Tulowitzki Called Up

[DomCasual]

They say he's likely to start the bulk of the last 31 games, with the goal of seeing if he's ready to start next year in the big leagues. Iannetta came up Saturday. Hopefully they both do well - I can't imagine watching another year of the likes of Barmes and Danny Ardoin getting significant playing time.

O'Dowd needs to go buy a decent CF in the offseason.

[Clockwork Orange]

Great news. There's no way he could be worse than Clint Barmes. I'm excited to see what this kid can do.

Originally Posted by DomCasual

O'Dowd needs to go buy a decent CF in the offseason.

[Master___Pain]

Originally Posted by Clockwork Orange

Great news. There's no way he could be worse than Clint Barmes. I'm excited to see what this kid can do.

Yep, he'd be great in Coors Field. too bad it will never happen. They'll probably deal Francis for Crisp or something similar. Ugh.

[DomCasual]

Originally Posted by Master___Pain

Yep, he'd be great in Coors Field. too bad it will never happen. They'll probably deal Francis for Crisp or something similar. Ugh.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[Master___Pain]

Originally Posted by DomCasual

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

My sentiments exactly...but the chances of it happening are not that far fetched unfortunately.

[Jori]

I'm thrilled to see this move, but this should have been done a month ago.

[Clockwork Orange]

Originally Posted by Master___Pain

Yep, he'd be great in Coors Field. too bad it will never happen. They'll probably deal Francis for Crisp or something similar. Ugh.

Of course not. That would require them to spend money and we all know that aint gonna happen.

If they would make a serious bid for Hunter and Soriano this offseason, they'd be a dangerous team. It won't happen, but it's a nice thought.

[Clockwork Orange]

Tulo came out and played like, well, a wide-eyed rookie in his debut. 0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts, but he did make a very nice play in the field, showing off that strong arm of his. No need to press, kid, this season is in the tank anyway.

Here's something interesting to look at in regards to the Rockies team payroll, how it's declined sharply over the last 5 years and how the on field product has managed to remain in the poor to mediocre range the whole time.

http://asp.usatoday.com/sports/baseb...s.aspx?team=19

Year   Total Payroll Record
2006   $41,233,000    61-71 (30 games to go)                                   
2005   $48,155,000    67-95                                
2004   $65,445,167    68-94                                 
2003   $67,179,667    74-88                                 
2002   $56,851,043    73-89                                 
2001   $71,541,334    73-89

The Rockies current payroll sits at 28th in all of MLB. Only the Marlins ($15 million) and Devil Rays ($35+ million) have lower total team payrolls.

Despite management giving them next to nothing to be excited about, the Rockies are still averaging 26,970 paid per game at Coors Field. Don't forget that they also received a nice check to the tune of $16 million from MLB's revenue sharing program.....none of which went towards improving the team.

They passed on potential #1 starter Andrew Miller in the draft this year to take potential #4 starter Greg Reynolds due to financial concerns. I know, they'll throw the Matt Harrington situation at people the same way they use the Hampton & Neagle disasters as an excuse not to be active in free agency.

This is a market that has shown that they'll support a team that's committed to winning, but the Monforts have basically turned their backs on the fans and will continue to put a substandard product on the field so long as they're in the black when the season is over. That's about the only way to explain why the incompetance of Dan O'Dowd has been rewarded with a contract extension, despite the fact that he hasn't put a winning product on the field in his tenure as Rockies GM.

Ah well, I guess I'll just keep dreaming of the day that Stan Kroenke buys the Rockies.

*sigh*

[Jori]

Nothing will change until this team has new ownership. O'Dud can only do so much.

I don't have a problem with them passing on Miller in the draft, the one they should have taken was Longoria.

We'll see what they do in the offseason (i.e. addressing center field and second base). They wasted great pitching this year. There is no guarantee that Coors Field will play the same way next year. This has been one of the more humid summers in Colorado in recent history. They need bats!

[Clockwork Orange]

Tulowitzki finally looks like he's calming down and he had his finest day in the bigs yet. He went 4 for 4 today with a double, three singles, a walk and two runs scored. He needed a day like this since he was 1 for 13 since being called up coming into today. He finally looked like he wasn't swinging out of his shoes every time he came to the plate.

A couple of other noteables from today's game.

Matt Holliday hit a home run that cleared the Dodgers bullpen and hit a palm tree behind it. That palm tree might have been the only thing that kept the ball from leaving the stadium completely. The estimated distance was 481 feet.

