#azcats lead Stanford 11-8, defense great but offense is so out of synch it is downright painful to watch. They may lose to a weaker team.
#azcats lead Stanford 11-8, de…
February 4th, 20122011 Was a Rocky Year for the Rockies – What Next?
September 26th, 2011After the second disappointing year in a row (and 18th of 19), what can loyal fans of the Rockies expect in the future?
We can expect more of the same, because the Monfort brothers are unwilling and incapable of doing any better.
Yes fans, your team owners are running your team more as a pleasant diversion, a hobby if you will, rather than a serious enterprise. They just want to keep it going, making as much money as possible and avoiding using any of their personal funds, so they can enjoy it until they die, then can pass it on to their kids for their amusement.
The only time Colorado went to the World Series was a total fluke, ended quickly by a serious team, the Boston Red Sox. You see, Boston, like most other baseball teams, is owned and run by professional sports managers who intend to use all of their resources to win or know the reason why.
On the other hand, our Rockies are just a fun pastime for a couple of accidental millionaires who made their money the old fashioned way – by inheriting it. They got control of the Rockies the old fashioned way, too – through political hijinks and criminal activity by others.
The Monforts benefitted from the illegal activities of one of the original owners, Mickey “Mouse” Monus. After Mr. Monus’ problems became public, in order to keep the franchise in Colorado somebody whose reputation was at least not totally sullied had to step forward and take his place in the ownership group. Thus, the Monforts and Jerry McMorris were recruited and practically given the team because they weren’t convicted criminals and appeared to have a lot of money.
Jerry later had his own financial problems and was rousted by the Monforts who took total control over the team in 2005 – the rest is history.
Dick and Charlie Monfort have been very consistent in the way they operate the Rockies. They might tell you they are following the “Moneyball” blueprint made famous by Billy Bean and immortalized in the book and movie. “Moneyball” is based on using scientific and statistical methods to devise a playing strategy and then getting players that fit into that system.
“Moneyball” was successful for the Oakland A’s, and later for other teams using the same philosophy, mainly because it involved getting players that other teams using conventional scouting methods were not recruiting, making those players cheaper and more effective.
The Rockies are not using the “Moneyball” philosophy, which is obvious from their draft record, coaching decisions, and style of play.
The Monfort brothers are outspoken proponents of developing talent through their farm system only because it is cheaper. If you look at the trades they have made, notably the most recent blockbuster involving Ubaldo Jimenez, they are usually dumps of highly paid stars, with questionable players in return.
For years they have stuck with Dan O’Dowd as the General Manager in spite of his lack of performance. They only seem to hire mediocre (Tracy, Bell) or totally inexperienced (Baylor, Hurdle) managers, with the notable exception of Jim Leyland who has had spectacular success everywhere else he has been. Makes you wonder what the brothers did to make sure he did not succeed in Colorado, doesn’t it?
The Baseball Observer even suspects that the Monforts only put the humidor in to save money on lost baseballs on homeruns by the Blake Street Bombers. If the fans had a vote, they would probably want to junk the ball moisturizer and go back to the days when the Rockies were unbeatable at home and thrilling to watch. How many times these days do you hear a spontaneous, deafening roar of “GO! Rockies!” as you did in the early years at Mile High Stadium and Coors Field when the Blake Street Bombers roamed the earth?
None.
Rockies’ Opening Day Highs and Lows
April 5th, 2011High – The weather was perfect, mid 60′s Fahrenheit, no wind, clear skies.
High – The crowd downtown was exceptional. Purple-clad people were everywhere, from Colfax to Wewatta, from the State Capitol to Union Station.
High – the pre-game party was fun, with excellent live bands and lots of free stuff.
High – The stadium looked great, even though it is the now the 4th oldest one in the National League.
High – The flyover by 4 jet fighters was spectacular, as usual. The huge flag, balloons, and fireworks were also impressive, if a bit traditional.
Low – The new light board in center field is a mistake. It showed nothing but ads the whole game and seemed much dimmer than the other boards, probably because it is solar-powered.
Low – Dumbest Use of Solar Power Ever – the afore-mentioned center field light board, with its accompanying bank of solar panels. The panels are not only an eyesore that should have been located out of sight, but it appeared as if they partially blocked the view from the front row seats of the Rock Pile.
High – The new nachos looked really good while being eaten by the fan to my left.
Low – All prices seem to have increased, from souvenirs, to seats, to food and drink.
High – New concessions look inviting and appetizing.
Low – It looks like popcorn stands with real butter are a thing of the past. They were my favorite and it is just not the same to get that dried out stuff at the mainstream concessions. Seems to have been replaced by kettle corn. The Baseball Observer is not a fan of kettle corn.
