SB Nation Denver: All Posts by Andrew Fisher

Rockies to Trade Aaron Harang to Mariners

2013-04-11T18:09:13Z

On December 7, 2005, the Mariners acquired Marcos Carvajal from the Rockies. No one knew then that the wheels were set in motion by that trade for Seattle to acquire Aaron Harang seven years later, who had just had a great first year with the Reds.

More: Rockies trade for Aaron Harang

See, the return for Carvajal in that trade in December 2005 was Yorvit Torrealba. The Venezuelan catcher became a fan favorite, becoming known for his passion and hot hitting down the stretch in the Rockies' two playoff years. Dan O'Dowd let Torrealba go as a free agent after 2009 and has since declared it one of his biggest regrets as Rockies general manager.

To right that wrong, the Rockies went out and signed Torrealba. The Rockies had Wilin Rosario firmly entrenched as the starter and Ramon Hernandez due $3.2 million to be the back-up. Torrealba had a solid spring and the Rockies wanted him on the roster, so Hernandez was designated for assignment.

Four days ago, the Rockies managed to trade Hernandez for Aaron Harang, a pitcher they had no intention of issuing a jersey to after acquiring Jon Garland. The deal merely bought them more time to find a taker for the salary on the ledger, and Harang figured to have more demand as pitchers fell to injury than an aging catcher.

Today, according to Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal (via MLB Daily Dish), the Rockies have found that taker in the Seattle Mariners, the team that traded Garland to the Rockies in the first place. Seattle can also thank the catcher they traded away back when their season-innings leader was a young 42-year-old Jamie Moyer. There is no word on what the Rockies will receive, and the trade is still pending MLB approval, which figures to be a formality.

Update

Rockies will have saved close to $2.5 million dollars in their two trades of Ramon Hernandezto Dodgers and Aaron Harang to M's #Sources
— JIM BOWDEN (@JimBowdenESPNxm) April 11, 2013

So the Rockies' gymnastics leads to just ~$0.7mil paid to remove Hernandez from the roster, which is less than Yorvit Torrealba's $1mil salary. That means the net savings on payroll with Torrealba's salary included is about $1.5mil.

Update #2

The #Rockies have acquired RHP Steven Hensley from the #Mariners in exchange for RHP Aaron Harang & cash considerations.
— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) April 11, 2013

Hensley was the Mariners' 4th round pick in 2008 out of Elon. He is a 26-year-old AAA right-handed reliever who was not on Seattle's 40-man roster. As expected, the Rockies acquire a fringe relief prospect. The trade has now been ruled official by MLB.

Friday Off Topic

2013-03-29T14:57:22Z

Friday Rockpile: Franchise Value, Prospects, Roster Decisions, and an Announcement

2013-03-29T14:52:40Z

Forbes released their MLB franchise valuations this week, which is always an interesting way to see where teams stack up on the business side of baseball. These are generally educated estimates based on public information, and the numbers can be inaccurate. However, they tend to be reasonably close. I have condensed the information into a handy, short table.

Current Value	$537million	25th
2012 Revenue	$199million	21st
Operating Income	$18.7million	13th
2012 Attendance	2,630,458	13th
Average Ticket Price	$20.55	21st
Premium Ticket Price	$38	29th

I hear a very common lazy refrain on radio airwaves and in downtown pubs. Why, with all of the support the Rockies get in attendance, do they spend like a small market team? The biggest flaw in this argument is the assumed equation that the only variable that affects revenue is the number of persons walking through the turnstiles. Even leaving aside the television contract (which is below average) and merchandise revenue (which is below average), there absolutely is not a fixed relationship between attendance and ticket revenue.

Only six teams (the Giants, Rangers, Royals, Indians, Brewers, Marlins) saddled fans with a higher average ticket price increase last season, yet the Rockies still ranked 21st in average ticket price. While the average premium game ticket is nearly double, that does not count as gouging in the Major League Baseball league. Only the Padres had a lower average premium ticket price, and that was by 17 cents.

