With 3 days left before Opening Day at Coors, the Rockies are looking in pretty good shape heading into the Season. Their rotation is set, much of their total roster is ready, and they have done pretty well in spring games (Currently 20-10-1).
Will the move to the Phoenix area for Spring Training pay off for them. In terms of facilities, even without the shorter commute times for "road" games, the Rockies should be in better shape physically than in most previous years.
The most intriguing aspect to me, is how they will use their bench, with super-Utility player Ty Wigginton, along with Jose Lopez and Jonathan Herrera around, plus the extremely limited Jason Giambi as a designated Pinch-Hitter. I think it's good to have Giambi because he seems to have a good rapport with the players, and can act as an extra coach, but I'm not certain that it's a good thing to have him take up a roster spot.
Time will tell. In 72 hours the season will get underway.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Spring Training 2011: The Final Two Weeks
I always try to gauge a team coming out of spring training based on the last two weeks heading into the season. This is when the team is more or less finalized and start playing the regulars longer and the starters tend to go about 5 innings or more. The Rockies started that stretch on Thursday of this past week. Leading up to that point the Rockies had put together a 14-6 record. Their past three games they have gone 1-2, but have given up 31 runs in the 3 games. It's time to start looking seriously at the team's performance over the next week and a half.
The biggest questions remaining are who will be the 5th starter with Cook injured and what will the infield look like, and how many catchers will come to Denver on April 1st?
Ubaldo Jimenez--to nobody's surprise--was named the opening day starter, and will be followed by De La Rosa, Chacin, and Hammel. Tracy hasn't announced a 5th starter yet, however Esmil Rogers seems likely to fill that role, however the question is would he pitch in the 5th game vs. the Dodgers or the 8th
@Pittsburgh because of an off-day on April 4th.
Ian Stewart, injured on the first defensive play of the spring, has been progressing more slowly than anticipated, leaving the door open for someone else to start at 3rd to open the season. Ty Wigginton has been performing well, and could be the starter, especially if Stewart ends up on the Disabled List to start the season.
Backup backup catcher Jordan Pacheco has had a pretty good spring. Chris Iannetta is expected to be the starter and Jose Morales is expected to be the backup, so Pacheco has also been working out at other positions, mostly infield. He could definitely be on the roster if their is a DL move with Stewart or another player before opening day.
The Rockies currently have 29 players on their active Roster, and Jason Giambi, expected to be added before Opening Day (He's currently a minor-league invitee). Cook will likely start on the DL, and Greg Reynolds will probably be sent down to the minors. That leaves three more moves for the Rockies before opening day.
The biggest questions remaining are who will be the 5th starter with Cook injured and what will the infield look like, and how many catchers will come to Denver on April 1st?
Ubaldo Jimenez--to nobody's surprise--was named the opening day starter, and will be followed by De La Rosa, Chacin, and Hammel. Tracy hasn't announced a 5th starter yet, however Esmil Rogers seems likely to fill that role, however the question is would he pitch in the 5th game vs. the Dodgers or the 8th
@Pittsburgh because of an off-day on April 4th.
Ian Stewart, injured on the first defensive play of the spring, has been progressing more slowly than anticipated, leaving the door open for someone else to start at 3rd to open the season. Ty Wigginton has been performing well, and could be the starter, especially if Stewart ends up on the Disabled List to start the season.
Backup backup catcher Jordan Pacheco has had a pretty good spring. Chris Iannetta is expected to be the starter and Jose Morales is expected to be the backup, so Pacheco has also been working out at other positions, mostly infield. He could definitely be on the roster if their is a DL move with Stewart or another player before opening day.
The Rockies currently have 29 players on their active Roster, and Jason Giambi, expected to be added before Opening Day (He's currently a minor-league invitee). Cook will likely start on the DL, and Greg Reynolds will probably be sent down to the minors. That leaves three more moves for the Rockies before opening day.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Spring Training 2011: The Schedule
As promised in September, I'm finally getting around to analyzing the schedule. When first glancing at it, two things pop out: Three-Nine game Road trips to NL West Opponents are the longest road trips of the season, and the Rockies play a significant amount of their division games earlier than in the past few seasons.
This means that the Rockies will need to prove an ability to play on the road earlier if they want to compete.
In April the Rockies play 8 games against the West all at home. In May 16 split evenly 8 Home and 8 Away, ending May with the start of their first 9 game road trip. Their first 14 games of June are against the West bringing them to a total of 38 West games, 23 home, 15 away. This leaves 13 home games, and 21 away games the rest of the season. They will go two full months without another West Home game from June 15th to August 19th. They will go over a month without seeing the west from June 15th through July 22nd. They will play 18 of 21 West games on the road (you guessed it two more 9 game West Swings) between July 22nd and September 4th, before finishing up with 10 games at home against the West and finishing the Season in San Francisco.
The Rockies will play all 15 of their inter-league games in one stretch from June 17th through July 3rd. This includes Detroit at Coors, followed by a trip to Cleveland and New Yankee Stadium, finishing up with home series against the White Sox and Royals.
Other than that, travel-wise it's not too bad of a schedule. April gives them a road trip to New York and Pittsburgh, and another one to Florida and Chicago. May takes them to Philadelphia and Milwaukee--the first of two trips to see the Brew Crew. They will have to endure the heat and Humidity of July in Atlanta and Washington, and in August will go to Cincinnati, and St. Louis. An oddity in September, as they break up two 6-game home stands with a two game set in Milwaukee, before their final trip that takes them to Houston for 4 games before heading to San Francisco.
The road is what traditionally hampers the Rockies, so that as always is the key, no matter what kind of travel schedule they get.
This means that the Rockies will need to prove an ability to play on the road earlier if they want to compete.
In April the Rockies play 8 games against the West all at home. In May 16 split evenly 8 Home and 8 Away, ending May with the start of their first 9 game road trip. Their first 14 games of June are against the West bringing them to a total of 38 West games, 23 home, 15 away. This leaves 13 home games, and 21 away games the rest of the season. They will go two full months without another West Home game from June 15th to August 19th. They will go over a month without seeing the west from June 15th through July 22nd. They will play 18 of 21 West games on the road (you guessed it two more 9 game West Swings) between July 22nd and September 4th, before finishing up with 10 games at home against the West and finishing the Season in San Francisco.
The Rockies will play all 15 of their inter-league games in one stretch from June 17th through July 3rd. This includes Detroit at Coors, followed by a trip to Cleveland and New Yankee Stadium, finishing up with home series against the White Sox and Royals.
Other than that, travel-wise it's not too bad of a schedule. April gives them a road trip to New York and Pittsburgh, and another one to Florida and Chicago. May takes them to Philadelphia and Milwaukee--the first of two trips to see the Brew Crew. They will have to endure the heat and Humidity of July in Atlanta and Washington, and in August will go to Cincinnati, and St. Louis. An oddity in September, as they break up two 6-game home stands with a two game set in Milwaukee, before their final trip that takes them to Houston for 4 games before heading to San Francisco.
The road is what traditionally hampers the Rockies, so that as always is the key, no matter what kind of travel schedule they get.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)