Sufficiently Rocked

 

The last time the Rockies played the Mets, it was a moment of promise for Colorado. Not only were they finally bringing German Marquez back from the IL, but they were outhitting the Mets, who'd been excellent since a midyear streak. Michael Toglia hit 2 home runs, it was huge. Now, less than a month later the Mets have journeyed to Denver, ironically on the day the Rockies announce Marquez is done for the season, and start pummeling the crap out of them. Pete Alonso has a 2-homer day at Coors Field, which...I mean, it's a lot like saying Snoop Dogg's packed a few bowls since he got to Paris. You put a professional home run hitter in a game at Coors Field, the balls are gonna fly out of there.

The Rockies, as a halfway alright last place team, are desperately trying to seem legitimate right now. They have Kris Bryant back, but like usual in the Rockies era of Kris Bryant baseball, nothing is frigging happening. At the very least he's hitting .230, but I remember when he was a .300 hitter. This also very well could be Charlie Blackmon's last season in Denver, and he's...perfectly adequate, hitting .250 with 7 homers and 35 RBIs. Not peak Blackmon but not bad. 

The catching platoon, of former Pittsburgh catching platoon Elias Diaz and Jacob Stallings, is the surprise of the year. They're both hitting .270, and they both fulfill exactly what the Rockies need in multiple situations. Diaz is the defense-friendly pick, as he's still excellent behind the plate and can give you the occasional extra base hit. Stallings is having the better season at the plate, with 7 homers and 27 RBIs in 61 games, and his defensive numbers honestly could be worse. Either option is fantastic in different ways, and you can tell they get along because they've been doing this together for years. I bet they're also both relieved that neither of them got traded.

Ultimately, the Rockies have carved out a working core of Ryan McMahon, Ezequiel Tovar, Brenton Doyle and Michael Toglia, with Brendan Rodgers slowly catching up after his injury-plagued 2023. That is an insanely solid core, and if this team can either keep adding cheap free agents that work for the system AND start integrating traded guys and prospects that work, we could have something here. If next year is a good year for Nolan Jones, Rodgers, Bryant and Jordan Beck in addition to those other guys, this team very well could place above 5th.

Now, it does come down to the pitching, which, as it's Denver, is bloated and inefficient. Gomber, Quantrill, Feltner and Freeland have at least been consistent, and the former three have a ton of innings this year, but they need to prove that they're not only good for Denver, but they're good for baseball. I don't know if Tanner Gordon is the answer, but it'll be interesting to see what this pitching staff looks like when this team's a bit more sure of itself.

Til then, more 5th place mediocrity. But it does look somewhat promising.

Coming Tomorrow- The single biggest addition to a roster at the trade deadline may have actually been a guy who was already on his team's active roster before the deadline. He just needed another chance.