The Rockies no longer carry the banner for attendance in MLB, coming in slightly above average. As long as ticket prices remain exceedingly affordable, the Rockies will continue to rank in the middle-bottom of MLB in ticket revenue. The television contract will expire in 2014, so that may provide a boost is a solid deal is struck, but it won't push the Rockies into the top half of MLB in revenue.

The Monforts are running a business, first and foremost, as most sports franchise owners do, and have a right to do. Based on their income in 2012, they did it well on that aspect. But don't be the person, or let another person, repeating the tired presumption that attendance alone should drive payroll.

Roster Decisions

Rockies' Nolan Arenado demoted after losing bid for starting third-base job to Nelson - The Denver Post - As I repeatedly begged them to, the Rockies have ensured Nolan Arenado receives a Sky Sox jersey before an official Rockies jersey. Simply, $8 now is not better than $10 in the future. It is the right decision, and we will see him soon.

Rockies tab Yorvit Torrealba as backup catcher, assign Ramon Hernandez - The Denver Post - The writing was clearly on the wall here. The Rockies wanted Torrealba to be the backup one way or another. They love Yorvit, and they soured on Ramon. It was apparently so clear that they could not work out a trade for the catcher, instead paying him $3.2million not to play for them. I just hope he doesn't end up on the Giants.

Fits for Hernandez - MLB Rumors Blog - ESPN Jason Churchill profiles potential landing spots for Hernandez, who was an above average MLB hitter the two years prior to signing with Colorado.

As it stands now, there are three roster battles remaining. Reid Brignac or Jonathan Herrera for utility infield. And two of Chris Volstad, Edgmer Escalona and Manuel Corpas for the bullpen.

Prospects

Baseball Prospectus | Prospects Will Break Your Heart: 2013 Organizational Rankings - Despite adding David Dahl, a consensus top 100 prospect, the Rockies fall to 22nd in Jason Parks' franchise farm system ranking Kevin Goldstein had them ranked 14th last year.

Cactus League Prospects: Newman’s Take | FanGraphs Baseball - But to ease your worry, Fangraphs has some serious Rockies' prospect love. Mike Newman was in Arizona and heaps high praise on David (Johnny Damon) Dahl and Trevor (top 30 overall prospect) Story. He also mentions Rosell Herrera and WIll Swanner as prospects he liked.

Cactus League Prospects: Sussman’s Take | FanGraphs Baseball - JD Sussman has even more to say about Rockies' prospects, allocating four of his top ten list to Colorado farmhands. In addition to Dahl and to Story (whom he deems highly underrated), Sussman profiles Swanner and...Wilfredo Rodriguez.

Links

Top 10 candidates to replace Tim McCarver at Fox | March | 2013 Tim McCarver will be leaving Fox's prime baseball broadcast team. For many, this is overdue, but there is always the fear that his replacement will make watching baseball more painful. Awful Announcing, a blog dedicating solely to the broadcasters of every sport, made a list of acceptable replacements.

De La Rosa has strong outing in Minor League game | Rockies.com: News - This is encouraging, as there were a few Opening Day starters for Arizona in that minor league lineup as well.

The Next Next Next Jose Bautista - Beyond the Box Score - Lewie Pollis is sticking to his guns, and I can't blame him. After he found ISO trends that predicted the breakouts of Ben Zobrist, Jose Bautista and Mike Morse, his calculations suggested Brent Morel would be the big star in 2012. Right. Still, he's sticking with the method, and Astros fans have to be happy.

32 Predictions Contest - Sky Kalkman has been doing these sorts of fun contests for years, back when he ran Beyond the Boxscore. I highly recommend you partake. I kept meaning to set a Rockies-centered one up for Purple Row but never got around to it. Speaking of...

Announcement

When I found Purple Row, I had never heard of Carlos Gonzalez. I was intimidated by the comments sections slinging around unknown acronyms as if it was a prize. I graduated soon thereafter and was single and unemployed, and I threw myself into Purple Row.

A lot has changed in the 50+ months and 1100+ posts. The Rockies have gotten worse every year. I got a job, then in the past six months, got married and adopted my wife's child. My real life career has been on hold a bit due to my time commitment here at Purple Row, which is frankly unacceptable. So has been the recent quality of my production here, which I believe has suffered with less time to focus on our team.

