Room at the Bottom

 

The Rockies recently became the first team officially eliminated from the playoffs, and they did so with a marginally better record than the Angels, who haven't been eliminated yet but will be in the next 24 hours. Both teams have an outside chance of reaching 100 losses, but it's not guaranteed yet. 

I mean, first of all, let's step back for a moment and think about the fact that there's probably more of a chance of the Brewers reaching 100 wins than the Angels reaching 100 losses. Both may happen but it's nice that there won't be discourse about there being more 100 loss teams than 100 win teams [or any at all]. 

The Angels are probably more likely to reach the mark first because they're up to their ears in replacement-level guys. The number of guys that only hit well against the Yankees has grown to two, as Vaughn Grissom has joined Christian Moore as an in-house Yankee killer without doing much else against the other 28 teams. Grissom is hitting .249 with 10 homers and 59 RBIs as a baseline infield fill-in guy, far from where he thought he'd be about four years ago. Inches from succeeding Dansby Swanson in Atlanta, he was passed over for Orlando Arcia, traded for Chris Sale and never achieved any sense of MLB stability...until this year, where he's an everyday guy for a last place Angels team. The Angels tried a lot of gambits for roster roles this year [Nick Madrigal, Jeimer Candelario, Trey Mancini, Alek Manoah, Michael Fulmer] but Grissom might be the most successful. I don't think this means he'll have a true rebound, but if the Angels continue at this very worrying pace, he could be a good placeholder piece. 

Then again I am seeing a lot of those the more I look around this Angels team. I do think Denzer Guzman is a placeholder guy, as he's not hitting much at all despite having third base, but...he's also 22. Same with Moises Ballesteros, who's shown none of his Cubs-era finesse and is limping along, hitting .179 with barely any offensive production. Christian Moore isn't doing much else, he's hitting .162 in 19 games. The idea is for these guys to inherit the team. Y'know, like Caden Dana was supposed to. Eventually something is going to work, but I still think that timeline is a-ways off. They'll go ahead with Schanuel, Meckler, Urena, Joyce and, I'm guessing, Mike Trout, but I don't think they'll actually be intimidating again while Trout is still here.

The Rockies, meanwhile, do have some solid bats to work with, which is why the 100 loss mark isn't a guarantee just yet. Hunter Goodman, Cole Carrigg, Jake McCarthy, T.J. Rumfield, Zac Even, Troy Johnston and somehow Connor Norby and Adael Amador have continued the relatively decent upward momentum of the Rockies lineup. Goodman's at 36 homers, and he could hit 40. Carrigg's very much at home in the majors, and has an .808 OPS. Johnston is the ideal slap contact guy, even with only 48 RBIs; he's on-point, relatively consistent, and does what he's supposed to. Same with Norby almost. Filling the bench with contact guys is a very nice way to get further towards competition, and assuming Johnston and Norby stick around, they could pad the roster while Carrigg, Karros, Rumfield, Goodman and Even get the everyday glory. It's also very refreshing that Adael Amador has finally learned to hit at the MLB level. He'd be very useful as an everyday second baseman, and moreso now that Willi Castro's gotten hurt.

Pitching is obviously going to be an issue going forward. Ryan Feltner, Gabriel Hughes, Mason Adams and Chase Dollander will be the main starting options, as I'm assuming Sugano will find a better environment for his craftsmanship and the Freeland contract will finally be over. To be honest...you could do worse with a homegrown base. Hughes has a 6.19 ERA, but surprisingly he's got a 3.81 ERA at Coors. Half his starts have been home starts, and they're not bad at all. You get a Feltner or a Lorenzen who's equally bad both home and away, but having young, impressive guys like Hughes, Adams and Dollander who could potentially carry the rotation is...a start. They just need to come into their own without pressure, which I think next year could be good for. I'd recommend grabbing one cheap free agent to pad things [Chris Bassitt? Miles Mikolas? Jordan Montgomery?], but letting those kids go could be a nice start.

I don't think either team will compete as soon as next year, but the Rockies might do so sooner than the Angels. Not White Sox rebuild levels of turnaround but...the seeds have been planted, and you never know when that team will take off.

Coming Tomorrow- A rookie who was traded at the deadline, made his debut and might be making the playoffs anyway.

Rockie Business as Usual

 

The best thing you can say about the Rockies this year is that they are no longer historically bad. They are no longer 'worst ever' bad. They are just plain bad, which works I suppose.

Every so often you do hear of something good happening to this team, like a Jake McCarthy multi-homer day or a Hunter Goodman RBI masterclass, or Mickey Moniak still doing something cool. So the Rockies can still hit for power. That helps I suppose. You're in Denver, why not? The defense is still kind of atrocious, you've got Karros, McCarthy, Johnston and Moniak all doing well enough at the plate then drawing straws to see who gets to DH. Ezequiel Tovar's defense used to be a perk, but he's just not good at anything this year. The only really good defender on this team is T.J. Rumfield, and everyone else is average or below average. 

Willi Castro is pretty indicative of the issues here. He is a career utility man, and can play a few different positions, but the trick is that he's got to be able to play them well. At second base he is decent I suppose, but he's losing defensive runs and doesn't have the range you'd expect. He's playing 2nd more often than not because Edouard Julien didn't work there [what a shocker], and the cool thing is, seeing as this is Denver, his power numbers are up. He's got 14 homers and 53 RBIs, plus a .423 SLG, which isn't Moniak or Goodman levels but is still good. It helps that this team has pure contact guys like Troy Johnson and Kyle Karros in addition to the power core.

Losing Hunter Goodman for a bit is a pretty harsh blow, but the Rockies have been moving some guys around from the minors. Zac Veen is up again, and he's been doing better than last time, with 2 homers, 7 RBIs and a .263 average in 8 games. Connor Norby's up after the trade for Victor Vodnik, he's hitting .269 with some of his usual contact success. I'm not sure if he's gonna be a working piece for them going forward, seeing as he's sort of limited defensively, but the contact numbers certainly help. I'm not sure if Jordan Beck's gonna be a thing for them sadly, he's still a sub-.200 hitter without much versatility. Brett Sullivan's a decent enough backup catcher that also is an above-average pitcher in blowouts. And for some reason, after failing to keep anything down in Los Angeles or Philly, somehow it is DENVER that levels Jordan Romano, as he's got 8 saves in 14 opportunities, and seems to have the position despite many younger options. 

The Rockies are still kind of a mess. I have no idea what this rotation will look like going forward because there's no slam dunk options, and Chase Dollander constantly had to be opened for and still got hurt. If they can't get a halfway decent rotation together, in Coors Field, they're just gonna be like this for the rest of the decade, and again...there's a way of avoiding this that nobody in the front office wants to approach. So for now, enjoy the mildly interesting shitshow and let's hope there's some level of improvement.

Coming Tonight: He missed a lot of time for Toronto, but he's certainly been making up for it in the last few weeks. 

Complete(ly Miserable)

 

Here's something true. Earlier today, in the midst of a 3-10 season with a 7 ERA and a league-leading 81 earned runs, Kyle Freeland of the Rockies notched his first ever complete game. This game was against the Royals at home, which honestly makes sense. It wasn't even a complete game shutout, there was a run scored. But something like this, in the midst of a lost season for both the Rockies and Freeland, is something close to a season highlight. 

