Search THT:

Or you can search by:

September 25, 2012

The record-setting 2012 Rockies

Last week, the Rockies finally achieved a team milestone. On Sept. 18, starting pitcher Jeff Francis threw five innings in his outing, giving him exactly 100 innings pitched on the season.

Incredibly, he was the first hurler on the Rockies staff to reach 100 frames. It took the team 147 games, but it finally, belatedly had someone in triple digits.

All other teams this year already had a guy top 100 innings, and most had done it long ago. A question arises: what is the fewest innings ever pitched by a squad’s top workhorse in a full season? Do the Rockies have a chance at the unwanted record?

Oh, hell yes, they have a chance at the record. Actually, they have it pretty much locked down. The current record holder for fewest innings pitched for a team’s top innings eater in a full season is the 1997 A’s. Swingman Don Wengert threw 134 innings for them. It’s tough to imagine Francis or any other Rockie getting that far. Actually, that A’s team had two other pitchers over 125 innings, a summit no 2012 Rockie will climb.

In fact, things might be even worse than that for this year’s Rockies. The 1997 A’s are the full-season record holder, but what happens if we look at teams with partial seasons?

Well, if you go back to 1884, you have some contenders. The 1884 Milwaukee squad from the American Association had a top workhorse who threw 102 innings. Francis should get there. Then again, that 1884 Milwaukee squad played just 36 games, as it was only there for a fraction of that year’s AA season.

Excluding 1884, the record low is 130.1 innings by Glenn Abbott on the 1981 Mariners. Those Mariners played just 110 games, but they still had a guy throw more innings than anyone on the 2012 Rockies will. The same can be said for all the other 1981 or 1994 teams in those strike-shortened years.

So the 2012 Rockies will have the dubious distinction of the fewest innings ever thrown by their best workhorse among all teams since 1900 (or, if you’d rather, among all teams that played at least 40 games).

It’s a type of history to make, though not the sort of history any team wants to make.

Posted by: Chris Jaffe

January 04, 2012

Melvin Mora career highlights

As 2011 came to a close, former Baltimore Oriole Melvin Mora announced his retirement. This isn’t too surprising since Arizona (his last team) cut him midseason and no one picked him up. Still, Mora’s recent decision to out-and-out retire makes it official.

Mora had an impressive career for someone who was such a late bloomer. Only seven men who debuted in their age-27 season or later have ever played in over 1,500 games: Jimmy Austin, Bob Johnson, Ichiro Suzuki, Davey Lopes, Bill Bruton, Earl Averill and Mora.

Many of those guys had circumstances delay their start. It was the race line for Bruton, the Pacific Ocean for Ichiro, and Averill was a Pacific Coast League star before the minor leagues were fully tamed. Mora was just a late bloomer.

Now that he’s gone, let’s look back on his career with the Mets, Orioles, Rockies, and Diamondbacks. Listed below are his career highlights—his best and worst performances, the greatest and most important games he played in, as well as incredible and unusual occasions he was on hand for. Here’s the list:
Click for more...

Posted by: Chris Jaffe

October 27, 2011

How good has Mike Napoli’s World Series been?

With the World Series having shifted to St. Louis for good, we won't be able to hear the catchy "Na-Po-Li!" chant echo throughout Arlington anymore. However, Texas' catcher will still be heard and felt in a big way for the rest of the series and will likely be named series MVP if the Rangers close out their first world championship.

Mike Napoli has been so strong offensively in the eighth spot in the Rangers lineup that he's outperformed every player in this series except, perhaps, Cardinals hitter Albert Pujols. Even Pujols' batting average, RBI and slugging percentage don't match up to Napoli's production over the first five World Series games. In fact, if we look back at the cleanup hitters in the past five Fall Classics, it seems like Napoli has out-produced them all.

