Show #140: The Braves 2011 Campaign Set to Begin

post from Atlanta Baseball Talk on 27 March 2011 11:50:52 PM. © Atlanta Baseball Talk

Discussing the final roster moves. Making our predictions for the 2011 season. And what we hope to see during the first week.[...]

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...Not only that, but since expansion in 1969,
your chance of scoring a single run is better with a...

post from Beyond the Box Score on 27 March 2011 10:03:49 PM. © Beyond the Box Score

...Not only that, but since expansion in 1969, your chance of scoring a single run is better with a runner on first and nobody out than with a runner on second and one out. Get that? Your percentages for scoring ONE RUN is better.Now, a manager may[...]

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Karl Ravech Interviews The Captain

post from Sliding Into Home: A Yankees Blog on 27 March 2011 10:01:48 PM. © Sliding Into Home: A Yankees Blog

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Royals Review begins to pull its share and wins a
minor skirmish in the Battle for Grass Creek. ...

post from Royals Review on 27 March 2011 10:01:44 PM. © Royals Review

Grass_creek_medium

Royals Review begins to pull its share and wins a minor skirmish in the Battle for Grass Creek. Thanks to everyone for their help.

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Random Ramblings: March 27, 2011

post from The Baseball Opinion on 27 March 2011 09:02:12 PM. © The Baseball Opinion

With limited time to write full articles, I thought I would provide some random ramblings from what I have seen out of spring training so far. Here are a few thoughts:[...]

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Rockies Rewind with Silver: Yo quiero beisbol

post from Purple Row on 27 March 2011 09:01:58 PM. © Purple Row

The man with the plan.

Greetings and salutations, fair denizens of Rockies Nation. (Lookit me, changing it up here.) Welcome to the first edition of Rockies Rewind (with Silver!), which means that I am now a name brand. Woot woot. In his introductory primer for new fans, Andrew Martin has given you to expect:

After a long week of Rockies baseball, Silverblood graces us all with a curmudgeonly bard's tale of the week we just witnessed. Expect overreactions, gut instincts, and typically something to laugh at, or at least make you nod your head and say "yeah...YEAH!"

Well um

let me see here

/clears throat

/recites Shakespearean sonnet

/shouts, "YOU KIDS GET OFF MY LAWN"

/AARON COOK IS GUNNA BE HURT THE WHOLE SEASON AND UBALL DIDN'T HAVE A 0.00 ERA IN SPRING TRAINING, WE ARE PATENTLY TEH DOOMED

/Carlos Gonzalez is totally gonna win the MVP this year

/ lame knock-knock joke

ROCKIES ARE THE BEST, OFF TO HECK WITH ALL THE REST

YEAH

/takes breath

If you feel as if this has fit the bill, join me after the jump for a quick recap of Spring Training, and a look ahead to the glorious Elysian fields of the Regular Season (tm) that await us. In only five days. Booya.

I apologize for not doing an edition before this, but there are a few factors that conspired to prevent me. First, I don't think anyone really needs to read about what luminaries like Matt Macri and Eric Stults got up to in their spring tilts against everyone else's B-squads. Second, because my home internet connection remains slightly less reliable than Hannibal Lector, will undoubtedly die at least three times before I finish this post, and generally makes Rowbumming much more of a chore than it should be -- in other words, if you're reading this right now, call the Vatican and report a miracle. Besides, I haven't had time to pay much attention to the Rockies this spring. Not until the games actually matter. By now, I'm sure that we've all had our fill of fake baseball, and are ready to get the real thing on tap.

Not as if spring hasn't been enjoyable. By their split-squad victories today, and with two more games left before their exhibition at Double-A Tulsa, the Rockies achived a 20-9 W/L record, good for best in both the Cactus League and the entire NL. It goes without saying that we would all be tickled pink if they would just bust out the gate like this once the games actually matter, but it equally goes without saying that spring results simply do not. There is no more compelling proof of this than the team sitting atop the AL with an 18-10 mark: those fearsome Kansas City Royals. I don't know about you, but I totally had them down to win the Central this year. Totally. Yep.

Nonetheless, there are certainly grounds to hope that a characteristically sluggish April/May start might finally be overcome. Of course, any list of happy things for a Rockies fan begins with three names: Ubaldo Jimenez, Troy Tulowitzki, and Carlos Gonzalez. U-ball brought his spring ERA down to 3.26 today (come on man, you're slacking) and Tulo and CarGo are hitting .310 and .333 respectively. But even superheroes need sidekicks, and as has been demonstrated for the past two years, the team can't win games by these three alone performing at high levels (although it certainly helps). They're going to need plenty of help from the supporting cast, and as Jim Armstrong pointed out in the Post a few days ago, any road to competitiveness in the NL West starts and ends with an arms race. The Giants won a World Series last year (ugh, that sentence never gets any less annoying) largely on the backs of their hurlers. The Padres have an All-Nasty bullpen (and of course, a park where homers go to die). The Dodgers are never to be overlooked, and Kershaw is only getting better. The D'backs are, well, the D'backs, but the Rockies always seem to have trouble with them for some reason.