High – The Rockies started out well, staking the U-Man, Ubaldo Jimenez to a 3-1 lead over the normally punchless Diamondbacks.
High – 49,374 fans showed up to see the game.
Low – The pitch/MPH screens down the first and third base lines didn’t work for the whole game so the spectators could not tell what pitch was thrown and how fast.
High – Because the pitch/MPH screens were down, fans could not tell that Ubaldo was throwing fastballs at 89 to 91 MPH. They probably thought he was throwing changeups.
High – The game lasted a lot longer than usual because the Rockies came back to tie it at 6-6- after the U-Man left.
Low – Matt Lindstrom threw a wild pitch in the top of the 13th that scored the eventual winning run from third.
High – The umpires blew both calls on a Rockies double play when Jose Lopez took the ball several feet from the bag at second and uncorked a bad throw that pulled Todd Helton off the bag at first. The umpires called both runners out anyway.
Low – The Rockies got punked by the umpires twice. Once when they called fan interference on
Don Baylor is moving to Phoeni…
October 27th, 2010Don Baylor is moving to Phoenix! http://baseballobserver.blogspot.com/2010/10/baylor-lands-in-phoenix-with-thud.html
Denver’s Mayor Hickenlooper Responds to Rockies’ Multi-Million Dollar Ripoff of Denver’s Taxpayers!
April 11th, 2010April 9, 2010. According to the Denver Post, the Mayor of Denver, John Hickenlooper, said of the Rockies: “They’re going to the World Series, and I will put their flag on top of City Hall, dye my hair purple for a day, and pour beer before the game at the Sandlot.”
Multi-Million Dollar Rip-off: Coors Field Naming Rights
May 1st, 2009“In 1995, Adolph Coors Company paid $15 M for the naming rights to Coors Field. The deal is for an indefinite period of time. This was Major League Baseball’s first open-ended naming rights arrangement.”
Even though they paid for the whole shebang, the taxpayers of the metro Denver area got nothing in return for Coors Brewing permanently stamping their name on Denver’s baseball stadium. Not only that, but Coors, now Miller/Coors, got the deal of the century. First, the Rockies sold them the naming rights for 15 million dollars for FOREVER! Second, newspaper articles claim that the Rockies were supposed to share the revenue with the Stadium district (consisting of Denver and surrounding cities), but NEVER DID. Let us compare that to other stadiums, shall we? Citizens Bank named Philadelphia’s stadium for $95 million over 25 years, or $3.8 million per year. Since the Phillies opened the stadium in 2004, they have already earned $19 million before this year started. CitiCorp is paying the Mets $20 million per year for 20 years, or $400 million! In fact, even the lowest priced naming deal is almost DOUBLE the amount Coors paid the Rockies! Many of the other stadiums are in much smaller market areas with far less attendance, too! And remember, the average annual price goes down every year, because it is FOREVER!
One other small detail should be disclosed in connection with this travesty. Namely, that Coors is a part owner of the Rockies! Can you say “conflict of interest”? If Coors and the Monforts wanted to show their fans, as well as the taxpayers, that they are not greedy and dishonest, and are grateful for the support of local government and fans, they would renegotiate the deal for a reasonable price and SHARE THE MONEY with the people that made them possible in the first place. Don’t hold your breath, though.
| Stadium Name | Sponsor | Home Teams | Avg. $/Year |
| Coors Field | Coors Brewing | Colorado Rockies | $882,353 |
| Tropicana Field | Tropicana | Tampa Bay Devil Rays | $1,500,000 |
| PNC Park | PNC Bank | Pittsburgh Pirates | $2,000,000 |
| Safeco Field | Safeco Corp. | Seattle Mariners | $2,000,000 |
| Miller Park | Miller Brewing | Milwaukee Brewers | $2,100,000 |
| SBC Park | SBC Communications | San Francisco Giants | $2,100,000 |
| Chase Field | JP Morgan Chase | Arizona Diamondbacks | $2,200,000 |
| Comerica Park | Comerica | Detroit Tigers | $2,200,000 |
| Citizens Bank Park | Citizens Bank | Philadelphia Phillies | $2,300,000 |
| Ameriquest Field | Ameriquest Capital Corp. | Texas Rangers | $2,500,000 |
| Great American Ball Park | Great American Insurance | Cincinnati Reds | $2,500,000 |
| Petco Park | PETCO | San Diego Padres | $2,700,000 |
| U.S. Cellular Field | U.S. Cellular | Chicago White Sox | $3,400,000 |
| Progressive Field | Progressive Insurance | Cleveland Indians | $3,600,000 |
| Minute Maid Park | Coca Cola | Houston Astros | $6,000,000 |
| Citi Field | CitiCorp | New York Mets | $20,000,000 |
Data from ESPN and ballparksofbaseball.com, as well as independent research.
