Colorado Rockies news and links for Friday, August 9, 2024
566464r4The Rockies are treading in familiar water. They are losing. They didn’t make big trades. They don’t seem likely to bring in free agents or make splashy offseason trades. (If that changes, I will happily rewrite a cheery thank you note admitting my erroneous pessimism.)
Even if the Rockies have played better in the first 19 games after the All-Star break (8-11 vs. 34-63), they have a tough schedule remaining. Over half (24 of 46) of Colorado’s games are against playoff-bound teams (if the season ended today). So that includes six games apiece against the Diamondbacks and Dodgers, and three apiece against the Yankees, Orioles, Padres, and Brewers. With the Braves fighting for a Wild Card spot, you could add six more games against tough teams.
The Denver Post’s Patrick Saunders said Bud Black told him that the Rockies manager is committed to play young players, but still wants to win. Saunders also said that GM Bill Schmidt thinks the Rockies “will turn the corner, perhaps as soon as 2025.” These comments show the team’s unwillingness to change and could result in more veteran play without more wins as the team steams full ahead toward another 100-loss season.
In the meantime, it’s worth looking at the 2025 roster and payroll assuming the Rockies don’t make any major moves outside of prospect promotions. Charlie Blackmon, Daniel Bard and Elias Díaz will be free agents and Jacob Stallings has a mutual option for next season. With the Rockies business deals operating more on loyalty vibes than future winning, they could bring them back. But for this much too early projection, we’ll assume those four will retire or play elsewhere in 2025.
Payroll projection
This season, the Rockies rank No. 17 with a payroll of just over $145 million. Next year, seven players have contracts and 13 more players are still under team control. The seven deals, plus the money the Rockies pay Nolan Arenado to play in St. Louis, total $86 million.
Cal Quantrill, Brendan Rodgers, Austin Gomber and Jake Cave will be in their final years of team control. Peter Lambert, Sam Hilliard and Lucas Gillbreath will be in their second years of arbitration and Justin Lawrence will enter his first. Several more are in pre-arbitration including Jake Bird, Nolan Jones, Brenton Doyle, Victor Vodnik, Michael Toglia and more.
The total payroll, without major changes, is estimated to come in over $132 million. On the bright side, it gives the Rockies space to spend some money and they have shown a willingness to do so. Unfortunately, their track record doesn’t favor spending money wisely.
Roster projection
If the status quo holds, the lineup might look something like this:
This assumes the Rockies bring back Jake Cave and is more speculative than comprehensive. With that disclaimer, does that lineup look familiar? Is it different enough to change the trajectory of this franchise? Is it possibly asking too much of Drew Romo, Jordan Beck and Nolan Jones to shoulder a franchise turnaround?
The worst team in baseball, the Chicago White Sox, brought in a new general manager, Chris Getz, last season. On Thursday, the White Sox fired manager Pedro Grifol. Getz said the words Rockies fans dream to hear: “These two seasons have been very challenging. Unfortunately, the results were not there, and a change is necessary as we look to our future and the development of a new energy around the team.”
While I’m glad the Rockies aren’t as bad as the White Sox, this statement makes me think the White Sox will right the ship before the Rockies do. Despite the sixth straight losing season, the Rockies forge ahead.
As evident by the last time the Rockies went to the postseason, as goes the rotation, so goes the Rockies. With Gomber, Márquez and Quantrill in their final years under contract, and the unknown ability of Márquez and Sentazela to rebound from injuries, the rotation is on track for another basement ERA ranking. Maybe Carson Palmquist, Gabriel Hughes and Chase Dollander can be the next core rotation that can save the day, but an estimated time of arrival is hard to forecast.
Ezequiel Tovar and Brenton Doyle are having great seasons in 2024, but it’s not translating to wins. Pinning hopes and dreams of a franchise on young players one by one is not fair or effective. If the Rockies are ever going to be a winning franchise, it can’t be all on the players. They need better coaching, better tools and a better front office to have a chance to compete. They deserve it and so do Rockies fans.
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Márquez out for rest of year with elbow issue | MLB.com
The news Rockies fans were dreading was made official on Thursday. German Marquez’s 2024 season is over after one start in July resulted in a stress reaction in his right elbow. Marquez had Tommy John surgery in 2023 and hoped to return for the post-All-Star Game portion of the season, but it didn’t turn out that way. He was able to strike out three Mets on July 14 to become the Rockies all-time leader in strikeouts with 986. With another offseason of recovery on the horizon, hopefully, Marquez can stay strong mentally and be back to anchor the rotation in 2025.
Old friend Adam Ottavino returned to Coors Field with the Mets this week and chatted with Kyle Newman. Otto is 38 and starting to think about the end of his career. He’s not done with baseball though as he wants to manage in the big leagues. He told Saunders, “I’ve had my heart starting to dream a little bit on managing. I’d be unorthodox, but I think I could get unorthodox results.” I know of a place that needs someone who had success at altitude and could benefit from unorthodox.
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On the farm
Triple-A: Albuquerque Isotopes 5, Sacramento River Cats 2 (10 innings)
Greg Jones hit a walk-off, three-run homer in the bottom of the 10th inning to win it for the Isotopes on Thursday night. Jordan Beck added two hits, including an RBI single, Grant Lavigne added two hits and scored two runs and Elehuris Montero hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth to tie the game and send it to extras. Jake Bird pitched 1 2⁄3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts and Evan Justice, Seth Halvorsen and Matt Koch all added scoreless innings of their own to give Albuquerque a chance for the comeback.
Double-A: Hartford Yard Goats at Richmond Flying Squirrels, Postponed
Thursday’s game was postponed due to rain and will be made up as part of a doubleheader on Aug. 10.
High-A: Tri-City Dust Devils 13, Spokane Indians 2
The Dust Devils put up a seven spot in the first inning and totaled 15 hits vs. Spokane’s five. Skyler Messinger recorded two of those hits, including a solo homer, Dyan Jorge doubled and drove in a run and Cole Carrigg added a single and a run.
Low-A: Fresno Grizzlies 9, Rancho Cucamonga Quakes 3
Darius Perry hit a three-run double in the second inning to give Fresno a lead it never lost and Braylen Wimmer hit a two-run homer in the eighth to cap off the win. In between, Felix Tena connected for an RBI triple, Luis Mendez recorded a two-run double and Jared Thomas hit a run-scoring single. Hunter Mann threw two scoreless innings with three strikeouts to earn his first win of the season.
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