49er16: You see the A's are thinking about bringing back Ron Washington to help improve their putrid defense? "Playing first base isn't hard Scott. Tell him Wash."
The Colonel: "It's incredibly hard." In all seriousness I'm shocked that the A's defense is bad. Who knew going from Josh Donaldson and Jed Lowrie to Brett Lawrie and Marcus Semien would turn the A's defense into a putrid defense?
49er16: That last game Scott Kazmir pitched he looked like he was ready to strangle poor old Marcus Semien for making another throwing error. The A's have also been incredibly unlucky. Their record in 1-run games is like 2-16.
The Colonel: The A's relievers have been bad this year. Hard to win one run games when your bullpen blows leads in the 7th and 8th innings.
49er16: On the bright side, Sonny Gray is looking like a legit ace pitcher. So they have they got that going for them.
The Colonel: The Rockies are horrible again and Troy Tuloqitzki's name is being brought up again in trade talks. I agree with Fangraphs that Tulo's trade market basically comes down to a big market team that can take on his huge contract but can throw in some good prospects. I can't believe though Dave Cameron didn't mention the Dodgers as a trade partner. They have the budget and prospects to send to Colorado.
49er16: If I were the Rockies, I would ask for Alex Guerrero and Joc Pederson and a pitching prospect and see if the Dodgers say yes.
The Colonel: The Mets arguably have the best package for Tulo. They could trade a trio of pitching prospects. But do the Rockies really need pitching prospects? They have guys like Eddie Butler who are suppose to be good and look good in the minors and then bomb once they get to Colorado.
49er16: Well that brings up the age old question about Colorado. Could Cy Young himself even be a successful pitcher in that park? And what gets me is that park seems to ruin pitchers even when they leave and play on the road.
The Colonel: I go back to what Jim Leyland said about Coors Field after his one year managing there, "That ain't baseball." And he's right.
49er16: Well when they finally trade Tulo or Gonzalez they'll receive another pitching prospect to be ruined by the altitude.
The Colonel: I have a feeling that team is never going to have sustained success unless they play in a dome because that field chews up too many pitchers to keep being good for a long stretch.
49er16: Anything else we need to hit upon today?
The Colonel: Nah, I've got a bagel that I've been staring at for an hour so it's time for me to go.
49er16: Have a good week, people.
For a long time, I've wondered how things would be different if the Rockies had been an AL franchise instead of an NL one. They may not be a contenting team in that league, but one woudl have to think that power hitters on the downswing of their careers (Jim Thome immediately comes to mind here) would shove aside men, women & children to DH at Coors.
ReplyDeleteI think they would still be the same team. Yeah they would have 1 extra power hitter but still have a bunch of crappy pitching.
ReplyDelete