Colorado Rockies news and links for Wednesday, April 24, 2024
In 1948, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill stood before the British House of Commons and paraphrased Spanish philosopher George Santayana, saying, “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
History is a fickle thing. It’s constantly being reevaluated, recontextualized and even rewritten but at its core, it is the record of what has happened in the past. It serves as a guide to past triumphs and failures in the hopes that a future generation would learn from them. It can be a useful tool with insightful retrospection, especially if you have been mired by 30 years of failure.
It’s no mystery the Colorado Rockies could stand to properly learn from the history of their mistakes. In 2024 the Rockies now hold the worst record in the National League, have yet to win two games in a row, and feature one of the weakest lineups in all of baseball. Nothing is going the way of the Rockies and yet it’s a pattern that seems to continually repeat itself year after year.
Since their inception in 1993, the Rockies have had just nine winning seasons, five playoff appearances and no division titles. Their problems are systemic and go deeper than a simple fix of “we just need to play better.”
Stability over change
You may remember that the Rockies finished with a 9-20 record in April one year ago (first time in club history that had happened in April) and are safely on pace to repeat that feat once again with 15 losses this April, not including the three losses at the end of March.
Since that month last year, I’ve thought a lot about the last time the Rockies fired a manager. Clint Hurdle had taken over as manager of the Rockies in 2002 after years of working with the organization in various capacities. He became the first manager in MLB history to have five consecutive losing seasons to begin his managerial career and not get fired because of it. He had been a company man after all. He had stuck with them through the rebuild of Generation R and never complained about the tight-fisted economic spending the team employed. His dedication was rewarded with a miraculous run to the World Series at the end of the 2007 season.
That should have at least bought him a lifetime contract and yet in 2009 the Rockies stumbled to a 18-28 start and were 14 1⁄2 games back of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the division at the end of May. Feeling a spark or change was needed, the Rockies decided to part ways with Hurdle as the manager, handing the reigns to Jim Tracy who went on to win the Manager of the Year award for the Rockies’ incredible turnaround to reach the playoffs.
What stuck out to me was general manager Dan O’Dowd’s comments about the move.
“We’re an organization that values stability more than we value change,” O’Dowd told The Associated Press. “Clint is someone who’s been a part of everything we’ve done here. He deserved the benefit of the doubt until it got to the point where we realized we needed to do something.”
Stability over change could be the mantra of the Rockies. After two playoff appearances in 2017 and 2018, the Rockies have endured five consecutive losing seasons under Bud Black, including their first 100-loss season in team history. Sure, Black has also deserved the benefit of the doubt after those first couple years of losing and roster turmoil but when will Dick Monfort and Bill Schmidt get to the point where they realize they need to do something?
While time may take care of that as Black is not under contract past 2024, it hasn’t stopped Monfort from entertaining the idea of extending Black once again, because they don’t like the instability of not having a manager for next season (you can read about my thoughts on this idea here). It’s worth remembering that Hurdle was also in the final year of his contract in 2009.
You can see this value of stability over change throughout the history of the Rockies, especially recently. The team continually hires and promotes from within the organization. Monfort explained early this season that he didn’t think the ideas of outside hires would simply not work because they had already tried those things. You see it in the moves to not trade away players when they should have (like Daniel Bard) and instead opt to sign them to extensions. They choose to stick with underperforming veterans because of the value they feel they bring to the club.
Stability is nice when times are good, but when times are bad like they are now, change is not only a necessity but an obligation.
Change
Change is necessary for development, adaption, and growth. Change is essential in fostering the ability for people and systems to not become stagnant and less able to adapt to new problems, opportunities, and developments. It helps promote and embrace new ideas of creativity and problem-solving.
Complacency is the antithesis and enemy of progression, especially when it comes to a sport like baseball. Players will often tinker at the plate or on the mound in an effort to make meaningful changes to help their progression. Sometimes things will work, sometimes they won’t but the point of the matter is that they are actively trying to improve instead of doing the same song and dance over and over.
