Rockies Early 2008 Outlook
 

I know its early to do this before Spring Training, but I'm anxious because I love baseball and feel this could be another exciting year for the Rockies.
Personally, I love the latest aquisition of Marcus Giles. IMO, he's gonna be at least backing up at 2B this year.
My projected lineup:
1. Willy Taveras, CF
2. Troy Tulowitzki, SS
3. Matt Holliday, LF
4. Todd Helton, 1B
5. Garrett Atkins, 3B
6. Brad Hawpe, RF
7. Marcus Giles, 2B
8. Yorvit Torrealba, C
9. Pitcher

Bench:
Chris Iannetta - C
Jeff Baker - 1B, 3B, OF
Ian Stewart - 3B
Clint Barmes - SS
Ryan Spilborghs - OF
Seth Smith - OF

Pitching Rotation:
1. Jeff Francis
2. Aaron Cook
3. Jason Hirsh
4. Franklin Morales
5. Ubaldo Jimenez

Bullpen:
Mark Redman
Matt Herges
Jose Capellan
Luis Vizcaino
Brian Fuentes
Manny Corpas

This could change, as Rockies may need another pitcher, but hopefully they can do it with this much. I like having the depth of the bench with the way this is set up, and the lineup is solid.
Pitching, relying on a lot of young guys IMO but I believe they have the talent. Morales and Jimenez can pitch amazingly well, and if they hold up, it will be a solid rotation.
Bullpen has loads of depth. We have guys that can be called up, Bucholz, Wells, Speier, etc. that can come in and pitch effectively. Redman gets an edge because I want 2 lefty's in the pen.

The NL West is going to be very tough this year. The DBacks lineup is kinda questionable and needs to improve dramatically from last year. Made some big changes and we'll see how that works for them. Dodgers will depend on how their young kids perform. Padres DEFINITELY need a boost in their lineup. And, of course, the Giants...
IMO, at this point in time, I'd rank the DBacks/Rockies competing for 1st, then the Dodgers and Padres, and last the Giants.

GO ROCKIES!!!

It looks good except Ian Stewart won't rack up service time on the bench when he can play everyday at Colorado Springs.

I think that may be the option in the end, but may end up on the bench to add some pop.
Heck, maybe he can switch to play 2B and be the everyday 2B.

I think the Dodgers are going to be in contention this year with the additions they've had in the offseason.

I don't see the Dodgers drastically improving their team that much with Andruw Jones and the Japanese players they signed.
Andruw Jones IMO is overrated, kinda like how Furcal was overrated with how much money he got.
I can see Dodger fans turning on Andruw when he isn't hitting homeruns with a .230 BA in May.

The Dodgers have a good blend of veterans and youngsters. There's a lot to room to grow with James Loney, Matt Kemp and Andy LaRoche. All three of them can rake.

They overpaid for Andruw, but Furcal is an All-Star shortstop when healthy. His ankle injury hampered him all season long in 2007. He earned his salary in 2006.

Rockies, D-Backs, Padres and Dodgers will all contend this season. The only team that doesn't have much of a chance are the Giants and that's because they have no hitting to complement their solid pitching.

If Giles starts, plans A, B, and C blew up - a very bad thing. I think the Rockies are hoping against hope that Jayson Nix gets comfortable enough at the plate to justify giving him the job for 120 games a year. He's a Gold Glove quality fielder - his problem has always been his bat. But he started hitting better the last half of last year (at Colorado Springs), then hit like a mad man at the World Cup of Baseball (under pressure against some pretty solid competition). Otherwise, the lineup is pretty well set. I might juggle the batting order a little, though.

I can't argue with anyone there. Although, if Nix makes the team, it will be at someone's expense. My guess is that the odd man out would be either Giles or Barmes. I'd assume each would have some trade value, and I bet one of them is sent packing at some point in spring training. Corey Sullivan is also in the mix, although I don't see how he's going to fit - especially during the times the team carries 12 pitchers. And Omar Quintanilla can play all three infield positions, and has proved himself to be a solid left-handed bat in late-inning situations. It might not be bad to have Ian Stewart playing every day at Colorado Springs, and replace him with Quintanilla.

My guess is that Ian Stewart won't be there (unless he wins the 2nd Base job). The guys that make it are Ianetta, Smith, Spillborghs, Baker, Quintanilla, and Sullivan.

Did you put those in order? Ubaldo should be at 3. Then, I'm not convinced Morales will start the season in Denver. There's also the possibility that he makes the club, but out of the bullpen. That would leave the #5 spot for either Redman or Kip Wells.

