Rockies Register

Matt Holliday and Brad Hawpe had big games at the plate today as they pummelled the White Sox in their spring opener.  Holliday had the only homerun of the game and he went two for three with two RBIs and two runs.  Hawpe went three for three with two runs and two RBIs.  Not to be outdone, Javy Lopez went two for three with two RBIs and two runs.

Aaron Cook had a nice start and he pitched two shutout innings but Taylor Buchholz was rocked for four runs in his two innings.  Brian Fuentes was particularly impressive as he struck out all three batters that he faced.

The Rockies look to get it done again tomorrow in a rematch against the White Sox.

The Rockies signed outfielder Steve Finley to a minor league deal.  If Finley makes the team, it’ll be the eighth team that Finley has played for.   I think he’s a long shot to make the team and I’m not quite sure what the Rockies are thinking but maybe he’ll provide some incentive and leadership for the younger guys.

In order to boost his homerun power, Todd Helton showed up to camp noticably bulkier after a vigorous weight training regimen during the offseason.  He also wants to gloss over the trade that fell through that would have sent him to Boston as well.  It sure would be nice to see Helton in MVP form though.

Jeff Sackman at Beyond the Boxscore recently put up his preview for the Rockies in 2007. I like his synopsis where he thinks the Rockies are getting close, but if a few things go wrong, it could completely derail things.  I think the Rockies are a couple of years away but once their prospects start making waves, you’ll start hearing the words “Rockies” and “division title” in the same breath.

One major problem is, once you get past Aaron Cook and Jeff Francis, things thin out pretty quickly at least in the rotation.  And once you get past Brian Fuentes in the bullpen, you also have a ton of question marks. 

The final prognosis is that 80-82 wins isn’t out of the question, but I agree that a lot could wrong, especially with the pitching.  I still like this teams chances after this year though.

Yesterday, we looked at how the Rockies built back up their system.  Now we get to see the products of that system in Baseball America’s list of the top ten Rockies’ prospects.  Topping the list is the Rockies’ top draft pick in 2005, shortstop Troy Tulowitzki.  He didn’t spend much time in the minors and after a solid season at Double A, he skipped Triple A and made his debut with the Rockies.  Then he slipped a bit and only had a slugging percentage of .292 but regaing his form by being named the top prospect in the Arizona Fall League.  Now Tulowitzki should be the Rockies’ regular shortstop in 2007.

Second is left handed pitcher Franklin Morales.  He struck out 179 in 154 innings at High A and while he’s probably a year away, he could be getting a cub of coffee come September.

Jason Hirsch, who also played for the Rockies in 2006, comes in third.  He struggled when got called up but it’s expected that Hirsch will be in the rotation in 2007.   Outfielder Dexter Fowler and third baseman Ian Stewart round out the top five.  Stewart has really slipped after a rough Double A season.  A lot of people though Garrett Atkins was a place holder until Stewart was ready but it’s definitely not turning out that way.

So there’s some good talent here and some of it is major league ready.

This is a great story on how the Rockies have rebuilt their minor league system.  It’s subscription only at Baseball America so I don’t want to go into too much detail but this was a great look back at the past several years of activity that the Rockies have taken to spruce up their farm system.

Beyond the Boxscore recently profiled Rockies’ second base prospect Corey Wimberly.   He’s still a couple of  years away, but this is a guy who’s worth keeping an eye on. 

Solid hitting and questionable pitching is what defines the Rockies heading into 2007.  With Todd Helton and Matt Holliday, the Rockies definitely have a solid one-two punch in their lineup but with Jeff Francis topping a rotation that features medicore talent like Rodrigo Lopez and Byung-Hyun Kim, it’s hard to expect the Rockies to compete in what should be a tougher NL West this upcoming season.  All of this and more is presented in the Rockies preseason preview at NBCsports.com.

Having a set closer is not a commodity that a lot of teams have, and despite how the bad the Rockies bullpen was last year, they at least have Brian Fuentes to rely on in the ninth inning.  This is a nice column at MLB.com that talks about the Rockies bullpen, which is anchored by Fuentes.

PECOTA expects more of the same for Fuentes.  His projected WHIP is a little higher then I would like (1.31) but they have him striking out a batter an inning project that he should save around 30 games.

Chris Ianetta may not be the best fielding catcher behind the plate, but he’s shown he can hit.  And in a column on catching prospects at Baseball Prospectus, they rank Ianetta as being the catching prospect with the most upside in 2007.

His PECOTA card looks really nice.  His weighted mean average has him at .291/.379/.481 with 15 homeruns and average defense.  I could definitely live with that.