So today, I very sadly announce that I am taking an indefinite leave from these pages. This is completely unrelated to Andrew and Rox Girl's resignations. I came to my conclusion before I knew of their pending departures. Jeff has left the door open for a return in the future or partial contributions as life allows, and that is not out of the question once life settles down and batteries are recharged. It certainly is no guarantee though. With this new staff primed and ready for Opening Day, I know you all are in good hands.

OFF TOPIC

Tuesday Off Topic

2013-03-26T14:31:45Z

I have nothing for you guys. Stimulate yourselves.

Tuesday Rockpile: Is Coors Field the Demon, or is it the Sinker?

2013-03-26T14:29:45Z

It would not be correct to say that the Colorado Rockies have never had success with pitching in their 20 years of playing baseball at altitude. The 2009 Rockies actually featured one of the best pitching staffs in the National League. It would be correct, however, to suggest the Rockies have never had sustained success pitching at altitude.

That is no secret; in fact, it is becoming the chief narrative nationally about the baseball team at 20th and Blake. Tyler Kepner allocated 100% of his recent column space in the New York Times to this topic. The digitial ink spent on the issue continues to grow exponentially while solutions are nowhere to be found.

Last week, Bill James gave a hypothesis which, if true, further damages the Rockies' chances at sustained success at altitude. One of the earliest theories for succeeding at Coors Field was inducing as many ground balls as possible. It makes perfect sense - limit the home runs and batted balls into the hundred acre prairie that is the Coors outfield.

But back to James' assertion:

What I have never understood about ground ball pitchers, and do not understand now, is why they always get hurt. Show me an extreme ground ball pitcher, a guy with a terrific ground ball rate, and I'll show you a guy who is going to be good for two years and then get hurt.

The Rockies' two best pitchers in franchise history, Ubaldo Jimenez and Aaron Cook, were very good groundball pitchers. Both struggles with injuries and/or completely lost effectiveness. We know of Brandon Webb. What could be the reason for this? Sabermetrician Craig Wright has a sensible theory:

I believe the big issue with sinkerballers is that most continue to have as good or even better sinking action when their arm is a little tired. That doesn't happen with a normal fastball, which tends to lose effectiveness when the shoulder crosses the line of fatigue. As I've said many times, the key point in managing a pitcher's workload is not about pitches or innings in general, it is about curtailing the pitches and innings when the shoulder is starting to stress from fatigue. We are inclined to be more careless with a sinkerballer in that regard. He is more likely to be left in a game when his shoulder is most vulnerable to being damaged.

This certainly makes sense. The dark theory that Colorado's best established weapon at altitude is also a weapon of self-sabotage is too poetic and painful to think about...but up until now, we only have anecdotal evidence with confirmation bias.

Bill Petti tackled ten years' worth of injuries over the weekend to see if there was a correlation between ground ball rate and injury frequency or seriousness. Petti's quick calculations found that.....there was nothing to James' hypothesis. In fact, his numbers suggest that sinkerballers are less likely to be injured, which also makes sense given their low frequency of breaking pitches.

Petti's research is hardly conclusive, but it does give this Rockies fan hope that a ground-ball minded staff may still succeed at Coors Field, someday.

Roster Battle Updates

When the Rockies signed Jon Garland, they purged their roster of most left-handed pitchers. Colorado elected to let Drew Pomeranz start in the minor leagues rather than fiddle around in the bullpen, optioned Josh Outman and Christian Friedrich to AAA and returned Rule 5 pick Daniel Rosenbaum to the Nationals. With that, the rotation is settled, and we can no longer say the hapless 2012 rotation returns with nary a new name. Garland will start for the Rockies in today's game against the Dodgers.

The Rockies also released Miguel Batista and sent down Tyler Chatwood, Rob Scahill, Charlie Culberson, Gustavo Molina, Corey Dickerson, Ben Paulsen, Bobby Cassevah, Jeff Manship, and Charlie Blackmon. Jordan Pacheco, Eric Young Jr. and Tyler Colvin still seem rock solid in their bench roles.

