Colorado Rockies Mid-Season Report Card
Starting Pitching
Overall Grade: D+
Overall Grade: D+
Aaron Cook (11-6) gets a solid A grade for his excellent performance in the first half of the season. His eleven wins are third in the NL, and his two complete games is behind only Ben Sheets' three. His ERA stands at a very respectable (in Rockies terms) 3.57. Aaron Cook is not a staff ace type of pitcher, but he's clearly the best the Rockies have, and worthy of his All-Star nod.
Ubaldo Jimenez (4-9) had a bad start to the season, and on top of that has not had good run support from the Rockies offense. In his last eight starts, however, he has pitched pretty well... his record is 3-3, with the team 5-3 in those starts, and he has an ERA over that span of 3.04 with 41 strikeouts to 25 walks. Ubaldo merits a C+ grade at the halfway point, the only other starter with a passing mark.
The rest of the starting rotation has been inconsistent at best. Jeff Francis looked like a different guy and then went on the DL. Jorge De La Rosa has had a few very good performances mixed in with plenty of awful ones. Greg Reynolds showed flashes of promise but not nearly enough. Mark Redman hasn't helped himself at all other than one or two decent starts. Everybody other than Cook and Jimenez gets an F at the halfway point, with an incomplete grade for Kip Wells.
BullpenOverall Grade: D
Taylor Buchholz, please come to the front of the class for your gold star. Fuentes, Grilli, and Herges may be excused, but I'm watching you closely. Everybody else: approach for your paddling and your big, fat Fs. The Rockies have blown 16 saves and they have a save percentage of 54% (only three teams are worse). Corpas stank early and has been slow to return to form. Luis Vizcaino has been nothing short of a disaster... only in his last two appearances has he been anything close to what the Rockies paid for. Only the fact that the Rockies haven't really given the bullpen that many leads to blow hides how truly mediocre this bunch has been this season. Giving the ball to this bullpen has been like throwing an empty keg into a campfire... it's going to blow up and it's going to be messy, the only question is when.
Offense
Overall Grade: D+
Overall Grade: D+
Why such a low grade for the Rockies offense, you ask? They have plenty of guys who are hitting well, men like Barmes, Atkins, Spilborghs, and of course Holliday. They have the league leader in stolen bases in Taveras. But as a team, they are in the middle of the MLB pack on nearly every offensive stat: 17th in average, 19th in runs, 14th in hits, 17th in HRs, 18th in RBI, 14th in OBP, 16th in slugging %. When one considers that Coors Field inflates most offensive stats, you get an idea of just how bad the Rockies are hitting as a team.
How many times in the last month or so have they had the bases loaded, with one or none out, and failed to score even a single run? The Rox are batting .243 with runners in scoring position... only four teams are worse. Rockies fans should expect trouble from their pitching staff, but not from their offense, not like this. As a Beard who makes it his business to recognize and enhance greatness in humans, the lack of greatness from the Rockies' offense troubles me most of all.
DefenseGrade: A-
The Rockies are not lights-out defensively as they were last season, but they have been very good. Their team fielding percentage is top five in the majors. With the departure of Kaz and Tulowitzki missing many games so far, the middle of the infield hasn't been quite as solid as it was last year, but Quintanilla has been excellent, and Baker has been a pleasant surprise defensively. Garrett Atkins, always the Rockies' weak link with the glove, is playing admirably at 3B, and Helton remains one of the best defensive 1B in the game. Brad Hawpe continues to make up for his occasionally shaky fielding with his plus arm, while Holliday continues his evolution into a very good outfielder, the comparisons to Dante Bichette a seemingly distant memory.
Manager Clint Hurdle
Grade: F
Grade: F
There have been injuries to deal with. There were high expectations coming in based on the Rockies' success last year. Many young players that shone last season (Ubaldo, Morales, Tulo) have taken steps, if not leaps, backward. Some veteran players (Helton) have fallen apart before our eyes. But you know what? A manager's job is to work around things like this, and Clint Hurdle has failed to do so, in a big way. F-minus.
GM Dan O'DowdGrade: C-
None of O'Dowd's offseason moves have had a positive effect on the team. Josh Fogg left, replaced by retreads Mark Redman and Kip Wells. LaTroy Hawkins out, Luis Vizcaino in. Kaz Matsui and Jamey Carroll out, Jayson Nix in. Cory Sullivan does not make the team, Scott Podsednik did. The Beard does not question the decisions to not keep those players from last year's team, but from top to bottom, the players who were brought into fill those roster spots have been inadequate replacements. O'Dowd may be gearing up to start making some moves, likely starting with trading Fuentes after the break. If Holliday is moved, too - no matter what the Rockies get in return - O'Dowd's current grade could go into a freefall, so stay tuned.
TV Announcers
Grade: C
The regular FSN pair of George Frazier and Drew Goodman do a good job of keeping viewers informed about the opponent and the game while being excited yet honest about the Rockies. Goodman is a fine play-by-play man and the Rockies are lucky to have him. Frazier is chatty and, even for an analyst, seems to really enjoy the sound of his own voice. Although has great insights into pitching, he too often ignores other aspects in his zeal to talk about pitchers, or whatever else creeps into his head. When Frazier is out, Jeff Huson steps in and is a welcome change of pace in the analyst seat. Overall, the TV crew keeps the gimmicky stuff like guests in the booth and silly crowd interviews to a minimum (although one "behind the scenes" night a season is more than enough)... but if I have to hear Goodman and Frazier blather more time about putting mayonnaise on hot dogs, I might have to zip up to the booth and do something very un-Beardly to them both.
The Beard
Grade: C-
Grade: C-
As an immortal and omniscient Beard from outer space, I have no fear in focusing my own powerful beams of evaluation squarely on my own efforts. My plan was to work with Ryan Spilborghs this season, to make him the most manly and greatest player he could be, and in that I believe I have been successful thus far. Few have seen Ryan and his beard and come away without a sense of awe. However, the intention was not for Ryan to awe his teammates but to inspire them... to act as a beacon of greatness, perhaps, which the rest of the Rockies team could follow. Sadly, I must admit that this part of the plan has failed. As excellently as Ryan has performed for the Rockies, the Rockies have largely failed to follow his lead, and for that I must give myself a substandard grade.
Ryan's recent decision to go clean-shaven was a bold message to his teammates, and I am proud of him for it. His baby face told them: it is not I who must be great, it is we who must be great. I will take Ryan's wisdom to heart in the second half of the year. I will double my efforts, as I now see the error of my ways. This group of players does not need to see the excellence in others as an example, they must see the excellence in themselves! So no longer will I concentrate solely on Ryan Spilborghs. Rather, I shall attempt to spread my Beardlyness throughout the team, in an effort to make every Rockie see the greatness that lies within each of them.
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