.

CF Dexter Fowler (S)
.363 OBP in his rookie year last year with 27 steals. Solid #2 hitter.

1B Todd Helton (L)
Bounced back with a good 2009: .843 OPS on the road (.963 at home). Still the active ML leader in on-base percentage and 12th all-time, right behind Jimmie Foxx and Tris Speaker.

SS Troy Tulowitzki ®
Total stud and you could argue the third-best player in the league (behind Pujols and Hanley). Still only 25 years old.

RF Brad Hawpe (L)
Solid protection for Tulowitzki in the lineup with at least 22 HR over the last four years. All-star first half but slumped in the second half of last year. Still had .903 OPS with pretty even home/road splits.

3B Ian Stewart (L)
Took over the full-time 3B job last year and had 25 homers. Had similar season as Barmes, striking out a lot with a low batting average, but is a promising player.

C Chris Iannetta ®
Solid defense but his hitting (.228 AVG/.804 OPS) was a disappointment last year.

2B Clint Barmes ®
Career highs in homers (23) and Ks (121) last year, with a .294 OBP. Good defender.

Bench:
Miguel Olivo ® had 23 homers last year with Kansas City in 390 ABs but is Iannetta's backup this year and will probably start on Thursday.
You may remember Olivo from his Marlins days and him throwing a punch at Jose Reyes during a brawl on the last weekend of the '07 season. Video is here.

Melvin Mora ® had his option declined by the Orioles during the offseason and is now backing up at second and third.

Seth Smith (L), useful fourth outfielder with some pop and speed.

Ryan Spilborghs ®, less useful fifth outfielder.

Jason Giambi (L) and his gold thong, reduced to a pinch-hitting role.

Ex-Mets:
Melvin Mora is the last player left in the majors from the Mets '99 playoff team.
Bob Apodaca has been the pitching coach for the Rockies since 2003.

Ex-Rockies:
Henry Blanco, 1999 season.

Weather:
Might be a little chilly on Tuesday/Wednesday nights but nothing extreme expected.

[bmfc1]

Nicely done Gwreck!

[Guest Edgy DC]

How about Sandy Alomar taking Olivo's charge for Reyes?

[TransMonk]

Melvin Mora is the last player left in the majors from the Mets '99 playoff team.

[Gwreck]

Melvin Mora is the last player left in the majors from the Mets '99 playoff team.

[TransMonk]

Still a great KTE!

[smg58]

Gonzalez left last night's game with a tight hammy and is the proverbial "day-to-day."

Don't be surprised to see Seth Smith start at least once.

Giambi has been used so far like a backup catcher, spelling Helton twice in day games after night games.

Olivo has two HRs in 11 ABs so far. I wouldn't put it beyond Tracy to ride the hot bat.

The Mets need to play much better this week.

[metirish]

Looking at their starting three and there is nothing to be scared of, of course need to play a whole lot better.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Clean, crisp, with a sweet aftertaste-- Wrecks KTE'd the farg out of this one.

Ubaldo or no Ubaldo, I don't like the pitching matchups.

De La Rosa's a nice young arm who's starting to put his talent to good use; he KILLED the league during his last 10-15 starts last year. I wouldn't be that surprised if he put up some eye-popping numbers in both the short term and for the season-- like, high-2s ERA with 18-20 wins (in front of this lineup) and close to 200 Ks.

I have a feeling the middle game will be the most frustrating one-- Cook's had a couple of those slow-bleed, tapout-after-tapout games against the Flushers. With a 2.78 ERA/1.15 WHIP against the Mets in eight starts, accompanied by a K/BB that's almost twice his usual, Cook, like most decent sinkerballers, gives the recent-vintage Mets fits.

And of course, as a journeyman who's never seen blue-and-orange, Greg Smith's due to throw 7 innings of shutout ball tonight.

[ashie62]

Melvin Mora is the last player left in the majors from the Mets '99 playoff team.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Just caught the ex-files, belatedly.

Blanco's been passed around the league more than a cheap bottle of rojo, hasn't he?

[MFS62]

Caught one of those "top 10 clutch performers" shows on cable last night.
Seth Smith was there around # 7.
IIRC they said he has an OBS of .850+ from the seventh inning and later over the past two seasons.
I hope someone on the Mets took note.

