Jim Tracy resigned today as the Rockies Manager after nearly 4 years at the helm. He compiled a 294-308 record with the Rockies and led them to their best record of 92-70 in 2009 and their worst record at 64-98 this season.
I have pondered the status of Tracy for most of the 2nd half of the year, and still could not conclude whether he deserved to stay or needed to go. It's difficult to say what type of skipper the Rockies need someone who can motivate them in thier longer slumps than either Clint Hurdle or Jim Tracy had done over the past several years.
I thank Jim Tracy for his service to the Rockies and wish him well. He certainly deserves another managing opportunity in the future.
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Thursday, October 4, 2012
MLB Whiffs with 2013 Schedule
First of all, I'd like to give the Rockies some credit: Within a day of the release of the 2013 schedule in mid-September, they had a printable schedule ready. I haven't seen any other team release a printable schedule yet.
In 2011, MLB announced that starting in 2013 the National League and the American League would both have 15 teams, and that the Houston Astros would balance the leagues by moving to the AL West from the NL Central. The mathematically inclined thought that this would lead to a balanced schedule in the following way:
1. All teams would now have 4 divisional Opponents. Scheduling 18 games with each division opponent (9 home and 9 Away would give each team 72 games.)
2. There would be 10 League opponents outside of their division. They could play each one of them 6 times (3 Home and 3 Away) and would provide each team with an additional 60 games.
3. That would leave 30 InterLeague games. They could play one division in the other league home and home 3 games each, or two of the divisions 3 games each to reach the 30 games.
But this posed several problems for MLB.
1. MLB did not want 30 interleague games per team, they would prefer to have 18-20.
2. "Natural" rivalries would have to be abandoned. Never mind the fact that there are really only about 5 "Natural" rivalries, the fact that the Yankees were involved in one of them, superseded all sense of balance for the other 29 teams.
3. There weren't enough 4 game series to schedule consecutive playing days without also having a bunch of 2 game series, which the teams don't like.
All right fine. Let's give them their Natural rivalries. Let each division play another division in the other league 3 games (Home or Away) giving each team 15 interleague games. No wait that won't work, so each team plays 4 of the 5 teams 3 times and one team they play home and home in 2 games. Next year NL West plays AL East, NL East Plays AL Central and NL Central Plays AL West.
It also leaves A home and home series for the natural rivals played on consecutive days 2 home and 2 away. And these 4 game series will all start on Memorial Day.
Okay fine, that still leaves 72 division games and 70 other games in the league which means all the non-Division opponents can play each other 7 times. Great!
Except that didn't happen either and this is where MLB blew it. They instead increased division games to 19 per opponent for a total of 76 games. Then each team will play a random combination of 6 of the other teams 7 times and the other 4 only 6 times. For the Rockies they will play everyone in the NL East 7 times and everyone in the NL Central other than the St. Louis Cardinals 6 times. For Arizona it's the NL Central and one team from the East 7 times. For the other 3 NL West teams, it's a mix of 6 teams from both divisions.
The Rockies will open 2013 in Milwaukee, and then come home for 3 with San Diego before going to the West coast in San Francisco and San Diego. Their first interleague games are May 3-5 at home against Tampa Bay. Their "Natural" rival is the Houston Astros (Arizona got Texas). MLB has all of the natural rivals playing each other in home and home series of 4 games from Memorial Day through May 30th.
So here are the Natural City Rivals:
1. Yankees/Mets
2. Angels/Dodgers
3. A's/Giants
4. White Sox/Cubs
5. Orioles/Nationals
Here are the Natural State Rivals:
6. Indians/Reds
7. Royals/Cardinals
8. Rays/Marlins
9. Rangers/Astros (oops!)
Here are the odd men out.
9. Mariners/Padres
10. Twins/Brewers
11. Red Sox/Phillies
12. Tigers/Pirates
13. Blue Jays/Braves
14. Rangers/D-Backs
15. Astros/Rockies
In 2013 the Rockies Tough month will be August where they have 11 home games and 17 Road Games. Starting July 29th they play 20 of 26 on the Road. They do have a stretch from May 16th to June 16th where they have 22 of 29 at home.
