» Colorado Rockies News

Notes: What I tend to do heavily in my rankings, unlike all the other rankings, is group players together based on their position/projection/potential. For example, in round 8/bubble I grouped together 4 cl (Brad Lidge and Jon Broxton as well as Matt Capps and Heath Bell). Broxton has had a great start and Lidge has had a rough one, but by season’s end the stats should be about the same. I also grouped together 6 sp (Rich Harden, Joba Chamberlain, Adam Wainwright, Yovani Gallardo, Josh Johnson, and Erik Bedard). These are all great sp’s with ?’s though – inning/injury concerns. Of course, I have 3+ weeks of the season now to include in my rankings (upping Zach Greinke and Josh Johnson on my list, but honestly guys like Carlos Quentin and Matt Kemp I already thought should be ranked where I have them), but here, I posted my rankings followed by a notes section [In the notes section,  I’ve bolded the players that are in the referenced round]. Within the rankings, I bolded some guys I like and ranked higher than most others, and italicized others I didn’t like as much or ranked lower than others or have since been hurt.

Top 12/Round 1:

In 2009, I think Miguel Cabrera could break 37 homers and 127rbis he had last season. He’s already off to a hot start, batting .431 up to this point. With an increase in runs from 85 to about 100 and to me – a sure increase in batting average from .292 to about .315, I think Miguel Cabrera could be ranked above David Wright this year. Similarly, I see Ryan Braun breaking 40hr and 15sb. If his avg raises passed .300, and I think it will, he too, could surpass Wright because of the HR total, but obviously I would take Wright over both Miggy and Braun b/c of 3b eligibility – Is Miggy 3b eligible in your league though??? Chase Utley to me at 2b just beats out Ian Kinsler (2b) because of the RBI total. He’s healthy, and he’s already got 4hr and 2sb with 12r, 12rbi, and a .362avg. One guy who is absolutely on fire, and probably will stay that way if healthy for a full season, is 2b (position scarcity) Ian Kinsler. His line is already: 15r-5hr-16rbi-7sb-.381avg. Most projections call for about 25sb, but I didn’t see why he can’t break 30 (now 35) with a full season – 118r-26hr-84rbi-34sb-295avg anyone??? Like I said, I’d honestly rank him above Utley if it wasn’t for Utley’s rbis’s – and for that matter at 2b he could also be above Wright/3b, Miguel Cabrera/1b, and Ryan Bruan/of by year’s end. Kinsler had 23 and 26sb respectively in the past 2 seasons in 483ab’s and 518ab’s. With health, and in that lineup, he should approach 550ab’s, score a ton of runs, and should have a decent amount of rbi opportunities. Evan Longoria jumps into the first round again because of position scarcity (3b) over Josh Hamilton (of) and Mark Teixeira (1b). He’s already on fire batting 10r-5hr-16rbi-1sb-.386avg.

Round 2/Players 13-24:

There may be some surprises in round 2. Justin Morneau is so clutch, I just can’t rank him any lower. I think 27-30hr and 120rbi with 95r and 300+ avg is justified where I have him. Alex Rodriguez will miss time, but there’s no question he could still go 100-32-105-12-300. There is only 2 more sure thing 3b’s in Kevin Youkilis and Aramis Ramirez in the next 4 rounds (Chone Figgins, just there for speed and Chipper Jones is so injury prone I think he should be in round 7). The New-B’s here are Carlos Quentin (of) (who is already studding it up, and I have no idea why most projections were so low on him maybe batting avg. He’s got 7hr already); Matt Kemp (of) (don’t love his lineup spot, but still a great lineup with a lot more rbi opp’s and he’s such a great power-speed combo – already at 13r-3hr-14rbi-4sb-.362); Nick Markakis (of) (who would be first round material if he gets more than my projected 23-25hr and 9-12sb. He should hit 100-105r and 105-110rbi with a .307-.315avg.

Round 3/Players 25-36:

Tim Lincecum/Manny Ramirez/Dustin Pedroia/ BJ Upton are all still 2^nd round material to me depending on if you like drafting one ace very early in Lincecum or stolen bases in Upton or position scarcity in Pedroia. Kevin Youkilis somehow remains underrated (especially because he’s 3b eligible). He contributes greatly to 4 categories: about 100-105r; 27-30hr; 109-115rbi; 3sb-4sb; .305-.315avg. I just don’t love Matt Holliday outside of Coors and in Oakland, but his 95/25/95/15 potential is still 2^nd round material if that’s his line by season’s end. Aramis Ramirez could be ranked right before Kevin Youkilis or maybe early into round 4, but at 3b, I still love him in the Cubbies lineup.