Against that, the Rockies' starting five currently stacks up as Ubaldo, JDLR, Jhoulys Chacin, Jason Hammel, and Esmil Rogers. Of these, Hammel looks like Jeff Francis with a 92-93 mph heater; everyone else can dial it up to the high nineties and above. Of course, as Nuke LaLoosh can probably tell you, velocity alone does not equal success, especially if you have no idea where the ball is going (a plague that both Chacin and Rogers are going to struggle with to some degree). But this, combined with a stock of power arms in the bullpen (Paulino, Lindstrom, Betancourt, etc) will hopefully herald a shift away from the conservative pitch-to-contact strategy that has often bedeviled us in the past. However, the 'pen is probably my biggest concern from where I sit here on March 27. Street and Betancourt both had health and efficiency problems last year, Franklin Morales still scares me, and Paulino and Lindstrom are in their first years with the club. Matt Belisle is no longer flying under the radar, of course, but shouldn't be asked to be the only stalwart aboard the Good Ship Bullpen. A lot of games will be won or lost in the early going depending on how quickly the relief is relieving. Fan favourite Matt Daley, in a bit of a surprising move considering he was carrying an 0.00 spring ERA, was demoted to AAA, but will very likely be back up later.

As for position battles, the only two of much note are at second base and backup catcher. Jonathan Herrera has outperformed Jose Lopez by a considerable margin (.415/.592/.362 to .304/.308/.250) but it remains to be seen if he's an everyday player, and the question is whether you want a singles hitter like Herrera against the power of Lopez. Of course, second base isn't generally a premium power position, and there have to be guys on base for the muscle elsewhere in the order to drive home, so if Herrera can carry his impressive Cactus League performance into the regular season, he'll probably get first shot. And then if he flags, Lopez can be rotated in, and vice versa. Hopefully Tracy won't go overboard on the tinkering.

As for backup backstop, Jose Morales has "quietly" managed to hit .391 this spring, handily outstripping former Cardinals second-stringer Matt Pagnozzi's .286. The role of the backup catcher has always been a point of contention (to put it delicately) around here, after Yorvit Torrealba and Chris Iannetta were switched in and out over the past few seasons, but Torrealba is gone and Iannetta is hitting .344, which would be more reassuring if it wasn't, you know, spring. But it is true that new hitting coach Carney Lansford has been fooling with his mechanics, so there could be some lasting improvement in store. Everybody knows, especially Iannetta, that the starting catching job has once more been thrown into his lap and is his for the losing, so we'll have to see what transpires once the calendar hits April. Jeez, this is why I hate spring training. It's so tempting to produce all sorts of conjectures from pretty numbers (or, for that matter, ugly ones) but it's always promptly proved pointless.

Team-wise, my chief worry is health. The Rockies had a disproportionate number of visits from the injury fairy last year, and maybe that's just bad luck that will even out (although I imagine the Cardinals don't want to hear about it after losing Adam Wainwright for the season, and failing to get Pujols extended). So long as the unit stays intact, it has a better-than-average chance of better-than-average performance, but fiddling around with spot starters and AAA replacements is going to bite you in the butt, plain and simple. The days of the NL Worst are long, long gone, and I won't lie, I'm not sure if I see the Rockies as the favorites to start it off. When you have the defending World Series champions in your division (as painful as it is) then you're going to have to swallow that bitter reality pill. They're certainly not "entitled" to win the West, although they have an excellent shot. What the Rockies are also going to have to do is to prove that the days of stumbling under high expectations are behind them. They need to beat weaker teams, they need to beat fifth starters and junkballers instead of getting shut down, they need to win on the road, and they need to win one-run games.

All this stuff has been gone over in exhausting detail, of course. But until the Rockies actually do it, they can't honestly be classified as an elite team. A pretty good one, yes. And considering the amount of talent on this roster, there's no reason to think they can't take that step. Leave it all on the field.

Come this April Fool's Day, I will be wearing Rockies hat, shirt, and whatever else to work. I will feel reborn. Everything will suddenly be a little bit better. The chase will begin. And for the next 162 games, America's pastime will breathe life into a tattered country, and tell its stories one more time.

And what else can you ask for, after all?

Let's...

GO....

ROCKIES!!!!!

Poll

I am being totally honest. From my beloved Rockies this year, I expect THIS:

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Shameless Self Promotion

post from Baseball Revisited on 27 March 2011 08:55:41 PM. © Baseball Revisited

2009 was the International Year of Astronomy and to celebrate and honor the 400th anniversary of Galileo and his telescope the 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast was started in January of that year. They would feature a 10-12 minute astronomy related podcast each day, that was sent in by people all over the world. [...]