Bullpen: Rafael Betancourt, Matt Belisle, Rex Brothers and Wilton Lopez are locks. Adam Ottavino appears to be. With Outman's surprise demotion, two bullpen spots remain. Edgmer Escalona is out of options and would seem to have an inside track for one spot. The remaining spot would be up for grabs between Chris Volstad and Manuel Corpas. My guess is Escalona/Corpas.

Back-up Catcher: It will either be Ramon Hernandez, who is under contract for $3.2 million this year, or Yorvit Torrealba, who is not currently on the roster. The Rockies seem to favor Torrealba, by either trading or even possibly releasing Hernandez. My guess is Torrealba gets the role.

Utility Infield: It is down to Reid Brignac (who is out of options), Jonathan Herrera and DJ LeMahieu (who do have options). This leads Patrick Saunders to think Brignac gets the roster spot, but the battle is wide open. The Rockies could get creative here, keep Pacheco as the backup catcher instead of Hernandez/Torrealba, and choose two utility infield guys. My guess is Herrera, but would not be shocked if Brignac makes the club. He has hit very well this week.

Third Base: It will be Chris Nelson with Nolan Arenado in AAA, or it will be Nolan Arenado, with Nelson traded for scraps. My guess is Nelson to start.

So, for the record, the Rockies will have three pieces of the Ubaldo Jimenez trade in AAA Colorado Springs. They traded Alex White to the Astros, and White is a lock for the Houston MLB roster. The Astros are undecided whether to put him in the bullpen or rotation. The player Colorado acquired for White, Wilton Lopez, will indeed be on Colorado's roster.

Elsewhere, it is decision day for some former Rockies. The Philles have until 10a MDT to decide whether to keep Aaron Cook, while Jamey Wright remains a favorite for a spot in the Rays bullpen. Over the weekend, the Pirates released Brad Hawpe.

Rockies Links

Q&A: Jason Giambi, Hitting Guru | FanGraphs Baseball - One can see why Giambi is thought of as hitting coach material.

Rockies' Wilin Rosario evolving into major-league power hitter - The Denver Post - Can he hit 30?

Baseball Prospectus | Prospectus Q&A: Josh Outman - This is five years old, but an interesting look at a pitcher who certainly did not expect to be in AAA now.

Vetoed Trades, Part Six | FanGraphs Baseball - Paul Swydan wrapped up his offseason series talking about Curt Flood. The series started off with the two big trades that Larry Walker vetoed. The only he finally allowed stings a little.

OFF TOPIC

Friday Off Topic

2013-03-22T17:00:57Z

Because awesome

Friday Rockpile: The Utility Infielder Battle

2013-03-22T16:55:47Z

Ten days shy of Opening Day, five of the six infield spots seem to be set for the Opening Day roster. Troy Tulowitzki, Josh Rutledge and Todd Helton are going to be starters at short, second and first. Jordan Pacheco seems to have a bench spot locked up. Chris Nelson is likely to be the third baseman to start, but if Nolan Arenado usurps him, Nelson is likely to be traded, leaving the bench untouched.

The last role for the infield left to decide is utility infield, and there are plenty of candidates. Josh Rutledge's versaility does no favors in paring down the field, as his ability to play shortstop negates the requirement that the backup in question be able to play both second and short. The candidates:

Jonathan Herrera

Why He Could Get the Job: More than any other player on this list, Herrera is part of the Rockies' fabric. He has been a Rockie his entire career and is a childhood friend of Carlos Gonzalez. The Rockies' tendered Herrera a contract last fall when they could have thinned the herd up the middle, and Herrera now has a $900k contract for 2013, which might make a trade more difficult. He has hit the best of the candidates during spring.

Why He Might Not Get the Job: He's not the most talented hitter or fielder on this list and he has one option remaining.

DJ LeMahieu

Why He Could Get the Job: With increased playing time late in the season in 2012, LeMahieu continued to improve. His high contact, low strikeout approach makes him a weapon on the road, and he can play third base in addition to second base. The Rockies essentially acquired him for a former first round pick.

