April 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.”
Archive for the ‘Rockies’ Category
Denver’s Mayor Hickenlooper Responds to Rockies’ Multi-Million Dollar Ripoff of Denver’s Taxpayers!
Sunday, April 11th, 2010Multi-Million Dollar Rip-off: Coors Field Naming Rights
Friday, 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 Insur. | 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 2009, The Baseball Observer
The Rockies Saga – Volume XVII – 2009
Wednesday, 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.
Rockies Trade Holliday for Bag of Beans
Wednesday, 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?
Ex-Rockies in the 2008 World Series
Tuesday, October 21st, 2008In the past, there were plenty of ex-Rockies in the Fall Classic, leading to easy predicability based on the “Ex-Rockies Factor”. This year is quite different, mainly because the two teams involved, the Philadelphia Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays, are mostly home-grown, built by drafting and developing players rather than trading for or otherwise obtaining players from other teams. This year we have to go beyond the players to the coaching staff for the Rays, where one of the Rockies most beloved coaches now plies his trade, which always seems to lead him to the dugout of one of the World Series participants. I refer, of course, to “duckie” himself, Don “Popeye” Zimmer, the Senior Baseball Advisor for the Rays. Don was the bench coach in the early years with the Rockies until Don Baylor made him so mad that he walked out in the middle of a game and resurfaced that same season in the World Series with the Yankees. Don has won 6 World Series rings and probably wouldn’t mind getting another one this year. He certainly deserves it, because his fingerprints are all over the current Tampa Bay Team. Zimmer’s baseball career can only be described as awesome, as you can see on Wikipedia here.
For the Phillies, Hitting Coach Milt Thompson played for Colorado for three months in 1996, being released on August 2nd, after only batting 15 times in 14 games, mostly as a pinch hitter, batting .067. Even so, Milt was considered one of the best hitters in the game, hitting .288 or better in 7 of his 13 years in the Major Leagues. The Phillies offensive statistics have improved sharply under his tutelage. We will see how he gets his troops to hit in the clutch when they return to Philadelphia after only going 1-28 with runners on base in the first to games of the World Series.
Mick Billmeyer, the Phillies’ Catching Instructor was released by the Rockies in the Spring of 1994, ending his playing career.
Rudy Seanez, a relief pitcher who is currently not on the playoff roster for Philadelphia, actually pitched for Rockies organization in 1993, primarily in Colorado Springs, though he did spend some time on the Major League roster.
Infielder Andy Tracy is also on the Phillies’ inactive roster, who was a September call-up with the Rockies in 2004, hitting .188 in 16 at bats.
Is this enough to invoke the “ex-Rockie Factor”, which, as you recall, the Baseball Observer noted several years ago, which dictates that the team that wins in the playoffs is the one with the fewest ex-Rockies. In other words, ex-Rockies are a jinx in the playoffs, but do inactive ex-Rockies players and active coaches count? The result of the Fall Classic will tell.
Humidor Redux
Wednesday, September 24th, 2008Back in May, the Baseball Observer published this observation:
According to this article in NewsOK.com , the Humidifier was a failure from the beginning, contrary to what the full-time nut case and part time sports reporter for the Denver Post, Troy E. (the “E” is for ) has been vociferously claiming for years:
Rockies’ experiment with baseballs backfires
By Bill Sones and Rich Sones, Ph.D.
Strange but True
Q:What was the point of the Colorado Rockies baseball team placing balls in a high-humidity chamber for several months before games? Were they trying to cheat?
A:It was actually done in the name of fair play, New Scientist magazine says. The Rockies play in high-altitude Denver, where the thin air means batted baseballs travel up to 20 feet farther than at sea level. So, the humidity chambers were an attempt to tame down the overexuberant orbs. Then a team of University of Colorado researchers reported that the Rockies may have gotten things backward: Moisture may make the balls fly even farther. They found that two months in humidity of 30 to 50 percent increased the diameter of the balls by 0.24 percent and their mass by 1.6 percent. While it’s true the bigger, heavier, “squishier” balls come off the bat slightly more slowly and experience more drag, the extra mass more than compensates for these effects as the balls “take longer to decelerate,” and so carry farther. Moreover, the moist balls are harder for pitchers to curve and thus easier for sluggers to hit.