Even if the Rockies are visibly better than they were last year, you can still tell this isn't really another marquee year for them. Though admittedly there's better pitching than usual, trotting Michael Lorenzen and Kyle Freeland out there every few days isn't doing this team any favors. I keep hearing rumors that they're gonna try and trade Lorenzen, but I'm not sure if Coors Field is the problem or if Lorenzen's just cooked. He's got a 1.806 WHIP, leads the league in hits allowed and has a 6.34 ERA, despite making all his starts and striking out 80. Obviously pitching at Coors has ballooned the ERA, but let's be clear, his away ERA is still 5.16, with more hits allowed. Are teams thinking he's just gonna bounce back once he's out of the purple? The opposite might happen if Tomoyuki Sugano's dealt, I have no idea if his numbers will be better anywhere else. He seems like the kind of low-velocity, high-craftsmanship pitcher that's made for the Rockies, and putting him on a competitor might expose just how inconsequential he'd be for, y'know, a good team. Sort of like the Ryan McMahon conversation.

What I will say is that, barring a few negative WAR seasons [including from former prized prospect Ezequiel Tovar], this lineup isn't much of an issue. Assuming we're losing Hunter Goodman in the next 24 hours, as somebody like Boston or Tampa or the Cubs could go for him, the Rockies will be down to Braxton Fulford or Brett Sullivan behind the plate. Beyond that, there's still plenty of options for general offensive lunacy. Cole Carrigg's having a very nice rookie season, hitting .292 with an .891 OPS, plus 5 homers and 26 RBIs in 43 games. T.J. Rumfield seems to be the answer at first, he's a .297 hitter with 13 home runs and 57 RBIs. Kyle Karros is also putting together an excellent contact-friendly campaign at third, and Mickey Moniak and Jake McCarthy have gone from novelty pickups to genuinely helpful offensive pieces. 

If people leave, and they will, the hope is that the guys who were supposed to be a factor but weren't [Brenton Doyle, Jordan Beck, Zac Even] can eventually take over and continue to build this lineup. I think overall a better pitching staff would help, as they competed in the mid-2010s because they had Freeland, Marquez, Senzatela and Gray all healthy and thriving, so they need something like that again. Having Gabriel Hughes in position to help is one thing, but if Hughes, Dollander, Feltner and Sean Sullivan could lock in and produce something consistent, then we can actually talk about this team scraping out of last. Until then, expect a lot of teams like this.

Coming Tomorrow- He was traded to make room for an infielder who still hasn't been promoted yet, and is still managing to feel like a positive addition to his team. 

A Different Kind of Air Quality Concern

 

D'you think they're sitting in the Coors Field clubhouse, prepping for a game which is likely gonna have multiple longballs and unstable pitching, going 'gather round, the Pirates have called the game due to an air quality concern. Can...can teams do that?' The Rockies have had an air quality concern for 33 years now. They somehow got to a World Series in 2007, even with said air quality concern. I mean the smoke in the Northeast is bad, maybe it'll screw up the Pittsburgh humidor yet again, but...the Rockies are hearing this going 'thicker air?? what a concept'. Kyle Freeland's gonna find something to burn down so he can pitch decently again. 

Anyway, the Rockies are still last in the NL West and expected to stay there, but it's not without some fun performances from the hitters. Any way you look at it, this team has gotten great production from T.J. Rumfield, Hunter Goodman, Jake McCarthy, Cole Carrigg, Troy Johnston, Mickey Moniak and Kyle Karros. That's...more than a few. The issue with the 2025 team was not just the atrocious pitching, it was the anonymity of the lineup, the lack of power in a power park, all of the above. When you get guys who can mesh well with the park, and when they're all working, even if it's a bad team you're still going in the right direction. Cole Carrigg's been in the league for 31 games, and he has an .871 OPS, 22 RBIs and 4 homers. McCarthy is a .300 hitter after the D-Backs let him come over here, he's got 10 homers and a team-leading 53 RBIs. I did not expect Jake McCarthy to have more RBIs than Hunter Goodman, but here we are. Happy for him honestly, he was really struggling in Phoenix. Rumfield is getting some Rookie of the Year buzz, he's been skillfully on target without being solely a power bat; same thing with Troy Johnston. And then Goodman's 5 homers away from his 2025 total, so he's probably gonna be chasing 35+, maybe even 40. 

That's half the battle right there, this team can put their heads together and score runs, and it's not a full on cop-out every game. The pitching still leaves a lot to be desired, and the early lead the bullpen had has been basically shattered, with Victor Vodnik, Juan Mejia and Zach Agnos all having very rough seasons. Somehow Jordan Romano hasn't shat the bed too greatly yet, but it's early. Tomoyuki Sugano's hurt, so now it's down to Ryan Feltner and Gabriel Hughes to be the only people in the rotation to seem to be able to keep runs down this year. Michael Lorenzen is 3-9 with a 6.22 ERA. YEESH. Even if the team's hitting, this pitching staff still isn't it, and bringing in young, efficient options hasn't helped because it's impossible to pitch competently if half your season's played in Denver. It's purely impractical at this point. At least the Vegas stadium is gonna be domed. 

There's still fun to be had with this team. Maybe a trade or two, maybe some more breakouts, maybe some genuine promise from Carrigg, maybe even a Zac Veen appearance. But whatever happens will mostly be a side-plot to this already convoluted year, sad to say. Maybe some of this will carry over to next year, provided there's actually baseball next year.

Coming Tomorrow- Somehow one of the most consistent veteran pitchers left in the game if Verlander and Scherzer both retire. 

A Control Artist in Denver

 

...sounds crazy, no?

Tomoyuki Sugano finding success in the MLB despite not overthrowing or being an especially remarkable athlete is one of those complex stories you only get every so often. Remember, Jefry Yan, who jumps a mile high when he gets an out, will likely never make the bigs, but Sugano, even with his flaws, still stays dominant, even in a slightly different definition of dominance.

Fundamentally, Sugano is not Jacob Misiorowski. He's not even Parker Messick. He doesn't throw hard, he doesn't strike people out, and he doesn't go too deep. Sugano is an arsenal picture who keeps it in the park and goes by efficiency and trickery. He's 36 years old, and his fastball peaked in the 2010s in Japan. What he has left is intelligence and form, and that goes a long way. He's 8-4 so far this year, with a 4.80 ERA and 16 homers allowed. Now, in Denver of course he's gonna allow a lot of home runs, but he allowed 32 last year in Baltimore. Putting a leverage pitcher in Coors Field could be a recipe for disaster [as Michael Lorenzen could tell you], but Sugano keeps winning games and throwing strikes, and he still very much has a job in Denver. Will he get lit up? Yes, sometimes. But he's able to hold the Cubs to 3 runs, or the Pirates to 1 run, or the Reds scoreless. He doesn't get lit up terribly often, and even when he does he still finishes out the start. Just a consistent, steady, reliable guy playing for a team that needs something reliable.

Anyway, the Rockies are once again last in the MLB. Not as embarrassingly as last year, but it's still going pretty poorly. They've found a winning combo with Hunter Goodman and T.J. Rumfield, that's definitely the answer. And Kyle Karros, Willi Castro and Cole Carrigg are making decent progress. Carrigg at least has an .860 OPS in 16 games, and already has 11 RBIs, so there's not a ton of learning curve. Karros there sort of is a learning curve, it's taken him a bit to get going, but he's up to .250 and has decent contact perks, so that's a start. I also credit this team for finding great seasons from Jake McCarthy, Mickey Moniak and Troy Johnston. The rest of the lineup is painfully replacement level, including the once promising Ezequiel Tovar and the still-not-all-the-way-there Jordan Beck. Pitching-wise it's not much better. Feltner, Freeland and Lorenzen are all struggling. Dollander was doing well but got hurt. Sean Sullivan might be a decent rotation option if he played literally anywhere else. The bullpen's actually kinda okay but even Victor Vodnik's having a rough time out there.

