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.
There is no one like Kris Bryant in baseball history. Winning an MVP so early in his career and then within a few years following off the map.
ReplyDeleteFred Lynn won the MVP as a rookie in 1975 and had a monster year in 1979 but he was quite average for about 10 years otherwise like 23HR 70RBI 270BAT average but I think Bryant would kill for those Lynn average years now.