	             Slash Line	HR	RBI	R	XBH
Napoli 2011	.308/.389/.846	2	9	2	3
C. Ross  2010	.235/.381/.471	1	2	5	2
Guerrero 2010	.071/.125/.071	0	2	0	0
A-Rod 2009	.250/.423/.550	1	6	5	4
Howard 2009	.174/.240/.391	1	3	3	3
Howard 2008	.286/.375/.762	3	6	3	4
C. Pena 2008	.118/.250/.176	0	2	1	1
M. Ramirez 2007	.250/.333/.313	0	2	3	1
M. Holliday 2007.294/.294/.471	1	3	1	1

Posted by: Shlomo Sprung

August 23, 2011

The Rockies claim Wandy

After failing to deal Wandy Rodriguez during the trade deadline, the Astros decided to put their 32-year-old left hander on waivers to see what kind of last-minute deal could be struck. The Rockies pulled his name, and now the two sides have 48 hours to come to an agreement.

The Rockies made a big splash by trading Ubaldo Jimenez in the much-discussed deadline deal last month. The team is looking to test its crop of young pitchers in 2012 but is expected to be in the market for an established starter this coming offseason.

If they acquire Rodriguez, the 2012 Rockies rotation would include two left handers in him and Jorge de la Rosa along with Jhoulys Chacin and Juan Nicasio. Colorado still has enough talent to be formidable next season, but the pitching staff will have question marks as de la Rosa and Nicasio return from serious injuries.

Rodriguez will not add a lot of payroll next season as he is due $10 million in 2012 and $13 million in 2013. His contract was scheduled to have a club option attached for another $13 million, but if he is traded it becomes a player option.

Rodriguez doesn’t give up a high frequency of fly balls, with an average around 35 percent, and should be a good fit with the Rockies in that category. This season he has been plagued by a poor defense in Houston that has registered a -5.0 team UZR/150 as well as a DRS of -32.

In comparison, the Rockies have performed substantially better, with a team UZR/150 of -0.9 and a DRS of 19. Next season, the Rockies are expected to have new additions at the corners as the team isn’t expected to pick up Todd Helton’s $23 million club option.

During this trade season, Astros GM Ed Wade has been busy. Both the Red Sox and Yankees were interested in acquiring Rodriguez, but a price was never close to being reached. The Astros will be looking to add more prospects, and with Rodriguez’s contract still considered “team friendly,” one should expect a few high-profile names to be mentioned.
Posted by: Vince Caramela

February 05, 2011

Michael Young to the Rockies, revisited

Yesterday, reports came out that the Rangers are (again) exploring the idea of trading Michael Young to the Colorado Rockies. Since his role became diminished this offseason, Young’s current contract and unwillingness to play as “Super-Utility Man” could become a problem for the Rangers as next season plays out. Of course, this is mere speculation, since no public comments have come from the Michael Young camp, but it is obvious that some frustration has emerged internally.

During the winter meetings, the Rockies looked to be the favorite in acquiring Young as their everyday second baseman and lead-off batter. Eventually, talks stalled and the teams went their separate ways. However, the recent acquisitions of Adrian Beltre and Mike Napoli could gum up Young’s playing time as their third baseman/DH hybrid, despite what manager Ron Washington says.

The Rockies may still be interested but with recent extensions given to Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez, their budget may not be as flexible. Unless another team comes forward and is willing to do the Rangers a favor and take on Young’s three-year/$48 million contract (similar to the generosity the Angels graced upon the Blue Jays) then the Rangers will have to concede and help pay some of it.

On the Rockies side, Jose Lopez is the projected starter at second and will be owed $3.6 million next season. Colorado also has a bit of a logjam at second with Eric Young Jr., Chris Nelson, Jonathan Herrera and even Ty Wigginton (don’t laugh, he did it last season with the Orioles) all slated as possible options.

Depending on how much the Rangers decide to absorb, this could work in making Young much more attractive to other teams, but will it help to increase his return value?

Despite a slight power surge in 2009, most will agree that Young, entering his age 34 season, is on the decline. Always considered a free swinger, gradual declines in his power, speed and fielding along with a slight bump in his strikeout rate aren’t the most attractive signs when agreeing to take on an aging player at a premium price.

If the Rockies do rekindle trade talks, I’m sure current Rockies second baseman Lopez would be mentioned, but would that make sense? I guess it would depend on the other parts included in this trade, but if the Rangers are expected to pick up some of this check, then gaining a $3.5 million utility player in exchange doesn’t seem like the best way to free up a budget. We’ll see.

Recently, Ken Rosenthal reported that a deal between the Rangers and Rockies could be completed by this Monday.
Posted by: Vince Caramela


Click here for more THT Notes.