It is nice to see success stories and signs of life, but it's still not an especially impressive full team effort, and it's not too much further than last year. Like, again...Tomoyuki Sugano is counted as a major success story here, with his 4.80 ERA. Maybe someday they can have a full squad capable of rising beyond replacement level novelty guys, but until then, that's gonna be what keeps the lights on sadly.

Coming Tomorrow- A guy about to suit up against my Yankees and hopefully this doesn't go as badly for my team as the last two nights. 

Can't Keep Goodman Down

 

The good news is that, generally, the 2026 Colorado Rockies can be described as 'not as bad as last year's.' The bad news is that since April ended they haven't exactly been acting like it.

Look, here's what should sum it up. Yesterday the Rockies called up Cole Carrigg, a centerfield prospect looking to stake his claim on the team. To remind you, this team has already gone through so many 'here's the big new prospect' moments that haven't worked. This has been since like 2024. We've seen Drew Romo, Zac Veen, Yanquiel Fernandez, Warming Bernabel, Braxton Fulford, Jordan Beck, Ryan Ritter, Kyle Karros, Adael Amador, McCade Brown, Carson Palmquist and Bradley Blalock in the bigs, and with the exception of a few decent months from Beck, a solid week from Bernabel and maybe some of Karros's recent stuff, there's been little to no impact. 

The goal is to build a team upwards with young talent, and it's not gonna work if all of them can't play in the bigs. It's bad enough that there's two actual good pitching talents that absolutely refuse to stay healthy, meaning Dollander and Feltner are leaving major responsibilities to veterans on one year deals AGAIN. But the lineup is mostly replacement-level guys because the prospects aren't panning out. Brenton Doyle might even be cooked at this point. Dude started his career with two straight gold gloves and hasn't been competent since. 

So what is working? Well, once again, Hunter Goodman, who's got 17 homers and 31 RBIs already. Dude's a born hitter perfect for Coors Field, his power work has been very helpful as usual. T.J. Rumfield and Troy Johnston are having great offensive campaigns as supporting players. Jake McCarthy and Willi Castro are playing pivotal roles...seeing as Ezequiel Tovar and Brenton Doyle really aren't. The bullpen's still great, and Seth Halvorsen's finally stepping up in a big way. Feltner's been great his last few starts. Tomoyuki Sugano might be the perfect Rockies starter because he's a fly ball pitcher anyway and these guys are used to the air difference, plus he's efficient without overexerting himself. Everything else is kind of forgettable, especially the major pieces like Freeland and Tovar.

Hopefully Carrigg can provide some level of stability upon his call-up. I know they've got people coming, Roc Riggio eventually, Veen again at some point, and hopefully that can work better than what they've got. If they can eventually build something sustainable, then we can really talk, but until then it's gonna be stuff like this. And as long as it's not 2025-bad, I think we'll be alright.

Coming Tonight: In a very good sign for the club, the Red Sox are once again calling up homegrown pitchers who can actually keep runs down. 

The Latent #1

 

Ooooh, I bet you thought that just because they restructured the draft lottery rules, that meant that the Rockies wouldn't have a #1 overall guy surfacing this year. Think again! They've got Mickey Moniak. True, THEY didn't draft him first overall [the Phillies did], but it's better than nothing.

And yes, as far as 1st overall picks go, Mickey Moniak is around the mid-to-bottom tier, and he knows it. Not the absolute bottom, because...Brady Aiken and Mark Appel and Bryan Bullington exist, but he's entered into the tier of 'letdown that's still capable of a late-20s surge. You saw what happened with Tim Beckham out of nowhere, how he started hitting homers with Baltimore. And how Matt Bush crashed out then eventually became a likable relief option with the Rangers. Even guys like Phil Nevin, Adrian Gonzalez, Kris Benson and, yes, Josh Hamilton needed to set the expectations a bit before they had their breakouts. 

Not everyone is gonna be like Griffey or Strasburg and Skenes and be incredible right from the start. Sometimes you get a Mickey Moniak, who takes an extra three years to develop, gets hurt the second he has a shot with the team that drafted him, is traded for a rental the same day that team gets a centerfielder they actually CAN trust [from the same team!!], dries out in mediocrity for a year, gets cut, winds up playing for the worst team in the league AND THEN, SUDDENLY, BECOMES GOOD. Make 'em work for it!

Moniak, though sidelined for a little bit with an injury, has surfaced fully in Denver, because that's what becomes of all power hitters once thought lost. It honestly surprises me that Colorado parted with Blaine Crim so easily; yes, T.J. Rumfield's a better working option, but Crim seemed so at home in Coors Field. Moniak has that same feeling, he's hitting .280 with 12 homers and 28 RBIs. At the moment he does lead the team in long balls, but Hunter Goodman's heating up, and he's got 11 right now. Moniak is 28, and the heights that were once assumed for him have come down, but he's still a pretty nice hitter with some defensive perks, and the Rockies need a guy like that right now, as they begin to assemble the next stage of the rebuild.

Right now, they've got slightly surer footing than before. Goodman and Rumfield are locked in, Tovar's been struggling but he's still great at short. Karros is more serviceable than anything but he's becoming more sure of himself. I think Troy Johnston's more of a placeholder guy, a good contact walloper in the tradition of Nathan Lukes and Addison Barger, without much defensive ability. A shame Beck, Doyle and Ritter haven't done much, as well as Zac Veen still in the minors. Freeland and Quintana's last few starts have ballooned their ERAs, and now Dollander's hurt, but Tomoyuki Sugano's been keeping things down and still has an ERA under 4. The bullpen's solidified but very snakebitten so far. 

As of right now they're still a last place team, but the Rockies arguably have more of a spark than the Giants at rest. This dismal May stretch just hasn't done them any favors, and they're now at 20-34, which is more in line with how things were the last few years. I still think an improvement is imminent, but they need to get past this month and get back to how surprising they were in April.

Coming Tomorrow- Moving to 1st base isn't for everyone, but after a couple seasons he's fully adjusted and is now focusing more on pure power damage. 

Building a Better Rockies Team, the Unhinged Way

 

Hey fun fact, the Colorado Rockies currently have four players with a WAR higher than 1. The first place Cleveland Guardians have the same amount. The second place Tampa Bay Rays, an actual good team, have only two. But the Colorado Rockies, the punchline of the bigs last year, have four players worth at least a win by themselves. Tomoyuki Sugano, Mickey Moniak, Antonio Senzatela....and Chase Dollander. And a year ago, maybe one of them would make sense.

Dollander has been one of the Rockies' top pitching prospects, he was their 2023 first round pick, Baseball America ranked him the #8 prospect in baseball prior to the 2025 season, and he progressed through the minors in essentially a year and a half. Forgetting for a moment...how crappy his 2025 major league stats were...Dollander still had a high ceiling of potential, and he still felt like an organizational gem. Therefore, him eventually getting his act together and leading the charge? Very likely outcome. Heading into this year it was a large possibility. So far in 8 appearances he's got a 3.38 ERA, 42 Ks and 37.1 innings, all better than any starter.