Vinny Castilla, back for nostalgia's sake, hit a two run home run. All else aside, it was a nice blast from the past to see Vinny launch a fastball like he used to.

[Jori]

Tulo hits homerun #1 in the bigs

[Clockwork Orange]

Tulowitzki has settled in pretty well. He's batting .303 after tonights game in which he stole a pair of bases, the first of his career.

Back to my railing on the Rockies front office for a minute. I went on about their payroll earlier. Well, it looks like that situation is actually worse than I originally anticipated. Some new evidence has come to light.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/teams/salaries?team=col

PLAYER SALARY (US$) 
1. Todd Helton 16,600,000 
2. Kazuo Matsui 8,058,333 
3. Jason Jennings 4,500,000 
4. Vinny Castilla 3,200,000 
5. Ray King 2,500,000 
6. Jose Mesa 2,000,000 
7. Brian Fuentes 2,000,000 
8. Byung-Hyun Kim 1,250,000 
9. Aaron Cook 1,250,000 
10. Mike DeJean 1,150,000 
11. Jeremy Affeldt 1,000,000 
12. Yorvit Torrealba 850,000 
13. Josh Fogg 850,000 
14. Jamey Carroll 700,000 
15. Matt Holliday 500,000 
16. Jeff Francis 336,000 
17. Garrett Atkins 335,000 
18. Clint Barmes 335,000 
19. Brad Hawpe 335,000 
20. Cory Sullivan 335,000 
21. Chin-hui Tsao 332,000 
22. Choo Freeman 329,000 
Total Team Salary:  40,791,000

Looks pretty much in line with what I said before, right? Well, looks are deceiving.

The Mets are picking up all but the league minimum portion of Matsui's contract. Same story with Vinny Castilla, the Padres are paying practically all of his salary. That's about $11 million reported on the Rockies team payroll that they aren't actually paying. So the total team payroll is actually under $30 million.

Don't forget the little 16 million dollar check they got from revenue sharing, which is covering over half of the payroll. Don't tell me that the cheap ass Monforts can't afford to pay for talent to improve the club because it's just not true. Those ****ers are making money hand over fist while running a substandard product out there year after year.

Excuse me while I both weep and vomit.

[Jori]

The Stooges just gave O'Dud and Clint Clueless votes of confidence. I wish I could say they were "dreaded" votes of confidence. Instead, they decide to blame the players

Um, who put the team together? Who is coaching the players? Wanna bet the scape goat this offseason is the hitting coach?

[Hercules Rockefeller]

Originally Posted by Clockwork Orange

Looks pretty much in line with what I said before, right? Well, looks are deceiving.

The Mets are picking up all but the league minimum portion of Matsui's contract. Same story with Vinny Castilla, the Padres are paying practically all of his salary. That's about $11 million reported on the Rockies team payroll that they aren't actually paying. So the total team payroll is actually under $30 million.

Don't forget the little 16 million dollar check they got from revenue sharing, which is covering over half of the payroll. Don't tell me that the cheap ass Monforts can't afford to pay for talent to improve the club because it's just not true. Those ****ers are making money hand over fist while running a substandard product out there year after year.

Excuse me while I both weep and vomit.

Not to defend the total lack of spending by the Monforts and the rest, but on the flip-side, aren't the Rox still paying for Hampton and Neagle?

Hopefully there will be some sort of fan revolt this offseason if they don't do anything to add to young pieces they already have.

[Master___Pain]

Well, I can all but promise you that Holliday is a goner. Boras is going to ask for way more than the Rockies will be willing to pony up.

[Clockwork Orange]

Originally Posted by Hercules Rockefeller

Not to defend the total lack of spending by the Monforts and the rest, but on the flip-side, aren't the Rox still paying for Hampton and Neagle?

Possibly, I'm not completely sure though.

Again, who signed those two mega-busts? That's right, the guy who just got a contract extension, Dan O'Dowd. While I could understand the Hampton signing, the Neagle signing was inexplicable to seemingly everyone but O'Dowd. $51 million for a fly ball pitcher to throw half his games at a pre-humidor Coors Field?

The Rockies actually got a little lucky that offseason if you can believe that. There was another pitcher they were in hot pursuit of and were ready to throw mega millions at, Darren Dreifort. A guy who, at the time, had a career record under .500 and a career ERA well over 4. Thankfully they got outbid by the Dodgers for him or they'd probably still be paying for yet another mistake.

They're going to have to jump into the free agent waters again at some point if they ever want to be a playoff team.

