Oh, Todd Helton, no. The Rockies elder statesman was arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence in Thornton, Colorado according to a release issued by the club themselves. Thornton is a suburb just north of Denver, near Helton’s offseason home in Brighton.
Wilton Lopez is the monster from a B-grade horror monster. Just when you think he’s dead and the team of chaste heroes found his one weakness (wonky elbow), he bursts out of the abandoned hospital to pitch high leverage innings once again! After a trade between Lopez’s Astros and the Philadelphia Phillies was nixed at the eleventh hour, it now looks like Lopez is on his way to Colorado in exchange for young pitcher Alex White and a “minor league pitcher” of undetermined name and quality.
Everything that was true about Wilton Lopez two weeks ago remains true today. He throws hard and is a fine reliever, posting strong rate stats and periphials over the last two seasons. He will help the Rockies do…whatever it is the Rockies are doing out there. Alex White is an interesting piece of this trade, just as he was an interesting piece of the Ubaldo Jimenez trade two years ago. In the time since White came to Colorado, he faced charges for an EXTREME DUI and pitched quite poorly in 27 starts across two seasons.
As discussed at the end of last week, the Colorado Rockies new manager is Walt Weiss. The belief held that, based on his youth and inexperience, the Rockies planned to bring Weiss along with their youthful roster – the two could grow together.
Until a key detail surfaced: Walt Weiss signed just a one-year contract to manage the Rockies, a team which lost 98 games in 2012. Is this an example of a manager being doomed to fail, a meddlesome organization unable to get out of its own way or something else all together?
Walt Weiss has been named the 6th manager in #Rockies history.
— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) November 8, 2012
After an exhaustive search that stretched as far as “the old guy still on their active roster” and “that lunatic who dressed in fatigues at Expos Spring Training that one year”, the Colorado Rockies announced their new manager will be long-time Rockies player and former part-time Rockies instructor, Walt Weiss.
Walt Weiss, who played fourteen seasons in the big leagues and, until very recently, coached baseball at a local high school, becomes the sixth manager in Rockies history. Weiss surely impressed the Colorado brass with his ability to not be Jim Tracy in any way, shape, or form.
Alright! It’s the Getting Blanked podcast. While playoff fever is in the air, infecting the good people of the Beltway en masse, the fans of countless other teams attempt to pick up the pieces after lost seasons. Which is our topic today: lost seasons. Is any season that doesn’t end with Meaningful Baseball in September considered lost? Really looking forward to an existential weekend, you guys.
You can also download the mp3 directly right here.
Let’s be charitable and say 2012 represents a season to “forget” for fans of the Colorado Rockies. They own the third-worst record in baseball due, in no small part, to a dearth of legit Major League talent on their roster. The pitching staff is atrocious, with the third-worst FIP as a staff.
As far as offenses go, the Rockies are what one might expect from a team in the Mile High city. Despite franchise cornerstone Troy Tulowitzki only appearing in 47 games, the Rockies .329 wOBA ranks and 668 runs scored put them in the top three in the National League. Losing Troy Tulowitzki hasn’t hampered the Rockies as much as one would think. In his absence, a few players have stepped up to fill his considerably large shoes.
Marco Scutaro chipped in with a strong month at short when Tulo initially went down but Josh Rutledge has since taken the job and run with it. With Tulowitkzi on his way back and a move to second in Rutledge’s future, the Rockies think they have their middle infield sealed up for some time.
I’m not going to bother you with many words here today, let’s cut straight to the GIFs. We lead with perhaps the most insufferable closer’s entrance of our time. Jose “the spectacle” Valverde, you guys.
MOAR GIFs after the jump… Read the rest of this entry »