Which is to say...the Rockies have not been starting him.

So what they've been doing...is using Jimmy Herget or Brennan Bernardino as an opener, giving them an inning, and then letting Dollander go long and essentially carry out a start. I assume this is to ensure he doesn't get chased in the first, and if you give the heart of the order to a specialist then start Dollander off with mid-order guys, that's at least a better way of breaking him in. It's a little psychological, a little strategic. Unlike the 2018 Kevin Cash stuff, by all accounts the Rox COULD start Dollander if they wanted to, but right now they're choosing to do this. And it's working.

So...that's the *reasonable* WAR leader. Now the other three...

Moniak becoming a hit in Colorado isn't surprising. What's surprising is the Angels cut this man to make room for Tim Anderson, and he ends up finding his swing and becoming a hero for a Rockies team that needs a hard-hitting outfield bat. Obviously Moniak isn't the guy the Phillies were looking for at the draft, but he's definitely got his uses. Right now he's got 11 homers and 21 RBIs. Jordan Beck and Brenton Doyle don't have that much combined. Moniak currently leads the NL in OPS with 1.123. Coors Field, man...

Then you have the return of Antonio Senzatela, who's gotten his ERA down to 1.21, and he has done this...by becoming a long relief guy who goes 2 or 3 innings an appearance. Somehow this has worked, and the awfulness of his 2025 has not appeared yet. Perhaps because he's finally recovered from his injuries, or maybe it's the same psychological thing that Dollander worked through? Who knows. And then Tomoyuki Sugano, another guy that shouldn't have been cut, has taken his low-velocity/all-craftsmanship stuff to Denver, and it's working! He's got a 3.41 ERA through 7 starts. As Michael Lorenzen can tell you, you could do a lot worse in Coors Field. 

Is it weird to me that they're lifting the team past the levels of true awfulness? Or is it just weird that it's them and not Tovar, Goodman, Doyle and Beck as much? Little of both. Eventually a consistent young core is gonna form, and clearly it's not this year, but I'll take goofy stuff like this. It's more entertaining than the alternative.

Coming Tonight: A guy whose Hall of Fame case will eventually need to be discussed, which will really puzzle a lot of people I think. 

Some Bounce, Some Don't

 

When you're dealing with two notoriously all-time-bad teams, your immediate inclination is to judge which one is worse solely on which one returns to something resembling 'good' faster. I think about how bad the early 2010s Astros were, and it took them til 2014 or 2015 to craft something palpable. The Rays, meanwhile, went from a 4th place team in '07 to a 1st place juggernaut in 2008. It really depends on organizational stuff, what's baking in the minors, what the team can retain, who's ready when. Lot of factors go into it.

So watching the Rockies and White Sox this season is definitely interesting, because you're waiting to see how long it's gonna take both teams to reform and contend again. With the amount of time passed since the White Sox bottomed out vs. the Rockies, you'd think Chicago would be progressing further, but not even Pope Leo shining on them could make the team look any better right now. 

The depth that was forming last year with this White Sox team seems to be evaporating. Brooks Baldwin, Mike Vasil and Kyle Teel, three signs of growth from last year, are all hurt right now. And the roster is simply wearing thin. The starting pitching seems even more pedestrian than before, and now that Shane Smith has been demoted and Jonathan Cannon is out for a bit, the team is down to Sean Burke, Davis Martin and Anthony Kay as viable starting options. Martin currently looks the best, he's 2-0 with 12 Ks through 3 starts, but that's a 5 man line for most other teams. Kay has a 2.45 ERA through 3 starts, and though Erick Fedde exists as a stark reminder that the post-international-leagues bump can wear off fast, he's still being relied upon. But beyond that...lots of openers and replacement level guys. It's not a great look, and it looks even worse when you line up the Sox' hitters, where really only Munetaka Murakami has done anything. Meidroth and Vargas have made some headway but the team's hitting .204 cumulatively. It's not pretty.

You can hope they improve over time, or as they get better pieces back, but it even looks like a setback from last year, which still wasn't terrific.

The Rockies, meanwhile, have shown immediate improvement over their dismal 2025 numbers. Some incredible things you're hearing. The bullpen kept runs down during a homestead. There's multiple starters, including Tomoyuki Sugano, who are really impressive. The young kids hanging around for starts last year are actually earning them now. So far the team's best hitter has been T.J. Rumfield, a career minor leaguer snagged in a deal that sent Angel Chivilli to the Yankees['s minor league system]. Rumfield jumped right in at 1st and is hitting .326 with 14 hits, 8 RBIs and 2 homers in 13 games. 

It's wild to see a core begin to come together for this team when nothing was happening last year. Troy Johnston has joined the power core and is looking like a definite everyday option [while Jordan Beck is looking less and less like one]. Mickey Moniak is hitting all sorts of homers off the bench. Tovar and Goodman still like decent organizational cornerstones right now. Kyle Freeland is still a very nice starting option, and has a 2.30 ERA in 3 starts. And somehow the team figured out that Antonio Senzatela doesn't completely shit the bed if you bring him out as a bullpen option. I knew the Rockies' pen had some nice options, but seeing all of Jimmy Herget, Jaden Hill, Victor Vodnik, Juan Mejia and Brennan Bernardino all looking genuinely great out there is a surprising, and excellent, sign. 

It is odd that I see the Rockies doing more this season than the White Sox, especially considering how the pitching could turn at any minute in that stadium, but the Rockies just seem better put together right now, and have more actual strengths. It could evaporate at any second, I'm aware, but the way things are going now, I see the Rockies looking 'good' sooner than the White Sox. 

Coming Tonight: A guy who absolutely refuses to be an easy out. Naturally he's playing my team this weekend. 

The Last Few Burning Questions of Spring

 

The last few exhibition games are being played out tonight, to get the last few trials in before the real ones. The final cuts are currently being made, call-ups are being announced, and we're finally ready to get the season moving before there's no season to play. It's the most exciting moment of a season, because it's the last moment where there's still potential energy, before the sobering reality hits. And then the colors mute, the cold returns, and the season runs ahead. 

I've still got a couple more customs from Spring Training to dole out, and so from there, let's examine some of the last few lingering concerns and loose threads that might be at play during the 2026 season.

-Does Ranger Suarez mean the Red Sox' rotation is for real? On paper, the combination of Garrett Crochet, Sonny Gray, Ranger Suarez, Brayan Bello and Connelly Early looks good, but with the exception of Early, all of these guys have shown downsides in recent history. Gray's coming off a down year, Suarez struggled to come back fully after the hand injury, Bello's ERA stayed plainly around 4.50 for a while, and Crochet was in injury hell for a while. How likely will it be that everything clicks at once? Luckily, Johan Oviedo, Payton Tolle and Kutter Crawford are around in case something goes wrong.

-Will Kevin McGonigle succeed where other Tigers infield prospects haven't? Trey Sweeney and Jace Jung, two infield prospects that looked like hits, both failed to make the team out of camp. Colt Keith still has second for now, and Zach McKinstry is mostly an interloper. The future is paved for McGonigle and Clark, but will they take advantage of the moment or end up like Jung, Sweeney, Ryan Kreidler and more?