©Copyright 2011, The Baseball Observer
The Rockies Saga – Volume XVII – 2009
March 4th, 2009Here it is fans, the beginning of another year of baseball with the mighty Colorado Rockies and the Denver Baseball Observer. The 2009 baseball fiscal year, the 17th for the Rockies, started after the last game of 2008 (September 28), and ends with the last game of 2009, probably October 4th in Los Angeles.
It didn’t take long for the Rockies brass, “Meatboys” Frank and Dudley Monfort, General Manager “Squeelin’” Danny O’Dowd, President/figurehead Leslie McVie, and empty hat manager Clint “Gomer” Hurdle to start off a series of boneheaded moves.
On October 7th, they fired, or in their words declined to renew the contracts of Hitting Coach Alan Cockrell, Third Base Coach Mike Gallego, and Bench Coach Jamie Quirk. They also reassigned Bullpen Coach Rick Matthews within the organization (probably cleaning bathrooms in Bend). This was management’s way of saying, “It wasn’t us, it was them, and now they’re gone”. Only these were pretty good baseball men, who contributed mightily to creating the esprit de corps that catapulted Colorado to the World Series in 2007. They cost themselves at least 10 wins by flushing these guys. They kept pitching coach Bob Apodaca and First Base Coach Glenallen Hill.
They also declined the option of a pretty good reliever, Matt Herges.
On October 14th, the Rockies found out that their number one pick in the 2007 draft, strong-armed reliever Casey Weathers is facing ligament replacement surgery and will be out for the entire 2009 season. He probably would have pitched at triple A Colorado Springs.
October 15th the Denver Business Journal reported that the Rockies’ television ratings for the 2008 season were down, with 4% fewer households tuning in, resulting in a 5.5% ratings drop. Ratings are expected to continue to decline in 2009.
Reliever Luis Vizcaino was arrested for suspected drunk driving on October 27th in Tampa, Florida. The Rockies were not happy.
Less than two weeks later, on November 2nd, 3 time All Star and all time Rockies saves leader Brian Fuentes filed for free agency. The Rockies announced they would not try to resign Fuentes, but they will pursue left-handed pitcher Glendon Rusch, who filed for free agency the next day.
November 11th, 2008 will be remembered by many disheartened Rox fans as the day the music died, when the Rockies shipped superstar left fielder Matt Holliday to Oakland for 3 guys nobody has ever heard of. In real life, it was an OK move because the cheapskate management would never have signed Holliday anyway, and they may have gotten nothing at all for him. Instead of next-to-nothing. Actually, the guys they got for Matt may someday prove to be competent ballplayers. By the way, the guys they got for Holliday are closer Huston “Blake” Street, left handed starter Greg “Egg” Smith, and outfielder Carlos “Double Z” Gonzalez.
But the scariest situation of all occurred the next day, when the Rockies announced they would interview DON BAYLOR on Thursday, November 13th, for one of the vacant coaches jobs. This brought terror to the hearts of all true Rockies fans. Baylor is the symbol of the curse that kept the Rockies from being successful for the first 6 years of their existance. In fact, the Denver Baseball Observer’s first web site was the “Fire Don Baylor” page in 1994, when it was already obvious that he was the worst manager on the face of the earth. Don is also a terrible hitting coach, but it would still be infinitely preferable for him to take Alan Cockrell’s place rather than Jamie Quirk’s. With Jamie Quirk gone, the Rockies needed someone to tell Hurdle what to do during baseball games, and especially to keep him awake. Baylor would be sleeping right next to Hurdle and nobody would be running the team, which is actually fortunate because both of them are far more productive when they are asleep.
On the same day the Rockies interviewed Baylor, they changed their mind about Fuentes, and offered him arbitration. Was this the first bit of advice from Baylor? If so, it was stupid, as usual.
On November 24th, former Dodgers and Pirates skipper Jim Tracy (562-572 wins-losses) accepted the bench coach position with the Rockies, allowing the team to dodge the surely fatal bullet that Don Baylor would represent in that spot. Now the only position left for Donny is the hitting coach position, something he has done dependably poorly for decades. It is understandable that hitters don’t want to take Don’s instructions, because as the most often beaned player in baseball history, Don’s philosophy at the plate is simply to bend over and let those fastballs hit you in a fleshy part of the body. Lucky for Don, all parts of his body were fleshy, including his head.