During a spring training appearance on Foul Territory, Rockies broadcaster Ryan Spilborghs talked about how there was a presentation about 20 years ago that mentioned that sinker ballers don’t have high slugging percentages against them. This stuck with the Rockies and we have seen numerous sinkerball pitchers that have had some mild success for the Rockies.
Spilborghs went on to explain that the problem with that is that sinkerballs have a higher walk rate and lower strikeout rate, and if they miss up in the zone are punished with the long ball. Spilly also emphasized the point that when the Rockies have been successful, they have had pitchers who can get strikeouts and utilize the fastball up in the zone.
A good mix of different types of pitchers in the rotation has always seemed like the right fit, yet the Rockies have continually pursued the low-velocity groundball specialists and have struggled to develop pitchers of elite caliber. Looking at the Rockies’ current rotation, it is built on guys that are aiming for groundballs but are struggling with walks. Ryan Feltner represents the type of power pitcher the Rockies need more of as they try to modernize their pitching approach.
For 30 years the Rockies have claimed how difficult it is to pitch at Coors Field but we have continued to see dominant pitching performances from opposing teams that prove that it’s more of an excuse than a concrete unchangeable fact.
Stability comes with change
There can be no stability without change. The Rockies need to take a good long look in the mirror and let go of their stubbornness and pride and realize that what they are doing right now isn’t ever going to work. There is hope with some players in the minors and a chance for positive stability, but it will mean nothing if the big league team is stuck acting like it’s the 1990s with their old-school baseball mentality. In the technology space race the Rockies are well behind the curve and if their new rebuild is going to work, they need to learn from their past and start making some changes.
Otherwise, history is going to keep repeating itself.
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Young Rockies lineup struggles to find good chase against breaking balls | The Denver Gazette
Swinging at breaking balls out of the zone has been a problem for the Rockies. Luke Zahlmann writes about their quest to try and remedy that flaw in their approach.
Kyle Karros is having a good start to the season in High-A Spokane and he’s doing his best to be his own player and not just trying to become an emulation of his older brother or his father.
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On the farm
Triple-A: Oklahoma City Baseball Club 17, Albuquerque Isotopes 13
Leading 13-7 heading to the top of the eighth, Oklahoma City scored nine runs in the eighth, with an additional run in the ninth to steal a 17-13 victory over the Isotopes. Josh Rogers started on the mound for Albuquerque and tossed a decent six innings, allowing five runs on eight hits. Oklahoma City did most of their damage in the eighth against Geoff Hartlieb who coughed up six runs on four hits without recording an out. On a positive note, Lucas Gilbreath made his first rehab appearance, giving up two runs on a hit with two walks and a strikeout for the lone out he recorded. Offensively Jordan Beck and Sam Hilliard both had three hits while Hunter Goodman had four hits including a home run and a pair of doubles for five RBI. Drew Romo also added two hits and three RBI on the night and is now hitting .300 on the year.
Double-A: Hartford Yard Goats 9, Portland Sea Dogs 6
Mason Albright started on the mound and turned in one of his better outings this season. He went just four innings, allowing two runs on five hits while striking out three and allowing one walk. Ryan Ritter had himself a big night, driving in five runs as part of a 2-for-3 evening while Zach Kokoska drove in three runs. Portland managed to score four runs against Bryce McGowan in the top of the ninth, but Dylan Spain was called upon to get the final out and secure the save.
High-A: Spokane Indians 4, Vancouver Canadians 0
Mason Green turned in another stellar outing on the mound for Spokane tossing five shutout innings with five strikeouts and three walks while giving up just two hits. In total Vancouver scattered six singles in the game while striking out 11 times. Kyle Karros had a double and triple on the night while the rest of the lineup added in five hits, including Trevor Boone’s second home run of the season.
Low-A: Fresno Grizzlies 6, San Jose Giants 0
In front of a stadium of school children, the Fresno Grizzlies crafted a shutout at home against the San Jose Giants. Alberto Pacheco was excellent through six innings, allowing just two hits with five strikeouts and a walk. Andy Perez, Aidan Longwell and Ben McCabe all had two hits apiece to lead the 11 hits as a team. The lone extra-base hit was a double by Jake Snider who also drew two walks on the day.
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