-Is the world ready for a decidedly non-competitive Cardinals team? Despite the complete lack of star power, the entirely decimated pitching staff, and the reliance on guys like Masyn Winn and Ivan Herrera to provide some form of normalcy, many pundits are still predicting the Cardinals will finish with more wins than the Pirates. Even with substantial evidence that Oli Marmol is well past his expiry date. It's not like the Patriots where it can just suddenly happen overnight. J.J. Wetherholt is likely very good at baseball, but is he gonna be enough to get anyone to care about this team? 

-Similarly, will THIS team be the Angels team that brings non-Ohtani relevance back to Anaheim? A lot of the pieces that worked separately in 2025 are still intact. Trout will be healthy and ready to go, Neto's onto another stage of his peak, Adell can finally power-hit in the majors, now Grayson Rodriguez has a place to pitch, Logan O'Hoppe looks to have a strong year, Soler's healthy. If all goes according to plan, the Angels could surprise some people. But in a division with the Mariners, A's and Astros, will they be able to get anything done?

-Has the injury bug already doomed the Braves before the year can even get going? Yesterday Spencer Strider was announced as an injured piece. The team already knew they'd be without Spencer Schwellenbach, Hurston Waldrep, Ha-Seong Kim and Joey Wentz for a while. This team also has Chris Sale, Reynaldo Lopez, Austin Riley, Mike Yastrzemski and Martin Perez on it. And Ronald Acuna is back, but who knows if he'll be at full capacity this year. Even if there's more reinforcements this year with that possibility in mind, will they have enough to keep them in the mix all year, or will they be running on fumes by August once again?

Will the White Sox finally lap the Twins in a battle for least inept team in the AL Central? Believe me, the White Sox have had a nice head start and had some truly terrible seasons, but the Pohlads completely have up and the Twins now consist of Byron Buxton, Joe Ryan and a bag of chips. Even with strong second-year infielder Luke Keaschall gearing up for a more dominant full season, the Twins don't have much at all this year. Pablo Lopez is hurt, none of the young core has developed, Royce Lewis still spends 2 months on the IL every year. Do the Twins have enough accumulated to outdo the White Sox's smarty-built younger squad?

-Are the Rockies looking at another year firmly on the bottom? I don't really see any evidence that suggests otherwise. Some of these rookies look decent, Kyle Karros and Chase Dollander and Zac Veen, plus the possibility of Charlie Condon and Roc Riggio sometime soon. But man, there really is nothing to this team, even still. And they have to play a ton of games against the Dodgers and Padres. Will there be anything at all that will be seen as an improvement by year's end?

-How off-kilter is the Nationals rotation going to be? In years' past it's been pretty straightforward, the young core of MacKenzie Gore, Mitch Parker, Jake Irvin and D.J. Herz, plus assistance from Trevor Williams. Now it's taken a turn. Josiah Gray was set to make his comeback after 2 years of injuries, but apparently that's not happening for a while. So what's left? Is Cade Cavalli ace material? Does Miles Mikolas have anything left? Did the other 29 teams pass on Zack Littell for any specific reason? Is Foster Griffin a viable MLB option? And is there any place for Cole Irvin, and eventually Herz and Parker, on this shifting team?

-What are the Rays getting at now? At last they get a working core, with Caminero, Aranda and Lowe all propelling them forward, and then Lowe, Mangum, Fairbanks, Josh Lowe and Baz all end up elsewhere. Is it possible that the Rays were closer to competing before than they are now? Even with Chandler Simpson, Carson Williams and Ben Williamson looking to make strides this year, the holes are apparent. If the Rays actually wanted to build a team without needing to save money, they definitely had the opportunity to. Will this season, and an impending lockout, give the Rays any incentive whatsoever to attempt to build a perennial competitor?

Just food for thought, I suppose. Tomorrow night we kick this whole thing off.

Uncustomed Heroes of 2025: Rockies

 

I'm sure you're all spending today cleaning up after Christmas, getting rid of all the ripped up wrapping paper and boxes, spent on leftovers and watching reruns on TV, and I won't even blame you if none of you want to read a post on the 2025 Rockies. Like if this post gets zero page views, then honestly it deserves it. There's a list on the sidebar of the ten most viewed posts, mostly bolstered by bot usage or random spikes or whatever, and if this one ends up on that list then I'll know it's time to end the blog, because if this shit is being rewarded then there's no point.

The 2025 Rockies were an extremely bad baseball team. Any talent was either too injured to contribute, too young to make an impact, too burnt-out to manage anything, or simply couldn't keep pitches away from people at Coors Field. This is a team with Kris Bryant, German Marquez, Kyle Freeland, Mickey Moniak and Orlando Arcia, and if you were to hear that eight years ago you'd have gone 'oh, that sounds like a decent team, right?' This team couldn't even win 45 games. If it weren't for an alarming number of wins against the Cardinals and Diamondbacks, this team would have been even worse than the 2024 White Sox. Imagine that! That was already the bar for ineptitude. And here come the Rockies, with no pitching, like 2 good hitters and a crap-ton of replacement level guys, and they're rivaling it. 

The Rockies' bullpen had a surprising number of clear standouts. Jake Bird before the trade. Jimmy Herget. Ultimately Victor Vodnik, a homegrown relief weapon with a name like a James Bond villain and an imposing stare to match. Vodnik's 1.8 WAR made him the third most valuable Rockie this year, behind Herget and Hunter Goodman, and he had a 3.02 ERA in 52 appearances, despite a 1.401 WHIP. His 10 saves also means he may rival Seth Halvorsen for the ninth next year.

2026 Prediction: Yeah there's no way he's lasting the whole year here, he's way too good for Denver.

Dropped from the Rangers' roster to make room for, I'm assuming, Merrill Kelly or one of the other deadline pickups, 1st baseman Blaine Crim's first season in the bigs was looking like it was getting off to a horrid start. But then the Rockies came calling, and plugged Crim into the lineup for 15 games as a replacement for Michael Toglia. Crim responded with an excellent stretch, with an .851 OPS, 12 RBIs and 5 homers, a fitting power burst for a team with nothing left to lose.

2026 Prediction: Well, the Rockies don't exactly have a lot of options, so he starts the majority of games at 1st and hits 25 homers.

Coming Tomorrow- So many Kansas City Royals.

Not the Worst, But Close

 

Earlier this season, the way the Rockies opened things up was getting people really worried that not even a year after the White Sox set the new record for a losing season it'd be surpassed. Because of the lack of pitching, the troublesome defense and the flaws of even the people set up to be stars, the Rockies were barely even expected to win 40 games, which would have been below the 41 that the Sox were able to win last year. But ultimately, the Rockies sort of mellowed into a regular bad team, and are at 41 wins now, with 9 games left to be played this year. They will not be the new standard for ineptitude. Though seeing as, for their last new custom of regulation, I've been forced to go for Jimmy Herget, a fairly decent reliever, rather than a name guy or a breakout rookie, should tell you everything you need to know.

What do the Rockies have to take with them next year that they know will be good? Not much. Jordan Beck, Ezequiel Tovar, Warming Bernabel I suppose...and that's it. Look, I'm sure that Tanner Gordon, Carson Palmquist, Chase Dollander and McCade Brown could be good pitchers, but I literally cannot tell how good they are at rest because they're forced to pitch for this godawful Rockies team in Coors Field. How do you tell if a rookie is good in Coors Field? Everybody gets lit up there, even the people who are good at pitching. Fundamentally it is difficult to not give up runs in Coors Field. Maybe if it was domed or something you'd level things but I don't think they have the money for that. 