A strong start in April and May will certainly help the Rockies be competitive, but from Father's Day to Labor Day things could get brutal. They will have 5 consecutive 3 city Road Trips starting on June 17th and going through September 15th. During this stretch they will play 48 road games and only 31 Home games. Also during that stretch they will play no games in the Central Time Zone. Three of the trips will be eastern time zone trips, while the other two trips are divisional West Coast trips. In fact they only have 11 central time zone games, and play all of them in April and May.
For the next few months the Rockies will shape the Roster for next year. The schedule although better next year, again seems to be put together with leftovers from the big market teams.
In 2011, MLB announced that starting in 2013 the National League and the American League would both have 15 teams, and that the Houston Astros would balance the leagues by moving to the AL West from the NL Central. The mathematically inclined thought that this would lead to a balanced schedule in the following way:
1. All teams would now have 4 divisional Opponents. Scheduling 18 games with each division opponent (9 home and 9 Away would give each team 72 games.)
2. There would be 10 League opponents outside of their division. They could play each one of them 6 times (3 Home and 3 Away) and would provide each team with an additional 60 games.
3. That would leave 30 InterLeague games. They could play one division in the other league home and home 3 games each, or two of the divisions 3 games each to reach the 30 games.
But this posed several problems for MLB.
1. MLB did not want 30 interleague games per team, they would prefer to have 18-20.
2. "Natural" rivalries would have to be abandoned. Never mind the fact that there are really only about 5 "Natural" rivalries, the fact that the Yankees were involved in one of them, superseded all sense of balance for the other 29 teams.
3. There weren't enough 4 game series to schedule consecutive playing days without also having a bunch of 2 game series, which the teams don't like.
All right fine. Let's give them their Natural rivalries. Let each division play another division in the other league 3 games (Home or Away) giving each team 15 interleague games. No wait that won't work, so each team plays 4 of the 5 teams 3 times and one team they play home and home in 2 games. Next year NL West plays AL East, NL East Plays AL Central and NL Central Plays AL West.
It also leaves A home and home series for the natural rivals played on consecutive days 2 home and 2 away. And these 4 game series will all start on Memorial Day.
Okay fine, that still leaves 72 division games and 70 other games in the league which means all the non-Division opponents can play each other 7 times. Great!
Except that didn't happen either and this is where MLB blew it. They instead increased division games to 19 per opponent for a total of 76 games. Then each team will play a random combination of 6 of the other teams 7 times and the other 4 only 6 times. For the Rockies they will play everyone in the NL East 7 times and everyone in the NL Central other than the St. Louis Cardinals 6 times. For Arizona it's the NL Central and one team from the East 7 times. For the other 3 NL West teams, it's a mix of 6 teams from both divisions.
The Rockies will open 2013 in Milwaukee, and then come home for 3 with San Diego before going to the West coast in San Francisco and San Diego. Their first interleague games are May 3-5 at home against Tampa Bay. Their "Natural" rival is the Houston Astros (Arizona got Texas). MLB has all of the natural rivals playing each other in home and home series of 4 games from Memorial Day through May 30th.
So here are the Natural City Rivals:
1. Yankees/Mets
2. Angels/Dodgers
3. A's/Giants
4. White Sox/Cubs
5. Orioles/Nationals
Here are the Natural State Rivals:
6. Indians/Reds
7. Royals/Cardinals
8. Rays/Marlins
Here are the odd men out.
9. Mariners/Padres
10. Twins/Brewers
11. Red Sox/Phillies
12. Tigers/Pirates
13. Blue Jays/Braves
14. Rangers/D-Backs
15. Astros/Rockies
In 2013 the Rockies Tough month will be August where they have 11 home games and 17 Road Games. Starting July 29th they play 20 of 26 on the Road. They do have a stretch from May 16th to June 16th where they have 22 of 29 at home.
A strong start in April and May will certainly help the Rockies be competitive, but from Father's Day to Labor Day things could get brutal. They will have 5 consecutive 3 city Road Trips starting on June 17th and going through September 15th. During this stretch they will play 48 road games and only 31 Home games. Also during that stretch they will play no games in the Central Time Zone. Three of the trips will be eastern time zone trips, while the other two trips are divisional West Coast trips. In fact they only have 11 central time zone games, and play all of them in April and May.