This proves, once and for all, what the Baseball Observer has said from the very beginning: there is no scientific or empirical evidence that storing baseballs in a humidifier makes the slightest bit of difference, except, obviously the psychological one.
Since then, a little more information has come afloat from newspaper articles and television reports. It turns out that Major League Baseball decided, in the interest of fairness, that all baseballs, in all parks, should meet minimum requirements for size, weight, and other, less obvious characteristics. Though neither side will admit it, this caused a change in the humidifier procedures at MillerCoors Field. In the above article, you will notice that they talk about storing the balls in the humidor for months (you may also note that we referred to it as a “humidifier” whereas the Rockies insist it is a “humidor”). What is happening now, at the direction of MLB, is that all balls are required to meet factory specifications. So, the heavier, “squishy” balls referred to above, would not be allowed today. Neither would the balls the Rockies used in the first few years at what used to be called Coors Field, because they were improperly stored and too old, dried out, and light weight to meet the standard.
Ideally, the teams should use balls that are as fresh as possible from the manufacturer and store them in a manner that does not change the condition of the ball in any way. If any team stores the balls such that moisure is added or removed, it is illegal. So, the humidor, when it is used legally, has no effect on the baseballs. The widely varying effects we saw in the Rockies first 10 years were likely a result of improperly buying and rotating the balls, then over-humidifying them when they began using the humidor. The Baseball Brass had to step in because of complaints from other teams, so now the Rockies are not altering the baseballs, with more normal results. Which of course means losing. The Baseball Observer wishes they would go back to the hard, dry, slick balls of the early years. They shouldn’t try to think, because they are not good at it. Things were good in those days, they should have left it alone.
82nd Loss Insures 11th Losing Season in 16
Monday, September 15th, 2008The 2008 streak turned out to be losses instead of wins, the seventh of which was number 82, making a winning season impossible. However, the Rockies are still in the hunt for the division title, since Los Angeles and Arizona could both end up with worse records than Colorado, though it is unlikely, for the Dodgers, at least.
In any case, this proves last year was a fluke, since Rockies team management admits they have better talent and more experience than last year’s team, and injuries were not a big enough factor to explain why they just lost 7 in a row when they desperately needed to win. In the Baseball Observer’s book, 2008 is the most disappointing year in the Hurdle era. Nothing could exceed the disappointment of the Blake Street Bombers era when the Rockies clearly had the best team in baseball and were constantly sabotaged by the worst manager in baseball history, Don Baylor. But 2008 was close. The Rockies started out losing most of their games because their first act on the field was to taunt the Diamondbacks, which undoubtedly fired up the Arizona club and led to their winning streak in the Spring that included beating the Rockies 10 times out of 12 games. When the Rockies started to get better, the GM, “Dealin’” Dan O’Dowd did nothing to improve the team, and whenever he made a move, it turned out to be bad, as usual. Meanwhile, Hurdle continued in his usual managerial stupor, doing little or nothing to shake things up and get the team rolling in the winning direction. Rockies fans are loyal, and kept showing up for the games as long as the team still had a chance, but the 7 game losing streak this week poked a big hole in the balloon and fans won’t be filling old Miller/Molsen/Coors field for the rest of the season and will join with the fair weather press in raising the call for massive firings of Rockies management.
The Rockies will always be a mediocre, small market team as long as the Monforts and their brain-dead trust are in charge because they are mediocre, small market managers. With decent owners and world-class baseball managers, Colorado will support a team with big market revenue that will allow them to run the best team in baseball with meaningful October games every year. The football, basketball, and hockey teams in Denver are usually in the playoff mix, not twice in 16 years, both flukes. If the Meatboys insist on keeping the team, they need to step back, get a president who has a consistent record of success, let him hire good baseball people and get people to market the team professionally for the first time in history. With a real GM and Manager, instead of yes-men, the team can dominate the National League West and challenge for the World Series every year. Denver, Colorado, and Rockies fans all over the world deserve nothing less, and if we don’t get it, the Monforts might as well move the team to Montreal because there will be more interest there than here!
