When ESPN the Magazine’s “Ultimate Standings 2015” came out, it caught me off guard. What caught me off guard was the Colorado Rockies being named the 13th worst franchise in sports, and MLB’s second worst organization, only behind the Philadelphia Phillies. That means the Rockies dropped 19 overall spots since last year, and that they were passed by several MLB teams.
This is how the Rockies rank:
Overall: 110
Title track: 122
Ownership: 118
Coaching: 117
Players: 95
Fan relations: 117
Affordability: 60
Stadium experience: 57
Bang for the buck: 72
Change from last year: -19
The Philadelphia Phillies dropped from 22nd to 30th to keep the Rockies out of baseball’s last place, while The New York Mets, Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres, Mami Marlins, and Houston Astros all passed the Rockies. Yes, three of the five teams that were below the Rockies last year in ESPN’s rankings, made the playoffs this season. Already something is off in the way teams are rated. These ratings are obviously heavily rooted in what the team’s record has been over the past year, while not looking towards the future. That’s why clubs like Chicago and Houston were below Colorado last year. However most baseball followers know that both of those team’s farm systems were loaded and they had reinvested their money into development rather than splurge it on free agents. Each had farm systems that were thriving at the time of the rankings last year, and this season the Cubs had the third best record in baseball, while the Astros look to be a team that will be a staple atop the AL West for years. The Colorado Rockies farm system now is now on the short list for many of scouts farm system rankings, those spots which have been vacated by New York, Chicago and Houston. By that thinking, the Rockies are closer to contention than ESPN has them ranked.
Even looking at Mami and San Deigo, we can learn more about the Rockeis’ rank. The Marlins are an exciting young team led by two superstars in Jose Fernandez, and Giancarlo Stanton that saw it’s season derailed by injuries. From a baseball standpoint the Marlins are in a better place in the present than the Rockies are. For the Rockies to be ranked below the Marlins in the category “Fan Relations” is a joke, even with Dick Monfort’s tawdry “maybe Denver doesn’t deserve a franchise,” remark. Always looming over the South Florida franchise is relocation. Their owner (Jeffrey Loria) is considered by many to be the worst in pro sports. Even worse, Loria escaped with bags of cash from Florida tax payers to build their billion dollar stadium that nobody goes to. Meanwhile the Monforts continue to upgrade the oft named “cathedral” Coors Field. Looking at something way more simple than the political mess that is South Florida pro sports, the Rockies run their social media accounts almost better than anyone in the sport, the Marlins aren’t even in the conversation.
Circle back to the Padres who sold their farm system for a bunch of big names past offseason. It can’t be stressed enough how important draft and development is, the Padres made splash, after splash in the winter of 2014-15 and they couldn’t even get out of third place. And now the Padres future is very bleak. To be frank the Rockies probably have more money to acquire free agents than the Padres do right now. Two areas where the Padres blew the Rockies out of the water was “Stadium experience,” and “Bang for the buck.” The Rockies sell tickets for four dollars routinely, and offer great deals to see fun baseball games. The style of play which Coors Field creates is a more exciting style to the causal fan than the one Petco Park creates. Besides that, Coors is ranked among the best fields of all time, routinely. Not just in the sphere of current parks either, Grantland put Coors Field near Tiger Stadium for best park of all time.
The Rockies are rated dead last in sports in “Title Track” at 122. This may be fair at this current second, considering the Rockies won’t win the Series in 2015. We can see the Rockies have entered a rebuild and they are closer to a championship now, than they have been at any time going back to 2010. It’s also true that the Rockies don’t go after free agents, but that’s not how baseball games are won. 13 of the 16 top players by WAR in the NL came through the minor league systems of the team they play for now, only three players (Jayson Heyward, Max Scherzer, and Curtis Granderson) were acquired via free agency.
“Coaching” seems like a category thrown in here for another sport, especially when you consider their isn’t a coach in baseball, it’s a manger. No the Rockies coach isn’t the best, nor is he the worst as my colleague David Martin points out. In baseball a manager has a minimal effect on the team compared to other sports, even with Walt Weiss being lower in the rankings than he should be, it really doesn’t make a huge impact on the Rockies.
These rankings were voted on before Troy Tulowizki was traded, so the player rank of 95, as well as the overall rank of the Rockies would have dropped. Yet the Rockies still have many likable and exciting players. A star is something the Rockies have always had, which not too many franchises have had the fortune of saying. Right now the Rockies have a great one in Nolan Arenado.
For the all sports scope BSNDenver.com’s Adam Kinney has a good post about it. Here’s a quick rundown, the bottom five teams in sports are the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Knicks, Washington Redskins, Denver Nuggets, and Philadelphia Phillies. While some questionable ones above the Rockies are the Cleveland Browns (109), St. Louis Rams (108), Oakland Raiders (105), Seattle Mariners (104), Philadelphia 76ers (98), Sacramento Kings (96), Oakland Athletics (95), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (91), Detroit Pistons (84), Charlotte Hornets (83), Atlanta Braves (82), Carolina Hurricanes (78), Milwaukee Brewers (72), acksonville Jaguars (64), and Arizona Coyotes (44).
There are several teams questionably above the Rockies who have seriously threatened to re-locate. I don’t understand how a franchise under those circumstances can be rated above a stable franchise. The Coyotes have had a very similar story within their sport to the Rockies regarding the actual game being played. While off ice, just this offseason Glendale’s city council terminated the ‘Yotes stadium deal, leaving them semi-homeless. On the other hand, teams like the Hurricanes, and Pistons haven’t been good for ten years and their organizations have shown no signs of improvement, yet they were put many spots above the Rockies.
The Rockies belong in the bottom third of franchises right now, between the lack of success on-field and the crazyness that has been the Rockies front office over the past few years. However there is no way the Rockies are a bottom 15 franchise in sports, they never were. They’d really need to dig the hole that has been this five year lull even deeper to even enter the territory of franchises like the Oakland Raiders.
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