For the next few months the Rockies will shape the Roster for next year. The schedule although better next year, again seems to be put together with leftovers from the big market teams.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
The 2013 Rockies--Pitchers
Earlier we discussed the hitting. Today we discuss the Pitching.
The big 2012 experiment was the 4 man rotation with the 3 man piggyback. By mid-June the Rockies really had a problem early with their injuries and lack of experience.
Let's go back about 6 months and look at the initial Rockies Rotation:
1. Jeremy Guthrie
2. Jamie Moyer
3. Juan Nicasio
4. Jhoulys Chacin
5. Drew Pomerantz
Of those 5 Pomerantz had the most starts (21) followed by Guthries' 15. Chacin will end up with 14, Nicasio 11and Moyer 10. That only covered 71 games.
In all, the Rockies have had 14 different starters this season with 9 of them starting 10 or more games. The team leader in starts is familiar but didn't even arrive until June--Jeff Francis. He will end up with 24 starts.
It also needs to be noted that the Rockies used a 4 man rotation with a 75 pitch limit for much of the latter 2/3rds of the season.
For 2013 the Rockies have announced that they will move back to a 5 man rotation with a higher pitch count, but retain the piggyback system keeping 3 long relievers. In order for it to work several of the starters must consistently get to the 6th and 7th innings on the 90-100 Pitches. Many of them failed to get through 4 on 75.
Guthrie and Moyer are no longer around, but the Rockies still have a number of pitchers to choose their 8 starters/piggybacks from before all the winter moves.
Here are my candidates for the Starters:
1. De La Rosa (L)
2. Chacin (R)
3. Nicasio (R)
4. Francis (L)
5. Friedrich (L) or Chatwood (R)
And for Piggybacks:
1. Outman
2. Moscoso
3. Ottavino
This still leaves lots of other possibilities when injuries ineffectiveness strikes:
Pomerantz
White
Torres
Sanchez
It also frees up Roenicke to be in the finishing bullpen, along with Belisle, Brothers, Reynolds, Harris and Betancourt.
If anything the Rockies disastrous season gave a lot of young pitchers a lot more experience. They need to come out in 2013 in good shape and better throwing.
The big 2012 experiment was the 4 man rotation with the 3 man piggyback. By mid-June the Rockies really had a problem early with their injuries and lack of experience.
Let's go back about 6 months and look at the initial Rockies Rotation:
1. Jeremy Guthrie
2. Jamie Moyer
3. Juan Nicasio
4. Jhoulys Chacin
5. Drew Pomerantz
Of those 5 Pomerantz had the most starts (21) followed by Guthries' 15. Chacin will end up with 14, Nicasio 11and Moyer 10. That only covered 71 games.
In all, the Rockies have had 14 different starters this season with 9 of them starting 10 or more games. The team leader in starts is familiar but didn't even arrive until June--Jeff Francis. He will end up with 24 starts.
It also needs to be noted that the Rockies used a 4 man rotation with a 75 pitch limit for much of the latter 2/3rds of the season.
For 2013 the Rockies have announced that they will move back to a 5 man rotation with a higher pitch count, but retain the piggyback system keeping 3 long relievers. In order for it to work several of the starters must consistently get to the 6th and 7th innings on the 90-100 Pitches. Many of them failed to get through 4 on 75.
Guthrie and Moyer are no longer around, but the Rockies still have a number of pitchers to choose their 8 starters/piggybacks from before all the winter moves.
Here are my candidates for the Starters:
1. De La Rosa (L)
2. Chacin (R)
3. Nicasio (R)
4. Francis (L)
5. Friedrich (L) or Chatwood (R)
And for Piggybacks:
1. Outman
2. Moscoso
3. Ottavino
This still leaves lots of other possibilities when injuries ineffectiveness strikes:
Pomerantz
White
Torres
Sanchez
It also frees up Roenicke to be in the finishing bullpen, along with Belisle, Brothers, Reynolds, Harris and Betancourt.
If anything the Rockies disastrous season gave a lot of young pitchers a lot more experience. They need to come out in 2013 in good shape and better throwing.
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