Copyright The Baseball Observer, September 15, 2008
Rockies Won’t Let Fans Off The Hook
Thursday, August 21st, 2008It is tough to be a Rockies fan. The team is 59-70, 8 games out with 33 left to play. When they went 3-7 on a homestand a couple of weeks ago, to some pretty bad teams, most fans were ready to give up on them and start concentrating on football. Then, they go on a road trip to SoCal, never a good place for them, and almost sweep, ending up 5-1 after a one run loss in the final game. Now fans are thinking “Streak!” again and are expecting the Rockies to win nearly all of their remaining games and sweep into the World Series for the second year in a row.
No one really believes it can happen again, but the kind of fans the Rockies have built over the years with their bizarre handling of the team don’t know how to behave anymore.
Rockies Watch Cook Have A Rare Off Day and Lose 10-5
Sunday, July 6th, 2008Aaron Cook threw a 5-hit shutout that last time he pitched. This time he knew he had been selected for the All Star Game when he walked out to the mound.
How did he react?
By giving up 7 runs in 7 and a third innings and taking the loss to lower his record to a still-respectable 11-6 and raise his ERA from 3.38 to 3.66, still tops among Rockies starters.
Making it to the All Star game was a foregone conclusion anyway, so Cook couldn’t have been surprised. With Hurdle as the Coach of the Midsummer Night’s Classic, on the strength of making it to the World Series with the biggest fluke streak in the history of professional sports, it was obvious that he would take his best pitcher with him.
He would have taken others as well, if they all didn’t suck so badly.
Hurdle got to participate in the World Series and the All Star game in what is probably his last year as a Major League manager, and he should consider himself extremely lucky, and thank his lucky stars that there are totally incompetent owners like the Monfort “Meat Boys” to give him a job and stick with him for all these years of total failure.
Anyway, Cook started out well, with a scoreless first, then was touched for one run in the second and two in the third inning. Then he cruised through the 4th and 5th, then gave up a duece in the sixth, which cost him the lead at 5-4. He escaped the 7th, but gave up a two-run homerun with one out in the eighth and was consigned to the showers, now down 7-4.
The relief staff wasn’t much better, after Grilli escaped the eighth with no further damage, Viscaino gave up two runs and Bowers allowed another. What can you expect from hurlers with 9.24 and 14.73 ERAs?
So, the home team took three out of four from the Marlins, who have been a surprisingly good team in 2008 and are still a contender in the Eastern Division, only a couple back of the Phillies. The Rockies have a pretty good win streak going, but at 37 up and 52 down, they would already be close to elimination if the rest of the Western Division hadn’t been doing so poorly. As it is, they are only seven back and could still make a run if they can put together a 20-game win streak like they did last year.
Rockies in Disarry; Local Pundits Running For Cover
Monday, June 2nd, 2008The sports pundits from Denver newspapers, magazines, radio and TV stations, and most web sites, all predicted the Rockies would be contenders in 2008. They were caught up in the euphoria of the unbelievable trip the team made to the World Series in 2007, and would not believe that the Rockies would not continue their fabulous winning ways in the new season. Sort of the Obamamaniacs of Baseball, the Rockiemaniacs. They certainly didn’t listen to the Baseball Observer, even though we were the only ones to predict, back in April of 2007 that Colorado would make it to the World Series.
As you can readily verify on this page and others, the Baseball Observer predicted this years performance, noting that the combination of amazingly good health and an astounding number of “career years” accounted for last years performance and it could not happen again. It hasn’t, and it won’t.
The Rockies have wonderful talent on the field, but nothing but third rate people after that. Third-raters include the manager, Clint Hurdle, the GM “Feelin” Dan O’Dowd, the President, and of course the meat-headed principal owners the Monfort Twins. These guys are all on the baseball D-list. Nobody else would hire them, because they didn’t know what they were doing in the beginning, and they haven’t learned much from their plethora of mistakes. You can’t mix first-rate people with third-rate ones, because they just drop to their level, as was proven by Jim Leyland, who counts as the only blemish on a certain Hall of Fame career, the year he spent in Denver being dragged down to the level of the Monforts and O’Dowd.