I don't care if he has played half of his games in Coors. Todd Helton plays like a Hall of Famer, and I always check the Colorado box score to see how he did. But I never realized he is in such elite company. Thanks.

LGM.

Later

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

I'm gonna put this out there (and if you like it, you can take it, if you don't, then send it right back).

While attempting to remove all emotional attachment that we might have toward one of these two-- and I know I've got considerable biases that would keep me from making this-- consider: if the Rockies offered Tulowitzki straight up for Reyes, would you pull the trigger?

[metirish]

I'm gonna put this out there (and if you like it, you can take it, if you don't, then send it right back).

While attempting to remove all emotional attachment that we might have toward one of these two-- and I know I've got considerable biases that would keep me from making this-- consider: if the Rockies offered Tulowitzki straight up for Reyes, would you pull the trigger?[/quote:23clfplg]


Pull the trigger to shoot you?

[G-Fafif]

If Maine K's The E as well as Gwreck did, we'll be on our way to a good week.

As for the hypothetical Tulowitzki for Reyes deal, it seems I've heard it mentioned that Tulowitzki idolized Jeter growing up, therefore if he became a Met, you know the voices in his head would tell he just made a terrible mistake, no matter how Jeter-like Tulowitzki was. So no thanks.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

I'm gonna put this out there (and if you like it, you can take it, if you don't, then send it right back).

While attempting to remove all emotional attachment that we might have toward one of these two-- and I know I've got considerable biases that would keep me from making this-- consider: if the Rockies offered Tulowitzki straight up for Reyes, would you pull the trigger?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I'm gonna put this out there (and if you like it, you can take it, if you don't, then send it right back).

While attempting to remove all emotional attachment that we might have toward one of these two-- and I know I've got considerable biases that would keep me from making this-- consider: if the Rockies offered Tulowitzki straight up for Reyes, would you pull the trigger?[/quote:8rq0jjyn]

yes i would

[Gwreck]

I'm gonna put this out there (and if you like it, you can take it, if you don't, then send it right back).

While attempting to remove all emotional attachment that we might have toward one of these two-- and I know I've got considerable biases that would keep me from making this-- consider: if the Rockies offered Tulowitzki straight up for Reyes, would you pull the trigger?[/quote:36d152q3]

Is this a trick question? Yes, absolutely, no doubt about it.

[ashie62]

I'm gonna put this out there (and if you like it, you can take it, if you don't, then send it right back).

While attempting to remove all emotional attachment that we might have toward one of these two-- and I know I've got considerable biases that would keep me from making this-- consider: if the Rockies offered Tulowitzki straight up for Reyes, would you pull the trigger?[/quote:2tizbctz]

Yes I would, no the Rockies would not

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Keep in mind that Tulo's a year-and-a-half younger.

Keep also in mind that Reyes' speed may be the most-superlative tool either one of them has (as compared to major-league-average in general-- never mind for shortstop).

Keep also also in mind that, if you're counting by days-missed-to-days-in-the-majors, Tulo's been more injury-prone-- torn quad, freak hand injury, hamstring strain-- over the course of his career so far than J!J!J!J! (That is, if you believe in "injury prone" considering injuries that don't involve the same body part... as most critics of J!J!J!J!'s durability seem to do.)

That said... I probably say yes to that if I'm the Mets. But it's close.

[Frayed Knot]

I'm gonna put this out there (and if you like it, you can take it, if you don't, then send it right back).

While attempting to remove all emotional attachment that we might have toward one of these two-- and I know I've got considerable biases that would keep me from making this-- consider: if the Rockies offered Tulowitzki straight up for Reyes, would you pull the trigger?[/quote:2oh1ypf7]

Yeah probably, but I don't think it's as cut-n-dried as some here think.
Partly it's grass-is-greener thinking as Tulowitski's 2nd full season was a big fall-down from his first and not all of that was explainable by injuries.
As I recall he got in the mgr's doghouse big-time there for a while over a questionable attitude and maybe some big-league-itis. Plus there is the Coors-factor even if that's not as big as it was.

But, yeah, I think you'd have to do that if offered.