Round 4/Players 37-48:

Ichiro Suzuki is sometimes ranked in the top 24, and his avg, runs, sb’s make him worth it there, but his lack of hr and rbi keep him down here for me. I’m usually doing fine with sb providers by now (say Kinsler/2b-27sb, Longoria/3b-11sb, Kemp/of-30sb) or (Wright/3b-18sb, Soriano/of-25sb, and Markakis/of-10sb) – that’s 68sb and 53sb respectively. If you end up with like: Howard/1b-1sb and Santana/sp, and Crawford (of) or Roberts (2b) are already off the board, than Ichiro can get bumped up if you think you’ll need the sb. I’d rather someone else and go for Shane Victorino/Jacoby Ellsbury in round 5 though. To me, Brian Roberts is Ichiro Suzuki at 2b, so Roberts is much more valuable to me. Some people still think Carl Crawford can approach 20hr in a season, and depending on his lineup spot he could knock in 85rbi, but in the 2-whole it looks like he should have a line of 90runs;10-12hr;70-75rbi;30-40sb;283-287avg, which will still justify this rank or even a little higher. I think by now he can be considered injury prone. I honestly think he has top third round potential, but every guy I have in round 3 just knocks him down to round 4. Brandon Phillips is great at 2b, and he’s a solid 4 stat contributor with a nice young lineup, but his average keeps him in round 4 to me. I like Cole Hamels and Brandon Webb here so long as they’re healthy because they symbolize the end of the 4 category top-notch fantasy aces (w,era,whip,k). Josh Beckett, Roy Oswalt, and Chad Billingsley are great, but Beckett’s era could be somewhat high as can Billingsley’s whip, and Oswalt looks to be slowing down a bit and striking out less batters although he was fantastic in the 2^nd half of last year. I like the 3 catchers: Victor Martinez, Brian McCann, and Russell Martin here. McCann’s eye is a worry and Martin’s starting off somewhat slow, but by season’s end I think they’ll be worth it here. If the latter 2 slip into round 5, fine.

Round 5/Players 49-60:

I usually have top power guys (David Ortiz/Carlos Pena), top speed guys (Rafael Furcal/Shane Victorino/Jacoby Ellsbury), or power-speed combos (Nate McLouth/Bobby Abreu/Corey Hart/ Carlos Granderson) as well as position scarcity (Geovany Soto/c; Rafael Furcal/ss; Alexei Ramirez/2b-ss) all in round 5. Soto is just too good to let drop for a catcher. I could see him being a 4^th rounder next year with another consistent year – similar to where McCann, Martin, and a healthy Victor Martinez are. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Victor Martinez, Brian McCann, Geovany Soto, Russell Martin, Joe Mauer, and Matt Wieters all go in round 4 next year. 12 players-6 catchers-1 round…Mark it (round 5 the latest).

Round 6/Players 61-72:

I love Joey Votto for his 7-10 sb and .290-300avg in addition to 24-28hr and 90-100rbi. I wouldn’t mind going with Robinson Cano here either at 2b in the Yankees lineup either. I love Cano slipping to round 7/8 because I think he can perform to the line of 90-95r;18-20hr;90-95rbi;4-5sb;.292-.302avg. Here, I like the 4 closers too: Mariano Rivera, Joe Nathan, Joakim Soria, and Francisco Rodriguez – all great 3 category pitchers with a good amount of k’s for relievers as well, however, personally I wait to draft closers and may look to draft 3 in a row, come round 13/14. Chad Billingsley is already showing why I have him ranked here with 4 wins and a 26:9 k:bb ratio, and a Dodger team that should be just as good for years to come. [Dodgers Lineup: Furcal-Hudson-Manny-Ethier-Loney-Kemp-Martin-Blake] – wow! If Billingsley keeps the whip down, he’ll jump to round 4/5 prior to Beckett and Oswalt. I don’t love Chone Figgins at 3b or Dan Uggla’s avg, but you can’t go wrong with Figgins’ sb’s and Uggla at 2b. Ryan Ludwick (already at 5hr and 16rbi, 1sb, and batting .370), after a great year last year, was way too underrated in this year’s drafts – the power and rbi’s should be there.

Round 7/Players 73-84:

Chipper Jones gets drafted much earlier, and at 3b, he’s so good, but he just doesn’t stay healthy enough for me to rank him higher. We should all know about Chris Davis’ potential by now (and flaws). Carlos Delgado could be Delgado of 2008-2^nd half or 2008-1^st half. I think he’ll go 33-35hr; 110-115rbi. Aubrey Huff was great again last year, and at 3b & 1b, I like him a lot with Brian Roberts, Adam Jones, and Nick Markakis in front of him. I like Garret Atkins enough to rank him in round 6 at 3b, but to me everyone above him as a little more potential/better power/better position scarcity ala Michael Young (ss;3b). Adam Dunn, Joe Mauer (c), and Andre Ethier are all solid options here as well. Dunn looks to be on a mission; I love Ethier batting clean-up in that Dodger’s lineup (and he should get you some sb’s with a nice avg.) I like James Shields and Zack Greinke (round 8 ) b/c each will have both good era’s and whip’s, where as the next few sp’s could have a high whip or era.