This is kind of a role-reversal for Clint and Don, as Hurdle was Baylor’s hitting coach when Teflon Don managed the Rockies (poorly). (Very, very poorly).
On the same day, Colorado announced the hirings of third-base coach Rich Dauer and bullpen coach Jim Wright. Both men were elevated from similar positions in the Rockies’ minor league.
Next, on December 6th, Brian Fuentes officially refused the Rockies’ offer of arbitration, making him a free agent and insuring that he would be wearing another uniform in the near future.
On the 10th of December, the Rockies announced a one-year deal with left-handed relief pitcher Alan Embree for $2.225 million dollars with so-called “mutual options”.
The next day, the Padres took Rox minor league shortstop and future star Everth Cabrera with the third pick in the Rule 5 draft. Following with the seventh pick, the Reds stole Rockies righty David Patton, who is projected to be a star middle reliever with Maddux-like sneaky stuff.
December 12, 2008 will be remembered as the day the Rockies unceremoniously dumped Willy Taveras, a slick fielding outfielder, speedster and fan favorite. The Baseball Observer would like to know why the Rockies gave up on Taveras after hyping him as a guy who would revolutionize the offense with his speed and ability to get on and raise havoc on the base paths. More than that it is very disappointing that the Rockies front office couldn’t manage to put together a deal to get something for someone who obviously has a decade or more of productive years ahead of him.
Also on that same cold day in December, the Rockies ended the dreams of long time farmhand Jonathan Herrera, a 24 year-old infielder who had been in the organization since he was signed out of Venezuela at 17. Herrera played 28 games with the Rockies in 2008, after hitting .310 at Colorado Springs. The Rockies apparently decided Jonathan was not good enough.
But, wait! The next day, December 13th, the Rockies re-signed Herrera to a minor league contract and invited him to spring training. What was that about?
On Thursday, the 18th of December, Glendon Rusch, left-handed pitching mediocrity, signed a minor league contract with the Rockies for $750,000 for the year. There was no mention of magic beans.
2009 Rockies Better Without Holliday (But Not Good)
February 20th, 2009(Caution: this article may contain errors and misspellings for purely comical purpose.)
Today’s Major League Baseball is a strange game. Most of the statistics are misleading. The money being earned by its participants is all out of proportion to their contributions to the business. Take the Commisioner, Bug Selig for example: his contribution has been negative by any objective assessment, yet he earns in excess of $17 million per year. But even that lofty figure pales in comparison to players that are paid hundreds of millions of dollars, but are only marginally better (if that) then players making a few hundred thousand.
Matt Holliday is one of those players that contributes precious little to a team, yet is revered by players, fans, and management alike as a “Superstar”. Fortunately, even though the little heads in the Rockies front office desperately wanted to retain Holliday and shower him with untold amounts of cash, their greed prevailed and they dumped his overinflated salary in the hopes that it would leave more money there for them. Incidentally, they got three players, any one of whom will probably contribute far more to the cause of winning games than Holliday ever would.
Why is Holliday so loved and his absence so deeply lamented by fans and pundits alike? Beats us. The Baseball Observer, with a keen sense of observation, saw in Holliday a massive ego brought about by a lifetime of being a big fish in a little pond, coupled with physical tools that made it easy for him to stand out at sports. Stand out, he did, but he never played to win. Holliday swung for the fences everytime he batted, even when the situation called for a groundout to win the game.
He had enough success to compile excellent statistics, which points out why there are so misleading. Holliday had great numbers for extra base hits, batting average, and runs batted in, which most fans see as the most important measure of great ballplayers. But any pitcher who faced the Rockies saw Holliday as a great natural hitter with zero discipline. That meant that when the chips were down, the pitcher could beat him 95 percent of the time, and they did. Matt had lots of hits and knocked in lots of runs, but very seldom when they were needed. When the game was on the line, you might as well send up a pitcher with a plastic bat.
Then there was Hollidays continuous concentration problem, exemplified by getting picked off of first base by Boston in the World Series. The more you watch Holliday, the more you wonder if he even knows how to play the game. He might, but it is hard to tell, because he drifts off frequently, probably counting his money. He normally goes into this catatonic state when he is standing out in left field, where you might notice that he doesn’t get much of a “jump” on balls hit in his direction. The Observer remembers numerous times when balls were hit to left that should have been singles, or even outs, but Holliday wasn’t paying attention until it was too late to make the play. Fans refer to these late starts as “taking a Holliday” but the uninitiated thought they were saying “holiday”.