And even with that handicap, you also have to factor in that despite this being a hitter's park, only one person on this team hit 30 home runs this year. Hunter Goodman. And we're still not sure whether or not he's a fluke, cause Michael Toglia hit a lot of home runs last year and then this year he completely switched off. There's a chance Mickey Moniak hits 25, but that's not really a building block, is it? The big young guys who this team is trying to build around are not 30 home run guys, at least not yet. And so the team that is supposed to be an inherent power team had basically no power this year...and I don't even know how much power they're gonna have next year. 

I can see why this team was looking like they were gonna past the White Sox for a while. Not that Andrew Benintendi's power was much better last year. 

I suppose there's a chance things pick up eventually for the Rockies, but honestly it's just not gonna be pretty for a couple years. This is the deal, sadly. Lots of years like this where nobody shows up until they agree upon a formula that avoids it. 

Coming Tomorrow- At last, his team has enough pitching to outlast the Yankees. It's just a shame it took them this long.

Tovar-ish

 

Here is how disastrous the Rockies' 2025 season has been for the development of this team. Going into this season, there were immediate next steps of who'd be leading this team soon. Ezequiel Tovar was coming off a gold glove season where he got MVP votes, Jordan Beck was looking like the next everyday catcher, and Zac Veen was next down the pipe to take over the offensive end.

And now...what the hell do we even know? Tovar was hurt half the year, and while he's been here he's a slightly above-average bat, hitting .265 with 8 homers and 23 RBIs in 63 games. Is he THE guy for this team anymore? It's been called into question. He's still very good but he's not as reliable as he was last year. Meanwhile, Romo has yet to see the majors this year, and while he's been above average in Albuquerque, Hunter Goodman's rendered him obsolete at the moment. Veen was here for a sec, but Jordan Beck and Mickey Moniak have just done his job better this year. So...even the stuff that was being set up last year seems to have been rolled back.

So now the question is 'well what's being set up for next year, and is it gonna actually mean anything?'

The most impressive thing about this season for the Rockies is you can actually see a young rotation taking shape. Chase Dollander, Tanner Gordon, Carson Palmquist and McCade Brown are all up in the majors and have contributed to this team's success. Because they have to play in Coors Field, they don't have ERAs lower than 5, but they're at the very least being relied upon more and more. Marquez-Freeland-Senzatela worked well when they were all healthy, but really only Freeland's any good anymore. And with Ryan Feltner still hurt, you need guys like that. Gordon, on paper, is the most successful one so far, with a 6.07 ERA but 41 Ks in 11 starts. Gordon seems the most like a durable, respected starting option, and of these guys I see him sliding into an open 2026 spot the most. Dollander's been alright as well, he's got 75 Ks in 19 starts, despite 11 losses. Given a better team this could be a better rotation. It's just...I dunno how long until this will be a better team.

You've also seen Kyle Karros, Warming Bernabel and Ryan Ritter take to this team pretty smoothly, and that certainly helps considering how relying on replacement level guys like Jacob Stallings, Thairo Estrada, Kyle Farmer and Tyler Freeman has worked so far. If they can develop a base of young, talented guys to run this team so they don't have to sign cheap free agents, that'll be a step up. At the very least the farm system is working some magic, and getting Roc Riggio from New York at the deadline was a sneaky move that might have ramifications on the lineup as soon as next year.

This is what this season's events are telling me. But like last year I could be way off.

Coming Tonight: Most likely an Orioles pitcher, but I may have to slide in a riper subject if I want a good starter for a reflection post.

Two Minute Warming

 

Since trading a handful of vets at the deadline, the Colorado Rockies have shifted to defcon 'Oops! All Rookies'. Seeing as the team is already going to be hitting 100 losses this month, and potentially chasing last years' White Sox for the benchmark of modern ineptitude, it makes more sense to just fill as many roster spots as possible with guys who have no business wasting their time overperforming in the minors. So lots of guys are up. People like Jaden Hill, Yanquiel Fernandez, Braxton Fulford, Chase Dollander and Tanner Gordon are all giving it their best despite the complete futility in playing for the Rockies in August. If your first exposure to MLB play is trying to pitch, or play the outfield, in Coors, you're gonna learn a lot, quickly.

The Rox have let up some prized organizational guys recently, and they've been welcome presences. Warming Bernabel is a well-liked corner infield prospect, and so far in the majors he has a .294 average, 3 homers and 11 RBIs. He's the kind of consistent thumper this team has needed for a while, and he's already evoking memories of Andres Galarraga or somebody like that. Bernabel's cooled down a bit since his first week, but he's 23 in Denver, so he'll be fine. It's also cool to see Kyle Karros, a first baseman who's the son of another NL West 1st baseman, in the majors at 22, he's a well-regarded prospect as well. Karros the 2nd already has 7 hits and 3 RBIs in his first 6 games. It is...very odd that we have another Karros running around the NL, as we already have another Conine, another Tatis and the promise of another Holliday on the way.

What's odd is that, with all the rookies that have factored into the season, and with all the young guys like Jordan Beck, Hunter Goodman, and Ezequiel Tovar leading this team, I still think about the fact that two of the biggest prospects in this organization, Drew Romo and Zac Veen, are just chilling in the minors for another year. Both had MLB stints, neither went well. Veen's been a ton better in Albuquerque this year, but now he's blocked by Moniak and Fernandez. Romo was lapped by Fulford, and Goodman might be the guy at catcher for a little while longer. I don't want it to be like the Pirates where so many rookies miss their window and just pile up in AAA. 

At the very least, this Rockies year will finish with a 25-homer year from Hunter Goodman, and a lot of potential answers to how not to lose 120+ games in 2026. It's a start. It ain't pretty, but it's a start.

Coming Tonight: For him, the Marlins got Kyle Stowers. Yet let the record show that he's probably been the best starter in Baltimore this year. 

Outclassed, Even Now

 

Here is a fact: in the last month, the Colorado Rockies have won more games than the New York Yankees have. Real fact there.

I'm not sure if the Rockies are still on the road to beating the 2024 White Sox's record of ineptitude, but they've evened out slightly since June began. They will likely still cross the 100-loss mark, probably in August, but even since the ASG break ended they've been more consistent and more of a normal bad team. They won two games against the Twins and Cardinals, two decent middle-of-the-pack teams, and won a close one against Baltimore the other night. Even with the loss of Ryan McMahon, they've figured out a decent enough lineup formula, and guys like Jordan Beck, Mickey Moniak, Hunter Goodman and surprisingly Thairo Estrada. Last night they brought up Warming Bernabel to fill the roster vacancy, he looks pretty good. Tanner Gordon's been back up for 4 games and is already one of the best starters in town. And somehow Seth Halvorsen's gotten 10 saves in a season where there's only been 27 wins. Despite the pure trainwreck quality, the Rockies are doing their best to get by, and trying to salvage things enough to at least have some starting points next season.

However. Last night, even away from Coors Field, the Rockies still lost a game 18-0. To another last place team.

Now, to be fair, the Orioles this year are still better than most last place teams. In fact, once again it speaks to the quality of the AL East that they're in last to begin with. The Rays would be a second place team in any other division, and the Sox would be a first place team in any other division. The O's have a better record than the 4th place Braves, have more immediate assets than the 4th place Angels, and have more of a future than the 4th place Twins. But they're an AL East team in a decade where the AL East is competitive, and they have like 10 injured pitchers, so they're in last. 