Round 8/9; Players 85-104:

Here, as you can see, I favor sp’s. I actually get my first ace in round 7 or 8 and then attempt to draft 3 or 4 in a row. Felix Hernandez and Scott Kazmir can have fairly high whips, while AJ Burnett can have a fairly high ERA, and as good as the next wave of SP’s are (Harden; Joba; Wainwright; EBedard; JJohnson; Gallardo), they all have question marks in some way (inning concerns, injury concerns, or not enough of a sample size). Derek Lee is in a solid lineup, but hit only 22 and 20 hr in the past 2 years. Without pop, and slowing down in sb as well, I can see him falling out of the top 9 rounds next year.

As I said in my notes section, I group players based on positioning/potential/and your statistical needs. I probably won’t rank the next 15 rounds only because I over/under-rate some players based on position, stats, and potential, and then I’d give away all my strategy.Feel free to question/criticize/comment.

The losing way that is.

After wining their home opener on Friday 3 to 10 against the Phillies the Rox dropped the 2 weekend games 8 to 4 on sat & 7 to 5; then they traveled to the Windy City of Chicago and was welcomed by the rain, wind and Ted Lilly, the Cubs won the first game shutting out the boys 0 to 4 and almost came close to a no-hitter as well but Garrett Atkins broke that up in the 7th inning. The Rox did win Wed’s game 5 to 2 then flew to LA where Manny Ramirez & the Dodgers cleaned the Rox’ clocks clean by sweeping them in the 3-game set: 3 to 4 Fri, 5 to 9 Sat & 14 to 2 on Sun.

Monday the Rox are in Phoenix taking on the 4th place Diamondbacks of Arizona for 3 games, let’s hope Jason Marquis can work his magic on the D’backs by shutting them out — although I’ve heard Jon Garland is pretty good pitcher — either way the Rox need to get a winning streak started.

yeah, it’s been a while since I last blogged I’ve been a bit lazy and with out listening to Rockies games or watching them on TV is making me feel a bit out of it.

Rockies spring training news has taken a backseat in the sporting world here in Colorado, the only thing I’ve heard more about is this whole Jay Cutler/Josh McDaniels soap BS, although I guess that’s a bit of good news for the Rox they won  2 of their last 4 games before getting the day off on Wed; they’ll be playing later today against Joe Torre’s LA Dodgers game time is 2:05PM CT but I doubt it’s on TV or radio just like the last 4 games which stinks for me because I miss listening to Jeff & Jack on the radio and I miss watching Rockies games on TV.

Oh Well.
But according to the Rockies online spring training schedule, their game vs the Cleveland Indians (Sun March 22nd) will be televised by MLB Network as well as MLB.tv & FSN same for Mon the 23rd’s game against the Brew crew from Milwaukee, Sat the 28th’s game against da Cubbies will be televised & next Mon the 30th’s game vs the Diamondbacks of Arizona is the final televised game of spring training for the Rockies of Colorado.

Before you know it, it’ll be APRIL 10th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, the Rockies need to get a winning streak going or at least WIN a game; with an 0 & 5 record this spring training is not good (Unless your the Denver Broncos, but let’s not go there).

The Rockies where handed their 5th loss of the season today by the Cleveland Indians, it just wasn’t Aaron Cook’s day (again) as the tribe got to him in the first inning  Tony Graffanino hit an RBI single which brought 1 in then Stephen Head pulled off a two-run RBI single & in the 2nd inning Trevor Crowe lead it off with a double then Jhonny Peralta came up and blasted his first 2-run HR of the spring training season.

The Rox didn’t go out quietly though, in the 2nd inning Clint Barmes got a single then both Jonathan Herrera & Seth Smith had back-to-back RBI’s Jonathan brought Barmes home while Seth brought Jonathan home with his RBI single. The Rox didn’t score in the fifth thanks to the Indians’ pitcher Jensen Lewis while the other pitchers: Zach Jackson & Jeremy Sowers only allowed 1 run each but no more runs in the 3rd & 4th innings. Cookie never got into a grove and Ubaldo Jimenez took over the rest of the game with some better luck; he kept the tribe scoreless with 1 hit & 3 K’s.

Rockies Spring Training Record: W: 0 – L: 5.