Matt Holliday isn’t the first grossly overrated “Superstar”. Look at “A-Rod” (Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees) for example. Joe Torre’s book mentioned that other players have called him “A-Fraud” for years, partially referring to his legendary lack of success at crucial times, exhibited by his feat of only having 17 RBI in 39 postseason at games, an average of 1 every 2.3 games. During the regular season, his carreer average is 1 RBI for every 1.27 games. For contrast, Manny Ramirez averages 1 RBI per 1.2 games in the regular season, and 1 in 1.4 in the postseason. Matt Holliday averages an RBI every 1.4 games during the season, but only 1 in 2.2 games in the postseason. So, you can see the drop-off by A-Rod and Holliday are very similar. (Statistics from www.baseball-reference.com). Unless Holliday can figure out a way to step up his intensity when the chips are down, he will start getting the same reception in Oakland that A-Rod gets in the Big Apple every time he strikes out with the winning runs on base.
In the mean time, the Rockies have actually improved themselves by dumping Holliday because they will get better clutch hitting in his spot in the batting order and much better fielding in left field. If the players in the trade contribute, or the stingy management uses some of the saved money to good advantage, that will be gravy on the cake. For once Rockies management did the right thing, although purely by accident.
Bernie Lincicome Hits Rock Bottom
January 11th, 2009Talk about your bitter, angry, no-talent sportswriters! Bernie “Linci” Lincicome, the soon-to-be-unemployed hack sports “writer” for the Rocky Mountain News, memorialized earlier on this site for his extremely boorish behaviour, has trumped his earlier forays into the depths of crude writing and rude manners with his latest foray into attempted satire. Saturday, when his paper is the only one published in this one-rag town, “Burnie” took the opportunity to make a weak, spineless attempt at trashing former Broncos coach, Mike Shanahan. In the article, Linci said he was withdrawing his own name from consideration for the position (ha, ha), and then proceeded to suggest alternate careers for Mr. Shanahan, including:
“Ferret impersonator. Or is this too obvious?”
“Furnace repairman. Just as long as someone else takes care of the draft.”
“Opera singer. The game ain’t over till the little man’s eyes turn to slits.”
You get the picture, lame attacks that are as unfunny as they are inaccurate and poorly written. Shanahan is a sure Hall of Fame coach who earned his way with sometimes brilliant coaching that brought two Super Bowl victories to Denver, a gargantuan achievement that is beyond Linci’s ability to comprehend.
Linci is just reinforcing the obvious: that he is a bitter, untalented, know-nothing hack who didn’t have the balls to ask Mike any hard questions during his 14 years in Denver, but now thinks it is cool to pile on with cheap shots now that Shanahan can’t defend himself.
All sports fans will do a little dance when Linci is finally fired and leaves town in ignomy.
The Baseball Observer
Rockies Trade Holliday for Bag of Beans
November 12th, 2008November 11, 2008. Strong rumor has it that the Rockies have traded flawed superstar outfielder Matt Holliday to the Oakland Athletics for what amounts to the proverbial bag of beans. As you may recall, another genius predecessor of “Dealin’” Dan O’Dowd, a certain Jack, traded a prized cow (no word on the bovine’s range in left field) for a bag of beans that turned out to be magic and grew into a huge beanstalk, enabling Jack to embark on a life of crime, which in some way involved Oakland’s cross-bay rivals, the Giants.
No such luck in this case, as the Rockies got three young players of dubious talent, according to the “Official” Colorado Rockies web site:
“The Athletics have agreed to send the Rockies relief pitcher Huston Street, left-handed pitcher Greg Smith and outfield prospect Carlos Gonzalez.“
Current Rockies players couldn’t even wait until Holliday was out the door before trashing him:
Todd “Gramps” Helton: “How we’ll replace Matt, who is a great guy on a team and a good guy in the clubhouse, I have no idea.“
Troy “Turaluralura” Tulowitzky: “We are going to miss him because he is a great person, a great friend and a great player.“
Ryan “Rye Bread” Spilborghs: “Matt, in my opinion, is the best all-around left fielder in baseball — I can’t think of a better hitter and outfielder.“
The Rockies’ Owners, the unemployed former slaughterhouse operators Mel and Fred Monfort claimed they couldn’t afford Holliday because the franchise wasn’t making any money the last few years after paying the Monforts a billion dollars each as co-chairmen/presidents/poohbahs.
The Monforts, under the promise of anonymity, also verified rumors that they would be dumping the salaries of Atkins and Taveras and replacing them with low paid players currently on the Colorado roster or discarded by other teams. They guaranteed when the 2009 season begins, they would put 9 uniformed players on the field for every single game. After all, they said, after the opening day series with the World Champion Philadelphia Phillies, we will already have made a profit for the year because of the sweetheart stadium deal the citizens of Denver have given us. Suckers! Oh, did I say that out loud?