Yet last night's game was a mix of two elements that were sure to be troublesome when combined: the Orioles' lineup and the Rockies' pitching staff. After a while it was getting ridiculous. The whole Orioles team got hits, and every starter but Holliday, Laureano and Cowser had RBIs. There were home runs from Tyler O'Neill, Cedric Mullins and somehow Alex Jackson. NINE RUNS were scored in the 7th, off a combination of Zach Agnos, completely destroying his April start, and Nick Anderson, in his first appearance as a Rockie. It takes a lot to erase Antonio Senzatela's patheticness but those two succeeded. And ultimately the Rockies were powerless against Trevor Rogers, in a comeback season attempting to vindicate the Orioles' move in trading away Kyle Stowers. 

A game like this proves that, regardless of recent trends, the Orioles are still inherently a good team, and the Rockies are still awful. If the O's had healthy seasons from Grayson Rodriguez, Kyle Bradish, Zach Eflin and Tyler Wells, they wouldn't have to keep trotting Brandon Young or whoever out there, or chancing whether this Charlie Morton or Dean Kremer start will be one of the good ones. And even if the O's continue to deal, as O'Hearn and Mullins are likely gonna go, they will still have enough young talent to rebound next year. Full seasons from Jordan Westburg, Colton Cowser, Adley Rutschman and Ryan Mountcastle could bring this team back.

As for the Rockies...maybe invest in a dome.

Coming Tonight: A guy who's been having a hot weekend against a completely depleted Yankees team.

Bird Watching

 

Something that's very surprising about the Colorado Rockies, even as they continue to tank in their quest for a twentieth win before July 1st, is that as awful as both their starting pitching and hitting is...the bullpen's honestly pretty good. The majority of top of the leaderboard is just relievers right now. Hunter Goodman, Ryan McMahon, Jordan Beck and some relievers. And that may be the reason the Rockies might not be a lock for the 'worst ever' status anymore, because as bad as they are, for like 3 or 4 innings per game they're not bleeding as badly.

Like, my guess is the Rockies' ASG nod will be Jake Bird this year, because statistically he's the best player on the team. Highest WAR, 2nd-lowest ERA--Bird may be the only person in Denver who's actually doing his job correctly. In 47 innings, Bird has a 2.68 ERA, 57 Ks [third-most on the Rockies], and a 1.8 WAR. This would be a good relief season for, like, the Dodgers. For anybody. Bird, like Daniel Bard and Carlos Estevez before him, has taken the thankless job of relieving games in Denver and actually succeeded at it. Victor Vodnik is also having a really nice year, with a 2.66 ERA and a 1.225 WHIP. Vodnik, unlike Bird, is a young, homegrown piece that the Rockies can really develop. Zach Agnos is like that too, though Agnos has fallen off a bit since his strong April. 

And even guys who got a roster spot over shoveling shit in Durham or something are actually helping this team. Jimmy Herget, who's played everywhere, has a 3.02 ERA in 41.2 innings. Seth Halvorsen seems to be the go-to guy for the ninth inning, and while 6 saves is nothing to scratch at, it's more than anybody has for the White Sox. It's a decent enough unit that can mop up the messes made by guys like Kyle Freeland, Carson Palmquist and Antonio Senzatela. My big takeaway is that, god forbid if the bullpen was really a nightmare, the Rockies would have brought up Jefry Yan by now. Jefry Yan was the relief guy they had in Spring Training who'd do these big leaps when he got an out, and was this ridiculously wild character that just couldn't make the team on account of his inconsistency. Yan, for the record, currently has a 6 ERA in Albuquerque. But you know that if the Rocks were dying and needed to fill seats, they'd bring him up. 

That should say something. As bad as the Rockies are, they have yet to resort to gimmicks.

Anyhow, the rest of the team is miserable, as you'd expect. Beck, Goodman and Moniak are hitting but it's not pretty. Tovar's hurt and Ryan Ritter is doing his best filling SS. I reckon Zac Veen will get another shot once the herd is thinned in a month or so, and hopefully it'll go a little better. They play the Astros two more excruciating games, and then Rox-White Sox, the series of the year, is this weekend. Can't you feel the excitement??

Coming Tomorrow- One of the guys whose return has fueled a surprise resurgence in Baltimore.

McMahon Overboard

 

What's very funny is that, in the argument that people like Mike Elias and Bob Nutting are in, where there's hesitance to extend players even if it means ensuring the team goes nowhere, they do have a valid point in their own favor, which is that sometimes, even if you do lock down a bunch of players to multi-year deals, it doesn't do anything because either the player themselves doesn't hold up their end off the bargain or those players alone aren't enough to lift the team.

Basically what they're saying is 'if we extend Oneil Cruz, Paul Skenes and Bryan Reynolds, they could become Charlie Blackmon, Ryan McMahon and Kyle Freeland.' And...I don't know if the threat of becoming the Rockies is an accurate fear, considering that the Pirates or the Orioles don't play in a park designed solely to torture pitchers.

It's really wild that no Denver-area scientists have tried to figure out a way of leveling the air quality at Coors Field. Would a domed stadium do something? Would there need to be a depressurization? There's got to be some way, short of moving this team from Denver, which actually has a nice market for them, of evening things up, because if not we're just gonna keep being here, in this basement hell, with this team of people trying their absolute best. It genuinely feels Sisyphean at this point. Anytime someone starts doing well for the Rockies, usually a pitcher, it's only a matter of time before the Coors Field starts catch up to them. It happened with Zach Agnos, the rookie reliever, who had a terrific start and now has a 4.43 ERA because he's had to play half his games in Denver. Even some of the decent rookies, like Carson Palmquist, Chase Dollander and Tanner Gordon, have high ERAs because they just can't keep runs down at home. And any attempt to solve the problem with better rookies and better players is going to keep the team here. Remember, bringing Kris Bryant to Colorado didn't work, and hasn't. 

And so what they have at the moment is Ryan McMahon, who's still contracted for another few years and I'm not certain it would make sense to trade at this juncture. McMahon, as he's prone to, is producing. He has 8 homers and 19 RBIs, which is Judge numbers for the Rockies, and continues to be an excellent defender at third. Between McMahon, Jordan Beck and Hunter Goodman, this team has some nice power pieces, and a good amount can be built on. I'm not sure what Goodman's strong start behind the plate means for Drew Romo, nor do I know what the set-in-stone OF of Beck, Doyle and Moniak means for Zac Veen, but at the very least a lot of the people starting for this team feel like they deserve to, even with Adael Amador, Nick Martini and Michael Toglia not doing much at all. 

The Rockies are likely going to keep grasping along at this pace, and might even chase last year's White Sox for the record. The problem is evident, and there doesn't seem to be any way to solve it, so they've figured that the better idea is to keep getting the shit kicked out of them. Maybe it's because I'm not an owner but that doesn't make any sense to me.

Coming Tomorrow- I still think the Mariners were really silly to give this guy up, and with all the bases he's stealing it's kind of confirming that. 

Meanwhile, In The Basement

 

The Phillies, in Denver this week, feel like they've won the lottery. They already made quick work of the Pirates, they regained first place, and now they get to play the worst team in the majors. Only 8 wins to their name at the moment. Virtually no pitching, a handful of decent power hitters and a lot of mediocrity. The Rockies are already one manager down, and seeing as the new guy, Warren Schaeffer, is 1-6 at the moment, they may be going through more.

