Their prayer has gone unanswered. Maybe somebody up there does not like the Rockies. If the baseball gods were benevolent, Colorado would already employ a leadoff hitter who runs like the devil, swings a hot bat and steals bases without conscience.
The problem with the dream of Colorado contending for the playoffs begins at the top.
Bless Cory Sullivan, Jamey Carroll and Clint Barmes. But until there is real danger at the top of this team’s batting order, the Rockies will not scare anybody in the National League.
How good would Coco Crisp, who hit .300 with 16 home runs and 15 stolen bases for Cleveland in 2005, look patrolling the Coors Field outfield in a Rockies uniform?
Colorado did go shopping in the offseason for Crisp, general manager Dan O’Dowd said Saturday night.
The Boston Red Sox, however, landed Crisp in a trade, while Colorado lacked the resources to make a deal.
“No question, the biggest hole we have is at the top of batting order. It’s a tough hole to fill,” O’Dowd said. “That is going to be something we absolutely are going to try to address, either through trade or the free-agent market.”
While there will be players who could fill Colorado’s need for speed as the trade deadline approaches – anybody remember Juan Pierre? – O’Dowd stressed the Rockies are not interested in making a short-sighted, quick-fix trade that might give false hope to fans who have again begun to buy tickets to the ballpark.
“I realize how far we have to go to become an elite team,” O’Dowd said.
From 1995-2001, the Rockies departed Coors Field without scoring a run after only nine games.
During the current nine-game homestand, Colorado has been shut out twice.
A rollicking 12-9 victory over Los Angeles seemed like old times at The Keg in LoDo.
But those offensive explosions are now so rare as to elicit little besides nostalgia for the Blake Street Bombers, who are long gone and ain’t coming back. The Rockies enter their 62nd game of the season ranked 15th among 16 NL teams in runs.
What’s at work here is more than offensive fireworks being dampened by Colorado’s now famous humidor.
While O’Dowd spent wisely to build a bullpen and has given the starting rotation tender loving care, a $41 million payroll cannot possibly cover all the team’s needs.
The Rockies have too many holes in their batting order, especially on those nights when Todd Helton looks too old to pick up a copy of Maxim magazine, let alone pick up teammates with a timely double.
Whenever O’Dowd goes calling for a leadoff hitter, he said rival GMs inevitably inquire if the Rockies are willing to trade one player.
That coveted player is minor-league infield prospect Ian Stewart, the 2003 first-round draft pick being touted as the 21-year-old savior who only needs time to mature into superstardom.
From the practical standpoint of self-preservation, O’Dowd would be nuts to consider any trade of Stewart, because selling his bosses on the slow, relatively inexpensive process of growing a winner down on the farm is what has kept him employed for almost seven years without a sniff of the playoffs.
With no money to splurge, what O’Dowd must hope is somebody like third baseman Garrett Atkins finishes this season with 20 homers and a .320 batting average, so he can be useful trade bait for a center fielder who can hit at the top of the order.
“I really believe we’ve reached a turning point as it relates to hope,” O’Dowd said. “Now, we have to reach a turning point as it relates to becoming a legitimate, quality, contending major-league team year in and year out. And those are tough steps to take.”
The curse of Colorado’s delightful, if unexpected, quick start this spring was people started believing the Rockies could be contenders.
The hard truth is World Series rings cost more than team ownership is currently willing to pay.
No matter how earnestly any of us prays for a miracle, the Rockies are far more than one big trade from being a serious player in the National League pennant race.
Deal with it.
Staff writer Mark Kiszla can be reached at 303-820-5438 or mkiszla@denverpost.com.
