Colorado Rockies news and links for Friday, July 5, 2024
Since 1995, the Colorado Rockies have posted nine winning seasons, five playoff appearances, one World Series appearance and 20 losing seasons. In the same time peroid, the Kansas City Royals have recorded five winning seasons, two American League pennants with one World Series title and they posted 24 losing seasons — seven of which hit the 100-loss mark.
In 2023, the Rockies and Royals each set the franchise records for most losses, but the responses and 2024 results have differed drastically in Colorado and Kansas City. As the Royals and Rockies face off today in a three-game series, it would be a good time for the Colorado front office to take notes and learn how to turn an organization around.
The Rockies made small changes, most notably trading for Cal Quantrill, but decided to stay the course by working on drafting and development instead of major roster overhauls and front office and coaching changes. After Thursday’s win over the Brewers, the Rockies are in last place in the NL West at 30-57 and FanGraphs projects them to finish the season with the same mark as 2023: 59-103. The Rockies are famous for never wanting to use the word rebuild, so instead commentators mockingly use terms like “retool” while fans beg to let the young guys play and for the team to embrace the age of analytics.
The Royals, on the other hand, were already in the middle of a seismic shift. After losing 97 games in their sixth straight losing season in 2022, Kansas City chose to go in a new direction. In September of 2022, Royals owner John Sherman fired their general manager, promoted former scout J.J. Picollo to GM and president of baseball operations (sound familiar?) and demanded the organization be more data-driven (as opposed to staff doing laundry or being forced to flee).
As described by the Athletic’s Rustin Dodd and Zack Meisel in mid-June, Picollo made big changes going into the 2023 season, highlighted by a new coaching staff under manager Matt Quatraro, who had been the bench coach for Tampa Bay. Picollo began to forge a new identity blending the organization’s old-school “mom-and-pop feel” with “a diversity of thought” and analytics. It didn’t immediately work out as the Royals recorded 106 losses in 2023, setting that franchise-worst record.
Dodd and Meisel go on to explain how Picollo had “unleashed a wave of creative energy — a cascade of disruption and growth,” but people throughout the organization weren’t all rowing in the same direction.
So, five days after the season ended, Picollo gathered people throughout the organization for a meeting in Arizona. He put together a PowerPoint with “slides with headings like vision, mission, purpose and stopped on another titled ‘Our identity’” in order to get everyone on the same page. Dodd and Meisel describe the purpose of the session:
“The meetings would be a reset, a summit that would be equal parts brainstorming and therapy session, a chance to put everyone in the same room, let go of the past, and define what the Royals would be moving forward.
“‘It was an understanding that we needed to make some changes in how we thought about things,’ Picollo said. ‘But the only way we were gonna be able to do that is we needed some people to open our eyes to it.’”
The Royals decided to build the team around generational talent Bobby Witt Jr., signed him to an 11-year, $288.7 million deal, brought in more arms and bats to help him and ballooned the analytics department to 20 employees.
As of Thursday’s loss against the Rays, the Royals are 48-41, battling for a Wild Card spot and are in the running to complete the biggest year-over-year improvement in wins and losses (36 wins better set by the 1903 New York Giants). It took two major changes over two seasons, but the Royals are evolving their identity for the better.
Many of us at Purple Row and many across Rockies fandom have begged the Rockies to be more like the Tampa Bay Rays with a focus on analytics and developing and trading talent in a small market to be a perennial playoff contender. The Rays have always had that identity and maybe it’s too much to hope for that dramatic of a shift in Colorado. Perhaps the Royal blueprint is the one to follow. It’s one that tries to meld the family feel Dick Monfort wants, while also finding ways to keep up with the modern game.
Of course, this would still require Monfort to step aside as CEO. He can still be the owner, but he has to give the keys to a baseball specialist — and one that understands how to gather and use data and might actually want to try to turn altitude into an advantage. That person would need to clean house in the front office and coaching staff, bringing in new ideas and approaches that can give the Rockies a chance to compete.