Why He Might Not Get the Job: He has an option year remaining and is not an option at shortstop.

Reid Brignac

Why He Could Get the Job: The Rockies traded for Brignac knowing he was out of options, so he clearly is in the picture despite his recent struggles at the big league level. Brignac has the highest prospect pedigree on this list and is a very solid gloveman. Coors could resuscitate his career in a big way. He's the only player without an option remaining on this list, so if he makes the team, Colorado can keep every player.

Why He Might Not Get the Job: He is out of options and is just 3-for-18 in spring training. Being the outsider of this group, that's not the way to get noticed. Releasing Brignac would be relatively painless.

Charlie Culberson

Why He Could Get the Job: He is arguably the highest rated of the candidates that still qualify as prospects. He was acquired for Marco Scutaro last year, and his presence on the roster could partially validate that trade.

Why He Might Not Get the Job: He has two option years remaining and not hit well at all this spring.

Ryan Wheeler

Why He Could Get the Job: The Rockies traded a big league piece in Matt Reynolds for Wheeler, who can play third base and first base.

Why He Might Not Get the Job: His position on the field is redundant with Jordan Pacheco, and Wheeler has not put up much of an argument with his bat this spring, going 3-or-19 with 5 strikeouts. He has all three option years and is an easy stash at AAA. Perhaps most importantly, he cannot play up the middle, which is a requirement if Pacheco is the other bench infielder. As such, he's already been optioned.

Without intending to, I set that list up in decreasing order of likelihood those men will be on the Opening Day roster, barring injury. Your thoughts?

Links

Colorado Rockies confident emphasis on defense is paying off - The Denver Post - This would be good.

Young working to shed label as bench player | Rockies.com: News - This is going to be difficult, considering he is clearly inferior to the starter at every position he plays.

Can Rockies' Tulowitzki win MVP? You bet - The Denver Post - This would be a welcome development.

2013 Preview: Colorado Rockies | HardballTalk - DJ Short picks the Rockies last in the division. I'm beginning to think he will be wrong.

For whatever reason, two Rockies pitchers want to reduce their K/9 rate We haven't read about this because it was in a Venezuelan paper, but this is about Jhoulys Chacin and Edgmer Escalona.

One Concussion Too Many: My post-concussion story » mindahaas.net If you've found yourself wondering why Justin Mornaeu and Jason Bay have had such a difficult time getting back on the field, read this. It is by a Royals blogger whose life was completely derailed by a concussion, and it sure wasn't from playing football.

OFF TOPIC

Poll

Assuming the assumption that Helton, Tulowitzki, Rutledge, Nelson (or Arenado) and Pacheco are locks, who is most likely to get the last spot? Then tell me your preference in the comments

Herrera

48 votes

LeMahieu

46 votes

Brignac

11 votes

Culberson

1 votes

Wheeler

0 votes

106 votes | Poll has closed

Tuesday Off Topic

2013-03-19T14:40:24Z

I trust you can take care of yourselves?

SB Nation Denver: All Posts by Andrew Fisher

Rockies to Trade Aaron Harang to Mariners

Still learning from Jackie Robinson

Update

Update #2

Friday Off Topic

Friday Rockpile: Franchise Value, Prospects, Roster Decisions, and an Announcement

Roster Decisions

Prospects

Links

Announcement

Tuesday Off Topic

Tuesday Rockpile: Is Coors Field the Demon, or is it the Sinker?

Roster Battle Updates

Rockies Links

Friday Off Topic

Friday Rockpile: The Utility Infielder Battle

Jonathan Herrera

DJ LeMahieu

Reid Brignac

Charlie Culberson

Ryan Wheeler

Links

Assuming the assumption that Helton, Tulowitzki, Rutledge, Nelson (or Arenado) and Pacheco are locks, who is most likely to get the last spot? Then tell me your preference in the comments

Herrera

LeMahieu

Brignac

Culberson

Wheeler

Tuesday Off Topic