Well, assuming they go with eleven pitchers, you can pretty much assume (barring injury) that Corpas, Fuentes, Vizcaino, and Herges are locks. So, that leaves only two spots among Buchholz, Ramon Ramirez, Speier, Juan Morillo, Capellan, and the two among Morales, Wells, and Redman that don't end up in the rotation. My first choice would be Redman (or Morales, if Redman ends up starting), so Hurdle would have another left-handed option. Then maybe Buchholz or Ramirez (if he could get back to his 2006 self).

That leaves some pretty solid players without spots - especially when you consider guys like Greg Reynolds likely to be ready at some point this year.

And, by the way, I haven't been this excited about a baseball season since the Rockies spent all the money on Hampton and Neagle.

I hope this turns out better than that.

And I have to begrudgingly give props to the Monforts for their offseason. Signing Tulo to the extension was very, very wise - probably, the same with Cook. And while the Holliday signing may seem like much ado about nothing, I think it's big. It avoids the often cantankerous back and forth of arbitration, and I like to think it says something about the lack of carte blanche he seems to be giving Boras. It sounds to me like he's willing to be reasonable about something that extends him beyond his arbitration years.

Sounds like a scared Rockie Fan to me.

Like I said, it all depends on how the young guys play, but I think some are overrating the Dodgers. I think they made a mistake in signing Andruw Jones, for one. Go ahead and overpay for him.
Right now, theres too many Q's for me when looking at the Dodgers. Its not like they are the Giants though, but they will probably hang around in the playoff hunt, but will miss out.
The NL West is an iffy division to predict because with certain things happening, any team could make a run at the division. Well, except the Giants.
With the Dodgers, it just depends on how well some guys rebound from injuries and the youngins play this year.
The DBacks, can the offense improve and the pitching keep up its outstanding pace from last year.
Rockies, can the pitching be as effective this year as it was last year.
Padres, timely clutch hits and amazing bullpen carried them last year, can they do it again?

Personally, this season is probably going to be frustrating for me to watch because its going to be hard for the Rockies to do what they did last year with how well the division is.

Don't get me wrong, I would love to see Nix come in and start, but I look at what Giles has done in the past, and if he can be that same player, I wouldn't mind having him start one bit. At least a bench player IMO.
The batting order, I was thinking of putting Atkins at the 4 hole and moving Helton to 5, but I don't know if I like that a whole lot.

It definitely seems like Stewart is going to be back in the Springs. We have a lot of depth IMO, and this is what really helped us last year when injuries happened. I am not really worried about our lineup or bench that much.
As for your bench, I don't see 3 OF's making the squad as bench players. I like them all, but one might have to go to add depth elsewhere(such as adding Marcus Giles).

I just kinda put Hirsh, Morales and Jimenez in there. I like Morales the best out of the bunch, and I hope he proves that he's worthy of starting in spring training. If Jimenez gets his control down, then I'm all for him bein #3.
I also considered Kip Wells, but don't think he will beat out these guys for a starting rotation spot.


The bullpen has some solid depth as well. Not all studs or anything who are lights out, but they will get the job done.

I honestly can't wait for it to get started. The last baseball experience I had was witnessing, first hand, a bunch of scumbag Red Sox fans congregating behind the 3rd Base dugout at Coors Field, watching their team celebrate. (I still need to post pictures of that - it was shocking! They filled the whole lower section with red. I'm still bitter about the way the ticket thing was handled.)

But I hate the Dodgers - always have, since I was a Yankee fan growing up (pre-Rockies). And I grew a healthy disdain for the Diamondbacks during the NLCS. And I am tired of hearing Padres fans whine about how Holliday never scored. The Giants are sort of like the Raiders. I used to really dislike them, but now it's like trying to get worked up over a retarded kid. There's nothing that makes sports more entertaining than good, old-fashioned hatred. And three of those teams, plus the Rockies, could reasonably expect to win the West. For a division that was the worst in baseball not too long ago, that's pretty exciting.

Please do post the pictures, I will use it as my sig just to piss off you Rockies fans.:wave:


I understand there is some serious Vitriol towards the Dodgers from Rockies fans, what is funny though is that most Dodger fans really aren't haters of the Rockies. That will soon change if you guys have another successful season. The Dodgers primary Rivals are the Midgets and the Madres. There is nothing more exciting than beating the Giants and watching them finish in last place.:~ohyah!:

Signing Andruw Jones was not a mistake for the Dodgers. They needed a slugger and they got a player who hit 51 home runs in 2005 and 41 dingers in 2006. He fell flat on his face last year, but keep in mind he turns 31 this April and has plenty of good baseball left in him.

The Dodgers gave Andruw a two-year contract. Why are you so concerned about them overpaying him? Last season the Dodgers had the highest payroll in the National League at $125 million. A two year contract is not going to financially cripple them.