The scouting department is doing its job, but the development and management are lacking. If Monfort could just put his pride aside and lean hard into his capitalistic interests, there would be so much money to be made. Dick, just imagine how many people would come to Coors Field not just because it’s a great bar in LoDo, but because the Rockies were actually winning. Come on, just be greedy. Do it.
For two franchises with similar tracks over the last three decades, the Rockies and Royals are now in very different places. Consider Robert Frost’s famous poem “The Road Not Taken.” The Rockies and Royals were at the same fork in the road. The Royals “took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” Without a monumental commitment to change, Rockies fans, “somewhere ages and ages hence” “shall be telling this with a sigh” that Monfort didn’t “take the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”
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Improved Slider Changing Outlook for Colorado Rockies Prospect Alberto Pacheco | Rockies Blog
Another lovely feature from Jack Etkin on the development of slow and steady success of Fresno Grizzly lefty Alberto Pachecho. The 21-year-old Pacheco from the Dominican Republic added a slider last year and it wasn’t good. This year, it’s moved into the plus category and his stats are improving with it.
In a rare moment when the Athletic acknowledged the Rockies exist, writers Will Sammon, Patrick Mooney and Katie Woo report that “people with the club’s thinking” said the Rockies are considering possible deals. The most likely candidates are inexpensive but effective starters like Austin Gomber and Cal Quantrill (and maybe Ryan Feltner), maybe relievers like Jalen Beeks, Justin Lawrence and Tyler Kinley (if teams think getting out of Colorado can help improve their numbers), and maybe Ryan McMahon and catchers Elias Díaz and Jacob Stallings. The Athletic also notes the Rockies common position of inactive trade deadlines and wasting opportunities— something that didn’t happen in 2023 when the team dealt C.J. Cron and Randall Grichuk — but did when they missed chances to trade Daniel Bard and Brett Suter.
Here are your 2024 All-Star starters | MLB.com
For the fourth consecutive year, the Rockies don’t have a starter in the All-Star Game. Usually, former Rockie third baseman Nolan Arenado is at third, but as he’s having a down season. This year it will be Philadelphia’s Alex Bohem at the hot corner. Arenado was the last Rockie to start an All-Star Game in 2019. One former Rockie is in the starting lineup, however, as Jackson Profar is making his first All-Star appearance and starting in the outfield. The Rockies cut Profar after a sub-par performance and his rebound with the Padres is one of the biggest surprises of the 2024 MLB season.
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On the Farm
Triple-A: Albuquerque Isotopes 6, El Paso Chihuahuas 2
Jimmy Herron homered and drove in three runs and Grant Lavigne added another homer on a two-hit night to help the Isotopes win on Thursday. Willie McIver, Drew Romo and Hunter Stovall each added two hits and Stephen Jones pitched two scoreless innings for the win.
Double-A: Binghamton Rumble Ponies 7, Hartford Yard Goats 3
Germán Márquez took another big step in his rehab assignment on Thursday, throwing 69 pitches and giving up one earned run (two total) on five hits with one walk and two strikeouts in 3 2⁄3 innings. He was charged with the loss. Sterlin Thompson homered twice and Zach Kokoska added another long ball, but all were solo shots and not enough for the Yard Goats.
High-A: Spokane Indians 2, Tri-City Dust Devils 0
Dylan Jorge hit an RBI single, stole a base, and came around to score on an error to account for all of the game’s scoring, while Connor Straine struck out 12 and held the Dust Devils to two walks and one hit in seven scoreless innings. Cole Carrigg added two hits, including a triple, for the Indians.
Low-A: Fresno Grizzlies 7, Modesto Nuts 5
The Grizzlies rallied back from a 4-1 deficit with a four-run fourth inning to win on Thursday. Jason Hinchman drove in two runs and scored two more, Andy Perez posted two RBI and Nick Gile scored two runs for Fresno. Bryson Hammer struck out four in two scoreless innings for the save.
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