 |
| The Rockies can’t help themselves. |
It wasn’t a sweet sixteen for the Colorado Rockies on Sunday.
A six-game road trip against a bad New York Mets team and a very good St. Louis Cardinals team completed on Sunday with the Rockies returning to Denver without a single win. That team plane will land back in Denver without a single addition to the win column.
As another brutal September comes to an end, a few things shouldn’t be forgotten. The first, and perhaps the biggest issue with the road Rockies, has been their approach. Everyone wants to talk in depth about how to figure out the club’s hitting woes on the road, but no one mentions their approach.
On Sunday, the Rockies combined to strike out 16 times against Cardinals pitching. With all due respect to Colorado native and Cardinals starter Marco Gonzales, the Rockies weren’t facing Adam Wainwright on Sunday. The rookie made the Rockies look silly. But frankly, who hasn’t when the Rockies are wearing their gray pants?
Much of the discussion about the Rockies struggles comes from people debating the effects of playing in altitude, then going back to sea level where the ball seems to break more. That very much may be the case, but the reality is, this Rockies team doesn’t do the little things right at the plate to make the debate even reasonable to discuss the altitude effects.
Strikeouts have become a topic of many national baseball television shows. The number of K’s has gone through the roof in recent years. The Rockies are a part of that trend, but they have taken more than their fair share of strike three’s, especially in 2014.
When 16 of a team’s 27 outs in a single game come by strikeout, it suggests that the Rockies plate approach isn’t just poor, it is hideous. Too many Rockies are walking to the plate without the idea of getting the ball into play. They are swinging to pull the ball and hit it into the seats. This team isn’t working on hitting the ball the other way, moving a runner over and playing the game the way that it is meant to be played, they are too busy trying to pad their own stats.
To a certain degree, it becomes expected for a team that has no hope and has been playing for next year since June for players to start playing for themselves. In a league where average players make $8 million per year, the team goes out the window. Players start to think about themselves when their team is long out of the race and they are getting closer and closer to a date with free agency or arbitration. Winning at the big league level can happen a different year. Why would a player sacrifice his power numbers in order to advance a runner and make an out? With the finances of baseball, it just doesn’t make sense.
However, the Rockies need to evaluate both their control of the players and the character of who they are putting into the lineup. At some point, character shines through the most in the difficult situations. When a team is playing out the string, the guy who is still playing the game the right way is probably the guy who a team wants around when things are going well. When a player buys into the team’s culture and plays the game the right way, it says something about that guy.
The reality is, this season can’t end soon enough. What the Rockies do in the offseason will speak volumes for the direction of this franchise. This team is at a crossroads. Whether or not they continue down the same path or whether they reverse course and make the significant changes that are extremely necessary will tell fans how serious Dick Monfort and Rockies ownership are about being a contender.
The Rockies lost on Sunday. It was one of so many losses that they don’t seem to matter anymore. However, if the Rockies want to change that. If they want to become part of the conversation again in 2015, they need to play disciplined baseball. They haven’t done that for a while.
Follow me on Twitter @RockiesReview. Like me on Facebook, search “Rockies Review”
5 Comments
We already know how serious Dick Monfort and the front office is about disciplined baseball. Mediocrity is rewarded on all levels, "club house leadership and culture" is prized more than a win. We will continue down this road for a long long time, but on the positive side, we have a party deck. That is your Colorado Rockies.
I thought I saw a tweet over the weekend that the Rockies have won only 4 times on the road since the all star break…how pathetic is that?
I used to support Weiss but it makes you wonder if he is bringing anything new to the table in regard to the road woes….obviously not.
The Rockies seem to search for mediocrity. When they looked to fill their manager's role, they looked to a high school coach with no major league coaching experience. I'm not saying that Walt Weiss isn't a good manager, they needed a miracle man. When they looked to fill a void at closer, they opted for a 41year old. When they had a chance to sign Houston Street, they opted not to. I believe the Padres, after signing and taking advantage of Street in the back of their pen most of the year, sent him off to the Angels for 3 prospects. The Rockies don't like to stockpile real pitchers, worth a lot of money, they like to groom their own for a lot less money. That being said, if you groom your own with fear in the back of the minds about where they are pitching, what direction is actually up? The Rockies should look around and consider what is really missing. They have a problem with the players actually believing that they are major leaguers. I believe that starts with who is pushing these guys to be great. In Tampa Bay, they have Joe Maddon, In New York they have (ex-Rockie) Joe Gerardi, in Anaheim, they have Mike Scosia. How about the possibility of considering Bud Black and Darren Balsley? Ownership is new there and probably wants a change. Ownership in Denver is new and might welcome any new idea. I think starting with pitching experts might be the correct place to start. It couldn't hurt. The Rockies have proven that the path they have chosen with misdirection at the top and a new way of top brass thinking has failed. The Rockies need someone who loves this club. Back in the glory days of the Denver Nuggets, when Doug Moe would coach, after every game, the local media would grill Moe about how his team played, good or bad nights. He always told the media, "we played really hard, made great plays where we needed to, exerted God-given effort and energy and we just came up a little short. Our guys were terrific, Lever, Adams, English, Schayes, terrific". He got more out of ok talent than anyone who has ever coached. Someone out there might be able to resurrect the careers of Chacin, Nicasio, Anderson, Chatwood, Brothers, Logan, Belisle, Bettis, Morales, Scahill, Martin, Butler, Winkler, et al with real love in them and belief in them as Doug Moe did every night. There is great need. Did anyone read the article on line about Darren Balsley and his influence on the pitchers who have pitched for him? There are guys out there that can do this.
It's not just the strikeouts. The reality is that the Rockies are increasingly incapable of leaving their bat on their shoulders and forcing pitchers to throw strikes in the zone. We have the highest out-of-zone swing% in MLB. We give our opponents free strikes. And the result is that pitchers throw us fewer pitches in the zone than most teams – and we STILL end up with the worst first-strike % in the league – which means that pitchers can take a nice deep breath, relax, and start throwing their out pitches to us.
Per PR; Tulsa on Sunday out-hit their opponent 9-8, but went 0-9 RISP, 11Ks and only 1BB. Sound familiar? Butler induced 7GO to 0AO while giving up 5ER, including 2HR, in under six innings. Sound familiar?
The Rockies system, approach, culture and theories are all failures no matter what year, players, league or venue. We've seen it for years in Denver, in Colorado Springs, and now this cancer of incompetence is showing itself in Tulsa. Where can "the future" come from when everything this FO/organization touches becomes a disaster?
The answer; Burn it all, leave nothing, rebuild from scratch as what is is festering, guaranteed oblivion with zero chance of turnaround, much less success or even mediocrity.