There are just too many problems regarding Garrett Atkins that dwarf his fantasy value out of the top ten rounds

• A worsened Colorado lineup now without Matt Holliday will lead to less RBI opportunities
• An imminent trade making room for Ian Stewart would take him out of a great hitter’s situation in Coors
• Let’s take a look at his prior three-year trend:

• First, check out his declining plate discipline as his K:BB ratio has gone from about 1.0 to a pitiful 2.5 in the three-year span.
• Also, take a look at his drop in power as his slugging percentage has plummeted steadily by 100+ points over the last three years.
• While holding less significance, his speed has decreased since 2006 as well.

At age 29, Atkins’ only real upside is his health.  Yes, he holds multiple position eligibility, but it’s first base!  Wait ten rounds and grab Carlos Guillen with a late round pick as he’ll most likely provide equal value.

There’s good news & bad news for the Rockies; Good news: Helton’s return is looking good, Bad News: Francis’ season is over after informing the club on Thurs that he’ll be undergo arthroscopic surgery on his pitching arm. According to the Colorado Rockies official site, recovery for such surgery is 6 to 12 months but don’t be looking for Francis to pitch. 

Meanwhile Rockies Fan fav Todd Helton believes he’ll be ready to play this season — though not on Opening day and the April 6th game vs the D-Backs is unknown to him and the club. Helton told Rockies beat reporter Thomas Harding, “When I didn’t feel like doing my exercise and I wanted to take a day off and stuff like that, that’s what drove me a little bit. That feeling like you didn’t contribute, that was hard.”  Last year ex-NL West foe in former Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Randy Johnson suggested to Todd to see Dr. Robert Watkins in LA.

Carlos Gonzalez

2009 will have a different feel in left field with Matt ‘Everyday is a’ Holiday gone, he too was a Rockies fan favorite and the news of him being traded to the A’s hasn’t been pretty from what I’ve read in baseball forums I’ve visited, I hope this trade was worth losing the best left fielder (IMO) Rockies had since Dante Bichette.

BTW: If you see #5 in the left field that’s not Holiday it’s the new comer Carlos Gonzalez who we got in the A’s trade for Matt along side Hudson Street & Alan Embree, we’ve also got another Gonzo, Luis A. Gonzalez.  I’ve heard alot of

Matt Murton

good things about new Rockie Matt Murton so I can’t wait to see what he can do for us this year.

In all this year will be an interesting–yet hopefully a better year for our boys in purple pinstripes then last year was.

Hey there fans, Welcome to another season of Rockies baseball! Let’s hope this years a better year for the boys in purple pinstripes then last year was.

This is my first time covering Rockies baseball on a blog so if I screw up go easy on me k? I can’t wait for the season to start as well as meet all you fellow bloggers here on MLBB hope you enjoy the things I blog about.

few things about me to start off:
* I’m a native of Colorado – meaning I was born & raised here.
* I’ve been a Baseball fan since I was 2yrs old & growing up we had the Denver Zephyrs as our only baseball team I don’t remember if they were Major league or Minor league though, I was a Cubs, Yankees fan.
* My first Major League game I went to was Cubs vs Pirates in 1985 in Wrigley Field.
* Even though I’m loyal to the Rockies (they are my heart & soul) I still hate it when they play the Cubs or Yankees.
* Offline (not on the computer) I work part time at Wendy’s doing Janitorial/Product Coordinator work & during the baseball season I’m an employee of Event Services LLC. which work for the Colorado Rockies as their on-field security staff as well as ushers, Guest Relations, Ticket takers & Gates
* I live in Broomfield, Co which is 20 to 30(depending on the traffic on I-25) mins from Denver, I’m single & I live with my mom, step-dad, older sister & her kids because living in LoDo (Lower Downtown Denver) is too expensive specially with gas prices skyrocketing these days.
* (when I can) I like to go shopping for CD’s/DVD’s or go to Starbucks I’m totally addicted to their Java chip frapachino’s. What I reeeeeallly would like to do is go skiing but I can’t afford it.

I can’t wait to talk Rockies baseball with ya’ll & there are a few things that I am/am not interested in discussing:

* I am interested talking about the Montfort Brothers & Dan O’Dowd but if the subject turns from friendly to down right trash talk then I’m gonna drop the subject.
* I am interested in talking about Rockies History from the past to what’s in the Rockies future.
* If your coming to see a Rockies home game & not sure where to go out to eat before the game I’ll gladly offer some advice including what to bring & what not to bring to the game
* I’m NOT interested in talking about the humidor or the fact that Coors Field is still referred to as “Hitter’s heaven” although I’ve heard less of that name since 2007 — but still I ain’t talking about that.
* I REALLY don’t want to talk about this steroid case so if we can please leave it out of discussion?

got anything else you wanna discuss or need some more info on Coors Field email me at coorsfieldrox@gmail.com!