Denver Post sports writer Patrick Saunders with the latest installment of his Rockies Mailbag.
Pose a Rockies — or MLB — related question for the Rockies Mailbag.
Patrick, I’m looking at the Rockies’ (lineup) and I don’t see much to get excited about. With Nolan (Arenado) gone, and now Trevor (Story) gone, I don’t see any stars on this team. When’s the last time that happened?
— Terry, Castle Rock
Terry, when I received your email the other day, I tweeted out your question in order to get some fans’ perspectives. The consensus seemed to be that the last time the Rockies had less obvious star power on their roster would have been in 2005 or ’06.
They had Todd Helton at the time, but his very best years were behind him. In 2005, Matt Holiday was emerging as a potential star, hitting .307 with 24 home runs. Holiday became an all-star in 2006, then, of course, Troy Tulowitzki busted out as a rookie in ’07.
As for the current Rockies, their only returning all-star is right-handed starter German Marquez. I think Charlie Blackmon, who turns 36 on July 1, still has some good baseball left in him, but I don’t know if he’ll be an all-star again.
Third baseman Ryan McMahon has a chance to reach the next level, but he’s got to become more consistent at the plate. And it’s too early to predict what kind of player second baseman Brendan Rodgers will become, though he’s certainly got talent.
As I write this, the Rockies are still pursuing a power hitter through free agency, with the hope of landing Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber, or, perhaps, Michael Conforto. We’ll see if they can land one of those players and if they will shine in Colorado.
Hey Patrick. Always enjoy your insight. Do you think Trevor Story has made a mistake in free agency? Seems like there are limited fits for him.
— Don Story (no relation), Dolores
Don, thanks for reading, it’s much appreciated. By saying he “made a mistake,” I assume you mean by turning down the Rockies’ $18.4 million qualifying offer and rejecting the Rockies’ numerous attempts to keep him in Colorado.
Based on conversations I had with Story, his desire has been to leave the Rockies for a more competitive team. I never believed the Rockies had a chance to retain him.
I don’t think Story regrets his decision, but I imagine he’s a little bit nervous. Because his options seem limited, especially if the Astros re-sign Carlos Correa, as reports indicate could be the case. Right now, Story’s best options seem to be the Angels or the Twins — hardly championship contenders. I’ve also heard that the Cardinals and Yankees might be in the mix.
There is a lot of media speculation that Story will sign a “prove-it,” one-year deal to reset his market after a down 2021 season and also to show that he’s not a Coors Field product. We’ll see what happens, but I believe Story would be an excellent addition to a contending team. He’s a winning player.
Glad to see that we picked up a solid infielder this offseason, but I don’t know much about him aside from the fact he has a decent arm. Do you know if this Russ Wilson kid is going to play?
— Mike, Denver
As former Broncos coach Mike Shanahan used to say to reporters: “You are a troublemaker, aren’t you?” In case you missed it, I wrote about Wilson’s brief career in the Rockies organization.
Patrick, can you explain why the Rockies got rid of the guy in charge of the analytics department just months after hiring him? It makes no sense. But I can say that about paying another team $51 million to take our future Hall of Famer (Nolan Arenado) or letting our all-star shortstop (Trevor Story) go for nothing.
— Keith, Cheyenne, Wyo.
Keith, I dug into the firing of Scott Van Lenten after I broke the news last week. Unfortunately, no one from the Rockies would talk about the situation. I reached out to Van Lenten and he said he was not ready to talk at this time.
From what I know, it was not an off-field incident of any kind that led to his firing. It was, rather, “a major disagreement.” When I get down to spring training this weekend, I’ll poke around a little bit to see if I can get a better handle on the story.
Patrick, I am pleased that you have been able to attend spring training and see the start of the Rockies’ season live. What impact will a shortened spring training have on the first few weeks of the season? Will starting pitchers pitch fewer innings per game because they have not had a chance to throw longer outings? Will the lineup still be in flux because Bud Black has not had an opportunity to see what lineup works best?
— Judy, Denver
Judy, for full disclosure, I went down to spring training to see and interview the prospects and then came back home before the lockout ended. I’ll be heading back down to Scottsdale this weekend.
As to your question, I think it remains to be seen what the impact will be. The Rockies, and all teams, will be cautious about how they use their starting pitching, so I would expect that starters will pitch fewer innings early in the regular season. Manager Bud Black told reporters Tuesday that his starters would be limited to four or five innings in the early portion of the season.
I don’t think the lineup will be in flux any more than normal. Outside of a major signing or a breakout camp, the Rockies already know who their starters will be and who their role players will be. That could change, but I don’t think the shorter spring training alters that. Injuries, of course, could mess things up and I would not be at all surprised to see more injuries this spring than normal.
This is what manager Black told reporters in Scottsdale on Tuesday:
“For me, starting pitching is really the requirement for six weeks (of camp), to really feel good about the stamina and the volume of throws they need (in order) to get ready. Position players can get ready, and relievers can get ready, but you are a little bit crossing your fingers with the starters. But I worry a little bit about the starters, like all managers and general managers.
“Typically, you have 30 (Cactus League) games to get ready, this year we have only 19. So itap a little trickier, but we can do it. Players in this day and age are taking care of themselves year-round.”
What can we expect from Chad Kuhl? Is he taking over Jon Gray’s spot in the rotation?
— Marshall, Parker
Marshall, as I wrote Tuesday, Kuhl was signed to provide rotation depth, but also for use in the bullpen. As the old saying goes, you can never have enough starting pitching.
Black told reporters Tuesday morning that Kuhl will get a shot to be part of the rotation coming out of spring training.
“It’s a good arm, with a good fastball and a good breaking ball,” Black said. “And I still think he has the potential to realize his best stuff. We are going to give him a real opportunity to be one of our starting pitchers. … We got some good insight on him from Clint (Hurdle). So he’s in the mix. He’s right in the mix.”
When I first wrote about the signing, I saw Kuhl as the sixth or seventh starter, behind Peter Lambert and lefty Ryan Rolison. But if the club wants to hold off on promoting Rolison for a while, and if Lambert doesn’t impress, Kuhl could get his chance to start coming out of spring training. We’ll see. Kuhl has a lot to prove.
His 2021 season was interrupted by a case of Covid-19 and he didn’t pitch well. The right-hander went 5-7 with a personal-worst 4.82 ERA in 28 appearances (14 starts) in 2021, with 75 strikeouts in 80 1/3 innings. The Pirates non-tendered him in November.