[Breck Bronc]

Originally Posted by Clockwork Orange

Possibly, I'm not completely sure though.

Again, who signed those two mega-busts? That's right, the guy who just got a contract extension, Dan O'Dowd. While I could understand the Hampton signing, the Neagle signing was inexplicable to seemingly everyone but O'Dowd. $51 million for a fly ball pitcher to throw half his games at a pre-humidor Coors Field?

The Rockies actually got a little lucky that offseason if you can believe that. There was another pitcher they were in hot pursuit of and were ready to throw mega millions at, Darren Dreifort. A guy who, at the time, had a career record under .500 and a career ERA well over 4. Thankfully they got outbid by the Dodgers for him or they'd probably still be paying for yet another mistake.

They're going to have to jump into the free agent waters again at some point if they ever want to be a playoff team.

The Monforts take the blame for the Hampton/Neagle signings. They wanted those two and came out in the press to admit it last year.

The Rockies were completely rid of the Hampton/Neagle contracts after the 2005 season. The Marlins are still paying some of Hampton's contract (from the P. Wilson/C. Johnson/Pierre/Hampton trade), as are the Braves. I do believe the Rockies owe Hampton some sort of one time only bonus in 2015 or something like that.

Handing Helton such a big contract was a disaster, too. It's too bad the Rockies decided to spend a ton of money in 2001 right at the end of the long contract era. It's set the franchise back a half decade and could last longer.

I do like some of the things O'Dowd has done in spite of the terrible ownership situation, but I think he and his scouts should be fired for the terrible 2006 draft. The first two picks are very uninspiring (Greg Reynolds and David Christiansen), especially when Evan Longoria or Andrew Miller were there for the taking at #2. Longoria has torn it up in the minors and would be on track to be the Colorado 2B of the future, but instead we have a #4 starter at best in Reynolds. Christiansen strikes out way too much for a high second round pick.

This franchise needs a fresh start and it should start with the owners. They've become content to field a mediocre team and earn multi-million dollar revenue sharing checks from the Yankees. You can't fire owners, unfortunately.

Clint Hurdle needs to go, too. He's a terrible game manager and seems to be in over his head at times.

[-Slap-]

The Rockies last draft was a punch in the gut and I'm not even a fan.

[Clockwork Orange]

Originally Posted by Breck Bronc

The Monforts take the blame for the Hampton/Neagle signings. They wanted those two and came out in the press to admit it last year.

The Rockies were completely rid of the Hampton/Neagle contracts after the 2005 season. The Marlins are still paying some of Hampton's contract (from the P. Wilson/C. Johnson/Pierre/Hampton trade), as are the Braves. I do believe the Rockies owe Hampton some sort of one time only bonus in 2015 or something like that.

Handing Helton such a big contract was a disaster, too. It's too bad the Rockies decided to spend a ton of money in 2001 right at the end of the long contract era. It's set the franchise back a half decade and could last longer.

I do like some of the things O'Dowd has done in spite of the terrible ownership situation, but I think he and his scouts should be fired for the terrible 2006 draft. The first two picks are very uninspiring (Greg Reynolds and David Christiansen), especially when Evan Longoria or Andrew Miller were there for the taking at #2. Longoria has torn it up in the minors and would be on track to be the Colorado 2B of the future, but instead we have a #4 starter at best in Reynolds. Christiansen strikes out way too much for a high second round pick.

This franchise needs a fresh start and it should start with the owners. They've become content to field a mediocre team and earn multi-million dollar revenue sharing checks from the Yankees. You can't fire owners, unfortunately.

Clint Hurdle needs to go, too. He's a terrible game manager and seems to be in over his head at times.

Then the Monforts deserve to be fired. I know, wishful thinking. Sad how they've gone from dumb to cheap. I prefer the days when they were at least willing to take a shot at bringing in talent, no matter how misguided their spending may have been. Certainly beats the **** out of the penny pinching ways they've settled into now.

Helton's contract is a major albatross for this team. It wouldn't be quite as bad if he was still producing at an All-Star level, but it appears that those days are officially behind him. He's not a scrub by any means, but no way is he coming anywhere close to earning the near $17 million he's making this year or the dollars yet to come on that bloated contract.

This years draft was horrible. I know it's too early to really judge it, but the early returns are not promising. Reports are that Reynolds can't miss anyone's bat and Christensen can't get his bat on the ball. Pretty sad when that's the best you can come up with picking 2nd in each round. I don't care about the signability issues, Miller should have been their guy. A lefty starter with his stuff, a potential #1 or #2 starter would have been the cause for a lot more excitement than a guy who projects to be the 2nd coming of Josh Fogg. A guy who scouts say will be pretty average if he maxes out his potential. Yep, that's a Rockies move allright.

