Dan Miceli is not Jay Witasick. Hell, he’s not even Dan Miceli anymore.
NOW GET US AN EIGHTH INNING MAN! Cheap bastard.
****
update: The Zach Day and Eric Byrnes pickups were nice, though. I’ll give you that much.
Dan Miceli is not Jay Witasick. Hell, he’s not even Dan Miceli anymore.
NOW GET US AN EIGHTH INNING MAN! Cheap bastard.
****
update: The Zach Day and Eric Byrnes pickups were nice, though. I’ll give you that much.
You should be happy about Byrnes. The A’s fans are highly pissed about losing him. Aside from baseball talent, he was just a really popular guy in this area.
As for my Mariners, well, the less said, the better.
I’m happy about Byrnes. He should fit in very well with this team, who will be quite competitive next season. Ditto for Zach Day, who throws a good hard sinker, which is perfect for Coors. Could turn out to be a huge pickup.
Only problem is, the Rockies would be a near .500 team this year if it wasn’t for trouble with their bullpen, which blew 15-20 leads in the seventh and eighth inning early in the season. But with Witasick and Fuentes in the 8th and 9th, the Rockies have been very good at closing out wins. Putting Miceli in the setup role was a disaster waiting to happen. And tonight, disaster (predictably) struck.
Next year, though…
I don’t see much cause for a 8th inning man when you lack 1st-7th inning men.
But they don’t. As I noted above, the Rockies have actually blown a considerable number of late inning leads—at least, up until the last couple months with Witasick and Fuentes closing games out.
They’re actually a young and exciting team to watch. And if O’Dowd keeps them together, Colorado is looking at a playoff team in the next couple years.
Your starting rotation by Pitching Runs (runs saved against league average, park-adjusted):
Francis: -4
Jennings: -8
Kim: -6
Wright: -16
Chacon: 2
I grant you that, yes, Francis is an electric young arm. But the rotation is just bad as bad can be.
And yes, I’m one of those “Moneyball” nerds.
I think Francis is a bit overrated, though he has the potential to be very good if he learns to use his change-up more. As a starter, Kim has only gotten hit hard once that I can remember; with the exception of a few bad outings, Jennings has been very solid, and he keeps you in just about every game.
The rotation I’m looking at for next year would have Jennings, Chacon, Aaron Cook, Zach Day, and BH Kim. Very solid. Fuentes has turned into a good closer. And the Rockies do have some good arms that can fill the middle innings.
At the beginning of the year, the Rockies pitching was horrendous, which skews the stats a bit. But from somebody who watches all the games, I’m telling you—this is a staff that has potential. The Rockies have finally learned how to build a staff for Coors, and I believe next year it will begin showing dividends.
Dan Miceli lost us TWO games in the playoffs against the Braves and Cardinals last year. I’m glad the Astros got rid of him.
ML whatsthisnow? Never heard of it. War Big Ten football and nhl (or whatever’s going to pass for hockey this fall).
Do not speak the name of An-day Iceli-may. There are Astros fans on this board, and some of us may have just eaten.
Turing: “Served,” as in “…up several gopherballs in the playoffs…”
You do realize that after next season we free up like 20 million in salaries. That puts the Rockies at about a 48 million dollar payroll. Now that they traded Wilson I’m sure it’s a bit less than that.
That puts their total salaries in the small market category. The youth movement is partly about starting over and building the club the right way. But it’s also about retreating on finances and licking their wounds. Will they ever spend money like a mid-sized market club the Rockies are? We will find out next year.
My White Sox have owned the MLB so far.
Speaking as a Royals fan, the problem with Jay Witasick was that he was Jay Witasick.
Turing: placed—“That pitch was placed in to the right-centerfield fountains!”
Monford says the Rockies will spend money again when they start making money. So the plan is to get people in the park with a competitive young team, then buy some mid-level guys. Sounds like they’re never going to spend Mike Hampton money again, which is stupid. They should definitely spend Hampton money, and soon, just not on Mike Hampton.
My Phils are starting to win again. Two series in a row, including 3 out of 4 from the Fish. They sored 38 runs in a four-game series, and hit .359. Of course, they allowed 25 runs, but the staff is banged up, and four of those were in the ninth today when they stupidly brought in TODD “The-Giants-are-blowing-milk-out-their-noses-right-now” Worrell with an eight-nothing lead.
I can hear Rich Duby now. “C’mon, Skip, what’s the worst that could happen?”
Spamword, “served,” as in, “Hi, I’m TODD Worrell. Wanna see me serve up a game-tying bomb?”
Jeff, a playoff team in the next couple of years?
Damn, you gotta quit smoking whatever the armadillo’s been leaving in his stash.
You’ll like Byrnsie when he makes a spectacular diving catch, or when he hammers left-handed pitching.
You’ll like him less when he misplays a ball that a less flashy outfielder would have gotten to.
You’ll like him even less when he swings at a right-hander’s slider low and away for strike three.
Spamword “again,” as in “there’s a lot of right-handed pitching out there.”