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Reliever Tim Collins Reportedly Makes Opening Day
Roster

post from Royals Review on 27 March 2011 08:01:47 PM. © Royals Review

Tim Collins has possibly made the Royals Opening Day roster. Although all I've seen on this is Dave Gershman's tweet. Though the move does make sense. It's a little surprising that Dutton hasn't confirmed as well.

An interesting player on the 2011 Royals! And soon! They said it couldn't happen.

Collins, acquired last season from Atlanta, has struck out 13.3 batters per nine in the minor leagues. He is famous for being not tall. That, and striking people out. Strikeouts, little. You are up to speed.

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Rockies 6/5, Cubs/Athletics 4/2: Rox Squander
Shutouts in Eighth, Still Sweep Split Squads

Jose Morales has had such a quiet spring, this is the only stock photo of him. He does own a bat though. After two doubles today, his slash line is .391/.517/.652.

It doesn't matter who the Rockies throw out there these days, they come home with a win. I sure hope I can type that next month.

Rockies 5, Athletics 2

In the home split squad game against the Athletics, Ubaldo Jimenez lowered his spring ERA to 3.26 with five shutout innings, allowing four singles, one walk and striking out three. Huston Street and Felipe Paulino tossed perfect innings, but Franklin Morales gave up the shutout in getting touched up for two runs in the eighth inning.

While Morales' outing wasn't a disaster (two of the three hits were bloopers), his has taken a troubling turn. He will be shielded for the most part from high leverage situations, but given that the former top organizational prospect is out of options, his status will be interesting to see this season.

Offensively, Alfredo Amezaga gave the Rockies 1-0 lead in the sixth to drive in Willy Taveras, who also doubled. That small lead doubled in the seventh on a wild pitch following a Tulowitzki single and small ball. In a tie game in the eighth, weak singles from Willy Taveras, Erik Wetzel and Matt Macri preceded a triple from Warren Schaeffer that gave Colorado the winning margin.

Rockies 6, Cubs 4

Again, a potential shutout was surrendered in the eighth inning, this time by Billy Buckner. After two walks and an infield hit, Tyler Colvin hit a one-out full-count grand slam off Buckner. Otherwise, the Rockies' hurlers were sharp. Clayton Mortensen tossed five shutout innings without a walk, Matt Daley worked around two hits for a scoreless frame, and Eric Stults notched a goose egg inning as well.

Jose Morales got the Rockies on the board first with a two run double in the second inning, then extended the Colorado lead to three with another RBI double in the fourth. The Rockies' backup catcher is now hitting (very quietly) .391 with a .517 on base percentage and .652 slugging percentage. Colorado's final three runs came on a Delta Cleary sac fly, Jonathan Herrera single and Scott Beerer groundout.

The Rockies are now 20-9 in the Cactus League. Tomorrow, they head westward to face the Mariners in Peoria at 2:05 MT.

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About Today's Games; Terry Francona Has His Say
About Buck & His Comments...

post from Oriole Post - Baltimore Orioles Analysis & News; The World of Baseball and Beyond on 27 March 2011 07:01:37 PM. © Oriole Post - Baltimore Orioles Analysis & News; The World of Baseball and Beyond

The Orioles are finishing up their final week of exhibition baseball on a strong note. They played a split squad schedule, as they played two games ? one against the Red Sox in Sarasota, the other against the Blue Jays on the road.

Against Boston, they got a 4-3 win thanks to a three-run, eighth inning as Matt Wieters had a two-run single, followed up by a Ryan Adams RBI-single. Nick Markakis drove in a run in the third inning with a single.

Chris Tillman continued his bid for a starting spot in the rotation as he had an up-and-down outing, going 5 2/3 innings and allowing three runs. He walked four and allowed six hits against a Red Sox team with most of their regular starters.

Opening Day starter for the Orioles, Jeremy Guthrie had a tough day on the mound against the Blue Jays on the road. Toronto would win the game 9-5 as Guthrie allowed twelve hits in five innings and gave up four runs.

Pat Egan, who came into the game to relieve Guthrie took the loss as he gave up three runs in an inning of work.

Felix Pie had a 2-for-4 day and drove in a run. Robert Andino also had two hits; meanwhile, Nick Green homered and drove in two.

The Jays teed off on Oriole pitching as Rajai David was perfect at the plate, going 5-for-5; Aaron Hill has three hits and Yunel Escobar homered ? a two-run shot ? plus drove in five.

Well, the silly Buck Showalter comments continue to reverberate with the teams north of Baltimore on the I-95 corridor. Of course, we?re talking about the Yankees and Red Sox.