Colorado Rockies

By Tom Stephenson Injuries were a factor in the Rockies’ collapse: Troy Tulowitzki only played in 101 games, Jeff Francis only started 24, Todd Helton played in a measly 83, and Matt Holliday and Brad Hawpe got into, respectively, 139 and 137. ...

With the minor league season over, and the Rockies’ season effectively over following a three-game sweep in Atlanta that’s pushed the team to 67-80, it’s about the time to start thinking about the future of the team. We here at Up in the Rockies don’t write a great deal about the minor league...

By Tom Stephenson No Rockies games for three days. Well, we can support Aaron Cook and Matt Holliday in the All-Star Game, but other than that, the Rockies have three days off. And it’s probably a good thing after a first half in which almost everything that could go wrong went wrong. The team started [...]

By Drew Bienhoff Wait.  Are you telling me that after tanking to start the season in ways that not even the most pessimistic Rockies fan could have foreseen, does this team finally mean business?  I mean, two road wins in the span of only three games?  Pretty stunning from a team that had only managed to win 12...

By Tom Stephenson Well, after an eight-game losing streak, the Rockies have now won 5 of 6.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is that, even after a hot stretch, the Rockies are still 25-39, 14 games under .500, possessing the third-worst record in all of baseball and the worst record in all of the National Leag...

By Tom Stephenson Stewart being able to stick at second would actually lessen the pressure on the Rockies to trade Garrett Atkins, since there would no longer be any pressure on the team to open up a spot for Stewart.  Nix’s offensive ineptitude already did that.  But it’s becoming clear that the Rockies are n...

By Tom Stephenson Then came Black Tuesday.  Well, that’s misleading, as the Rockies actually snapped a four-game losing streak on Tuesday.  But the demotion of Nix had left the Rockies with only five infielders (Baker technically being listed as an outfielder.)  Then Baker, scheduled to start at second, h...

By Drew Bienhoff So what exactly has gotten into this squad? Actually, I think it’s better to wonder what this team has gotten out of its system - most notably, the pressure of starting out hot and proving that last year’s stunning run to the National League pennant wasn’t a fluke. The bats turned cold once th...

By Tom Stephenson There’s one position where the Rockies really can try to make an improvement, and it’s the same one that was a question mark coming into the season: second base.  Jayson Nix is currently hitting .161/.297/.194, and while I’m willing to give some other Rockies the benefit of the doubt, without...

By Tom Stephenson It’s worth saying it again.  I can’t recall a year in the past when the Rockies were expected to do anything.  Even last year, when a few of us Rockies diehards (myself included) thought the Rockies could be pretty good, many people thought it was just going to be another year of mediocrity in C...

By Tom Stephenson As for Morales, he showed at times in his major league debut last year that he can be unhittable.  But he also showed bouts of wildness, and if he’s not ready to go, the Rockies won’t hesitate to have him work out his problems at AAA.  By all accounts, he should be the number five starter; but the R...

By Drew Bienhoff Four years ago, the Rockies trotted out the following starting lineup on Opening Day: 1.  Luis A. Gonzalez (2B) 2.  Royce Clayton (SS) 3.  Todd Helton (1B) 4.  Preston Wilson (CF) 5.  Vinny Castilla (3B) 6.  Kit Pellow (LF) 7.  Jeromy Burnitz (RF) 8.  Charles Johnson (C) 9.  Shawn Estes (P) Ah yes, tho...

By Tom Stephenson UPDATE (12:30 PM MST): Finally, some signs of life from the Rockies. The Detroit Free Press is reporting that the Rockies and Tigers have announced a deal that would send right-handed reliever Jose Capellan to the Rockies in exchange for Denny Bautista.

By Tom Stephenson All in all, it’s a pretty nice situation for us to have here. On the one hand, we have Yorvit Torrealba, a proven major league catcher, who re-upped with the Rockies after very nearly going to the Mets. On the other, we’ve got Chris Iannetta. John Sickels ranked Iannetta as the #2 prospect in the...

By Tom Stephenson Kaz Matsui is an Astro.  Tadahito Iguchi is a Padre.  (Seriously, we couldn’t match one year at $4 million?)  Jamey Carroll is an Indian.  At this rate, the Rockies will probably go into 2008 with, I don’t know, myself at second base.  I used to play second base.  So what if I can’t hit a [...] Clint Bar...

By Tom Stephenson There just really isn’t a lot going on with the Rockies. There really hasn’t been much going on at all since the end of the World Series. Well, we signed Mark Redman and Kip Wells. Hopefully, they’re just insurance and aren’t going to be taking rotation spots away from guys like Franklin [...]

By Dan Lucero With no margin for error in the Wild Card race, the Rockies haven’t made any. And now, thanks to the Pittsburgh Pirates winning twice against Arizona in two nights, the Rockies now have a chance to win the National League West. If the Rockies win out and the Padres lose two out of four in Milwauk...