They're also going to have to figure out what they're going to do about their top prospect not in the majors right now, Ian Stewart. Garrett Atkins is looking like a mainstay at 3rd base, the same spot that Stewart plays. I'd hate to see them hang on to this kid too long (like they did with Ryan Shealy) and have him linger around with nothing to do because they've already got someone else playing his position. They hung on to Shealy for way too long and ended up getting pennies on the dollar for him, when at one time he had a pretty fair amount of trade value.

[Clockwork Orange]

Speaking of Garrett Atkins, he just picked up his 100th RBI of the season.

[Breck Bronc]

Originally Posted by Clockwork Orange

They're also going to have to figure out what they're going to do about their top prospect not in the majors right now, Ian Stewart. Garrett Atkins is looking like a mainstay at 3rd base, the same spot that Stewart plays. I'd hate to see them hang on to this kid too long (like they did with Ryan Shealy) and have him linger around with nothing to do because they've already got someone else playing his position. They hung on to Shealy for way too long and ended up getting pennies on the dollar for him, when at one time he had a pretty fair amount of trade value.

If I were GM I'd do whatever I could to unload Todd Helton and then move Atkins back to his original position, first base.

I also would have drafted Evan Longoria second overall instead of Greg Reynolds (Longoria didn't want to be drafted by the Rockies because of the Rockies stupid Christian Clubhouse thing that came out before the draft).

Then my infield would be set for many years; Ianetta at C, Atkins at 1B, Longoria at 2B, Stewart at 3B, and Tulowitzki at SS.

As GM I would also fire Dinger, Clint Hurdle, Drew Goodman and George Frazier.

[Clockwork Orange]

Originally Posted by Breck Bronc

If I were GM I'd do whatever I could to unload Todd Helton and then move Atkins back to his original position, first base.

I also would have drafted Evan Longoria second overall instead of Greg Reynolds (Longoria didn't want to be drafted by the Rockies because of the Rockies stupid Christian Clubhouse thing that came out before the draft).

Then my infield would be set for many years; Ianetta at C, Atkins at 1B, Longoria at 2B, Stewart at 3B, and Tulowitzki at SS.

As GM I would also fire Dinger, Clint Hurdle, Drew Goodman and George Frazier.

The problem is that Helton's declined production, combined with his monster salary makes him completely untradeable unless the Rockies eat a healthy portion of his contract (at least half, I'd imagine).

Longoria would have absolutely been a better pick. Practically anything would have been a better choice than a guy who might turn out to be a #4 starter with the #2 overall pick. That's just sad.

Atkins is a keeper, so something's gotta give. If they're not gonna unload Helton or change Stewart's position, they need to trade Stewart while he's still got upside and a team out there might be willing to give something of value for him.

It certainly doesn't help the Rockies credibility that their broadcasters are all complete shills for the front office and the local papers have a stake in the franchise. So getting an objective report on this team seems to be next to impossible. Again, that's just sad.

[Jori]

Are you telling me you can't get unbiased coverage from the Rockies Mountain News?

Isn't there some talk of moving Stewart to the outfield? I'm with Breck, I wanted them to draft Longoria. Gotta love the cheapness of this franchise. Reynolds was drafted because there wouldn't be signability issues. That's what it has come to now. The cheap franchises are willing to let franchise talent slip because they are well...cheap!

While the top two picks aren't looking good, there is some hope in some of the middle rounds.

[Jori]

Originally Posted by Breck Bronc

If I were GM I'd do whatever I could to unload Todd Helton and then move Atkins back to his original position, first base.

I also would have drafted Evan Longoria second overall instead of Greg Reynolds (Longoria didn't want to be drafted by the Rockies because of the Rockies stupid Christian Clubhouse thing that came out before the draft).

Then my infield would be set for many years; Ianetta at C, Atkins at 1B, Longoria at 2B, Stewart at 3B, and Tulowitzki at SS.

As GM I would also fire Dinger, Clint Hurdle, Drew Goodman and George Frazier.

OMG...Dinger is quite possibly the worst mascot in all of sports. How is it that a town can have arguably the best mascot in Rocky and the worst in Dingbat?

Dump Hurdle...make Weiss the manager

I don't mind Goodman so much, but Frazier is an annoying pain in the ass!