I probably despise the Dodgers as much as you do, but I don't see where they have so many more question marks than the Rockies, Diamondbacks and Padres. Looking at their depth chart, they look solid at every position.

http://sportsline.com/mlb/teams/depth-chart/LA

They are so deep, they have capable reserves in Andy LaRoche, Andre Ethier, Chin-Lung Hu and Tony Abreu to fill in for their veterans at third, left, short and second. Their starting rotation is seven strong. A fifth starter is more of a luxury than a necessity and the Dodgers have Jason Schmidt and Esteban Loaiza at that slot. That's depth. Their bullpen is outstanding.

On paper, they look as good as anybody in the division. They also have the manager in place to get the most of their talent.

Amen :notworthy

As far as the NL West goes I don't think there is another division in baseball right now with so many young up and coming stars. Every team in the division either already has already or is in the process of handing the team over to young, future All Stars. It is going to make for a pretty interesting pennant race in the NL West this year and for many`years to come.

As far as the Dodgers go, I'm thrilled to have Torre as manager now, I think he is a huge upgrade over Little. And I'm very excited to see the further development of guys like Kemp, Martin and Loney. And as always the Dodgers have a pretty deep minor league system, headlined by one of, if not the top pitching prospect in the minors right now in lefty Clayton Kershaw.

God I hope he lives up to the hype whenever he gets called up:
http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/m...top&pid=477132

Kershaw should have little trouble overpowering big league batters and racking up strikeout numbers. His stuff is as good as anybody. Chris Young of the Padres has worked out with Kershaw during the offseason and says he has the best stuff he's ever seen. He's basically more gifted than Jake Peavy!

His command is not big league ready though and I foresee him going through the same growing pains that Scott Kazmir experienced in his first couple of seasons.

Well, people were claiming about how great Andruw Jones is. The fact of the matter is, he has only hit above .300 once and 40 or more twice. I don't think he will help the Dodgers as much as people are thinking. I see him going back to hitting his usual .260 average, 30 homeruns self.
And the Dodgers, we don't know how some of their young players will play in the big leagues. I'm not saying they aren't talented, but I know of plenty players that I thought would be solid, but now are no where.
And you talk about their starting rotation. Lets look
Brad Penny - stud ace
Derek Lowe - solid #2, although inconsistent at times
Chad Billingsley - had a solid year last year, but has yet to come out and pitch a full year in the majors. Gives up a lot of baserunners, but seems to be on the right path
Hiroki Yuroda - no idea about him, we'll see how he does in the MLB
Jason Schmidt - how well can he rebound from a season ending injury last year at the age of 34?
Esteban Loiazia - 36 years old, only started 7 games last year and had an ERA of 5.79
I like the front 3 personally, but after that, there are unknowns. If Schmidt can regain his old form, then it will be a very solid rotation.

I will say, it seems nearly every NL West team has a great bullpen in the works.

Did you guys see that we signed hawpe to a 1 year deal and avoided arbitration there?

.260 with 30 home runs and above-average defense are what the Dodgers are expecting. Nothing wrong with that.

If you're going to knock the Dodgers for being unknowns, why not do the same with the Diamondbacks who are putting a lot of stock into Justin Upton, Stephen Drew and Mark Reynolds? My point being with the Dodgers having some young studs is they have room for growth. They aren't a stagnant club.



Front three is a solid foundation. A fifth starter is always a luxury so they need to find one more and I like their chances with the numbers they have that includes Clayton Kershaw. The Rockies are loaded, but their rotation is not the most stable part of the puzzle.

I am not even a Dodgers fan, but they are not in worse shape than the Rockies, D-Backs or Padres. They have as good of chance as anybody.

They also did the same with Atkins.

Arbitration is the ugliest process in baseball. I'm glad they avoided it.

****, my bad, that's who I meant

I think The Rockies and Brewers will play in the NLCS with the Brewers coming out on top.

Buh-bye, Marcus Giles.

I can't say I'm sad to see him go. He's a decent guy, but his getting any significant playing time at 2nd would mean bad things for this team. Let's just hope Jayson Nix's bat stays effective once the real games start.

Man, I thought the past years were just a fluke, but he is finished. I really loved his play in Atlanta, but those years are gone now.

I'm glad for Nix, his bat finally showed up.
I'm worried about the rotation though, Ubaldo and Morales haven't pitched well, Hirsh is hurt, and neither Cook or Francis are aces.

Man, I am usually pretty jacked about the start of the baseball season, but this year, "Jacked" doesn't even begin to come close. One week from yesterday is opening day boys and girls!!