The Rockies fall too deeply mad in love with their own players.
That’s why, with Major League Baseball’s trade deadline rapidly approaching, Colorado would have a hard time giving away outfielder Brad Hawpe or pitcher Aaron Cook, who are $16.5 million of dead money burdening a franchise unable to waste a penny.
By overvaluing young talent in the organization, is Colorado making the same mistake with Dexter Fowler, Ian Stewart and Chris Iannetta?
It’s time to stop babying them before Generation R is lost.
Want to know the best part of Colorado’s 9-3 victory Thursday against Pittsburgh?
Breaking an eight-game losing streak, seeing pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez return to the form of a Cy Young candidate and hearing the offense actually make enough noise to drown out the vendors pushing beer at Coors Field were all good signs.
But none of that good news was as crucial as Rockies manager Jim Tracy sternly holding Fowler to a higher standard, even as the struggling center fielder emerged from the fog of a 3-for-43 slump with a key double that broke open the game.
“What it boils down to is realizing what (Fowler) needs to do,” Tracy said. “I’ve talked to Dexter, (hitting coach Don Baylor) has talked to Dexter, Jason Giambi has talked to Dexter.”
The message to Fowler is clear: Get on base by any means possible, play sterling defense, and forget the folly of swinging for the fences.
“You do get to a point in time when it’s been spoken to you as a player that the realization has to come that ‘this is who I am, this is who I must be and this is the contribution that I need to make to help make this club good,’ ” Tracy said.
The Rockies need to stop coddling their young players.
It’s hard to blame Todd Helton for growing old.
If the Rockies are going to climb back in the playoff race, Generation R must grow up in a hurry.
Fowler needs to hear demands to develop his strengths. How could a player who appears he could give Usain Bolt a run for his money be stuck with only 10 stolen bases in 16 attempts this season? It suggests poor instincts for the game.
While not exactly a news flash, the experiment of Fowler being a switch hitter needs to be declared a failure and scrapped ASAP.
Stewart is turning into the classic tease that gets a general manager fired for whiffing on first-round draft choices. Stewart can dent bleacher seats with home runs and can mine web gems at third base. It makes you dream of an all-star waiting to happen.
But there are too many days when Stewart seems to be going through the motion of punching the clock, as if playing baseball was no bigger thrill than manning the cash register at 7-Eleven.
At age 27, Iannetta isn’t a kid any longer. With nearly 1,000 at-bats in the big leagues, his career batting average is .239.
Those numbers don’t lie, they shout: journeyman backup.
The biggest improvements general manager Dan O’Dowd has recently made to the Rockies are the result of looking outside the organization, whether through a trade for outfielder Carlos Gonzalez or the bargain signing of catcher Miguel Olivo.
In baseball, patience is a virtue.
Blind loyalty, however, is crazy.
Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, Jimenez and Gonzalez possess the talent to define baseball in Colorado for as long as the Rockies are willing to pay them. But how many other sure things can be found in this clubhouse?
The solution to the nagging problem of who’s going to play first base for the next five years can’t be found wearing a Rockies uniform. The plan was to make the Rockies a contender by building from within first, last and always.
Hate to be the one to break this to O’Dowd, but Colorado might need to tweak the blueprint.
Mark Kiszla: 303-954-1053 or mkiszla@denverpost.com
