You know those Internet quizzes that ask you to name all 30 MLB teams in a couple minutes? For me, if I don’t get all of them, the one team that I miss is the Colorado Rockies. The Rockies are the Franklin Pierce of baseball teams. It’s pretty much all their fault too. The biggest story involving the Rockies last year was their trade of their best pitcher to the Indians. Troy Tulowitzki might be the best shortstop in the game but you rarely if ever hear his name. The Rockies are also rarely in contention. They stormed out of nowhere in 2009 to win the Wild Card but they have NEVER won the NL West. This offseason, however, they seem to finally be waking up.
The Rockies still haven’t made a big splash in the free agent market but they’ve made some smaller additions that could prove to be big. More importantly they’ve made some major addition by subtraction moves as well. The first in this category is definitely Chris Iannetta. The Rockies sent him to the Angels for Tyler Chatwood. Chatwood could definitely be a good pitcher but that’s not thats not the big gain for Colorado. No longer do the Rockies have to worry about Iannetta hitting 50 points below his projected average and 20 homers fewer than expected. Iannetta has long been projected to have huge power numbers and a decent average but he has been atrocious. In 2009, he hit .197 and 9 homers. Last year, he got the average up to .238 and hit 14 bombs, good for a WAR of 2.6 but certainly not a middle of the order dependable bat. The Rockies will only be good if they get out from under Iannetta’s unfulfilled potential.
Likewise, Ian Stewart is a career .236 hitter and hit .156 last season. In return for that “production,” the Rockies got Tyler Colvin and DJ LeMahieu from the Cubs. That’s a good haul.
In addition to those pickups, the Rockies added Michael Cuddyer and Casey Blake, both guys who can start and help them out this season; in Cuddyer’s case, for more than just this season. Colorado got Blake really cheaply ($2mil) and it was a great signing for them.
Now, despite all these good things, the Rockies won’t compete this season. Todd Helton is to old and to expensive to be really productive. (Which gives me an idea, do they have WAR relative to salary? Anyone know? They should if they don’t ) Also, the Rockies just dealt their closer to the Padres and don’t really have an Ace or a solid 5 man rotation. They’ll need another offseason or two like this one to get to a better place but they’re better off with out a couple of albatrosses on the roster.
It’s about time.
-Max Frankel