Here is how I best sum up the Rockies at the moment. Hunter Goodman is the team's best hitter. He's 25, and he's having a breakout year, hitting .292 with 7 homers, 29 RBIs and 11 doubles. I knew he'd factor into this season, as he got a lot of play last year off the bench. What I did not know was that he's a catcher. I assumed he was a corner infielder. No, his primary position is catcher. Meaning he made the team as starting catcher, Jacob Stallings made the team as backup, and Drew Romo, who many people consider to be the future of the team, is stuck in the minors rehabbing from an injury. Even when he does return to playing shape, which should be soon, he will be confined to Albuquerque. The Colorado Rockies, where literally the only person doing well is stopping the team from progressing. 

And look, you can say, truthfully, that big prospects like Romo, Zac Veen and Adael Amador haven't done shit in the majors. They really haven't. Veen got his shot in April, didn't do a thing and then Jordan Beck took his roster spot and hasn't looked back. Amador has been filling 2nd and is hitting .145 with a -1.0 WAR. Romo is trying, certainly, and if it weren't for that finger thing he'd accumulated after the team foolishly kept him back from the Opening Day roster he'd be factoring into things right now. But instead, in need of an extra catcher for a spell, the Rockies had to call up Braxton Fulford for a series or so, which must have been infuriating for Romo. 

At the very least the rotation has no shortage of starting opportunities, but it's guys like Chase Dollander, Bradley Blalock, Tanner Gordon and Carson Palmquist just thrust right into the ringer. Of course it's not gonna go well, you're not developing them properly, you're just trying to plug holes while the boat's missing a half. Dollander, through 8 starts, is 2-5 with a 6.28 ERA, and he's considered one of the team's better starters. Palmquist gave up 5 runs in his first start. Until the Rockies find a way of leveling their stadium and doing something with the air quality that prevents this sort of thing, these young pitchers are gonna keep getting killed like this. And this isn't a team that can just outhit the competition. These guys aren't exactly Bichette, Walker and Castilla.

The misery will likely keep going at this pace. The Rockies may challenge the White Sox' record they just set last year. Rob Manfred will once again ignore calls to do something to prevent against 110+ loss teams. And Drew Romo won't be the only person in Colorado with an overextended finger.

Coming Tonight: That's odd, usually the breakout hard-hitting infielders in Tampa aren't homegrown..

Beck Before Dawn

 

The 2025 Colorado Rockies. Hitting .212 as a team, a 5.22 team ERA, calling up their biggest prospects and getting next to nothing from them, the team captain's hitting .150 and leading the team in strikeouts [illuminating the fact that he really should have been traded by now], the rotation is catastrophic, the biggest star keeps getting injured every year, and the player with the highest WAR is a 29-year-old middle reliever. I know the White Sox just set the new bar for ineptitude, but they didn't have a stadium that made it impossible to keep runs down. 

Look, the fact that it's already looking this rough after just a month isn't a great sign. And it's not like they have that many replacement options either. There's so many proven successes in position to do well, and they're just not. German Marquez, Antonio Senzatela and Kyle Freeland all have ERAs over 5. Poor Chase Dollander has been thrown right into the fire, and has a 6.48 ERA in his first 5 starts. And because this is Colorado, that's not enough to cost him the job. Ryan Feltner and his 4.75 ERA, by comparison, are Cy Young caliber. The guys who are doing the most work in the pitching unit are relief guys, like Jake Bird and Victor Vodnik. They also found this rookie relief specialist named Zach Agnos, who's been nothing but a control artist so far and has essentially been their main closing option. Look, whatever they can get to work. 

The lineup seems to indicate that everything that was being set up in 2024 doesn't seem to be the answer. McMahon's been terrible at the plate. Tovar is hitting .212, Toglia .211. Statistically the team's best hitter is Hunter Goodman, who's a decent enough catcher to keep Drew Romo from getting any MLB time lately. The most prominent hitting Rockie at the moment is Jordan Beck, who had a brief run last season without being too exciting. Beck, despite a trip back to the minors, has accumulated 5 homers, 11 RBIs and 4 steals, which for this team puts him in line for the papacy essentially. He's got a .948 OPS at the moment, which is good even for teams that aren't the rockies. It'd really help if he continued at this pace, and perhaps taught Zac Veen a thing or two about hitting in the majors.

The issue with the Rockies is not just that they're really struggling, but they're struggling in a division where they were already kind of guaranteed last place. The top three teams are terrific, and their nearest competitor is 11 games ahead and still above .500. All they needed to do to stay dignified was finish better than they did in 2024, even if it was in last. They're not exactly on target to accomplish that. A lot of people need to turn their seasons around to get anything close to dignity out of this Rockies team.

Coming Tonight: Remember the Austin Meadows deal that the Pirates seemed to regret the moment they made it? This guy also snuck out of there too, and he's finally come into his own.

Rock Bottom

 

In a year where the A's have more young talent, the White Sox at the very least have better pitching, the Pirates have Paul Skenes and the Nationals are in fourth, the Colorado Rockies have found themselves looking at the 'worst team in the bigs' designation, at least for a bit. And it's not like the Rockies haven't tried to elevate themselves from this. They currently have Ezequiel Tovar, Brenton Doyle, Adael Amador and Zac Veen up in the majors, and that's not working either.

The main issue with the Rockies, even if the organize great teams or bring the talent in the right places, is that it's very difficult to get all of them on the same page. Kris Bryant was not a good fit for this team when he signed, and he's not a good fit for it now. Once again he's struggling to hit for average, hitting .154 with 1 RBIs and 6 hits so far. As recently as 2022 this guy was a reliable, consistent hitter with amazing versatility and great production. Something about Denver just does not fit Bryant's sensibilities, and I don't know if there's going to be a moment where everything clicks. It's like Josh Hamilton in Anaheim or Anthony Rendon...in Anaheim. Or Justin Upton in...okay maybe Anaheim's the problem in those cases. Bryant's dragging the team down, cause I don't know how he and Zac Veen could even be on the same page, despite both not hitting for average right now.

Kyle Freeland, German Marquez, Antonio Senzatela and Ryan Feltner are all healthy, reliable...and have yet to record a win. The only starting pitcher to record a win thus far has been Chase Dollander, a rookie I have never heard of. All the veteran starters have ERAs of 4.50 or higher, just trying to at least get out there consistently and do their best. I hate that even Marquez looks like the best days are behind him. He's striking less people out, less wholly dominant. Kyle Freeland might be the closest to good, with a 1.208 WHIP, but even he's given up 13 earned runs thus far. The bullpen isn't much better, as only Jake Bird seems to be getting out unscathed at the moment. 

The big stat with this team belongs to Kyle Farmer, who is batting .333 with 17 hits, including 8 doubles...and only one run. 4 RBIs as well. Kyle Farmer gets on base a ton but there's nobody to bring him home. In Denver, land of a thousand power hitters. When the nearest power hitters are Michael Toglia, who's streaky as hell, Bryant, who's in his 'couldn't hit water if it fell out of a canoe' era, and Mickey Moniak...it's not great. McMahon and Doyle are more well rounded and they're being relied upon for power numbers. So's Hunter Goodman, who's basically being slotted in at catcher to control Drew Romo's service time. 

Nothing's working. It's a 3-14 team, just getting done playing the Dodgers. It's...bad. I don't think this team will be 2024 White Sox bad, but it might be similarly difficult to get through.

Coming Tomorrow- The longest tenured Tampa Bay Ray, which is a lot like being the oldest cast member on a Disney Channel Original Series.