I'll Take It/Season Awards

TheIncredibleRox · 10-29-2007, 01:49 PM

So that World Series went awfully poor, but that's the best complaint I've ever had as a Rockies fan.

NL Champs. I'll take it. Tell me this would have happened in May, and I'd have called you a fool. This team played good baseball from May on, and played historically good baseball in the last couple weeks, resulting in the most magical playoffs run in recent memory. I'll never forget game 163-- it's the best baseball game I've ever been to, and I'll be lucky to see another game that dramatic in the next decade or more. Truly electric.

While everyone who played a role this year deserves commendation, I've got some of my own hardware to hand out.

The "YOU'RE A STUD" award: Matt Holliday. To me, he's the NL's MVP. Some of the NL's best bat speed with good hand-eye coordination and 225 pounds of solid muscle behind it. A powerful hitter indeed, but he's really more of a pure hitter than he gets credit for; .340 with 50 doubles, and until our final 3 weeks he was like 8th-12th on the NL HR leaderboard. You do that by being able to mash line drives on anything in (or out) of the strike zone.

Pitching Side: Jeff Francis. A true number one, no; that requires dominance. But Francis is a good combination of Tom Glavine and Al Leiter; very good command/deception with a decent propensity to miss bats when he so chooses; he had a couple important starts down the stretch where he turned in double-digit strikeouts. That contract he signed before the season looks more beautiful than ever.

YOU'RE ON YOUR WAY (to being a stud): Troy Tulowitzki. There are several guys on the roster about whom you could say "this team would have been nowhere this year without" them. He's certainly not the pound-for-pound MVP, but Tulo filled a huge void for us and blew away reasonable expectations. He busts his ass while carrying a big bat, a big glove, and a loaded cannon. It will be a blast watching this guy for the next five years.

Pitching Side: Ubaldo Jimenez. I don't know if we've ever developed a pitcher with this kind of raw stuff. Baldo shows all the hallmarks of dominance, and was able to keep his control pretty well in check during his regular MLB season. If he tightens up his command just a little as he matures, next year's 1-2-3 punch of Francis, Cook, and Baldo looks trememdous.

Honrable Mention: Manuel Corpas. I like BRJ's idea of trying him as a starter; he seems like Cook with a couple extra ticks of velocity, which could be an incredible thing. But as our closer, we couldn't have asked for more. Pretty damn good control, the ability to miss some bats, and the vast majority of bats who don't miss pound it straight into the ground.

YOU'RE STILL A STUD: Todd Helton. Tell me where we are this season without a .434 OBP in the middle of our lineup. And, before Denver awoke and only us die-hards were watching, that bottom of the ninth homer off Saito at the start of our run has to go down as the moment at which we became, as BRJ would say, "THE TEAM OF DESTINY!!" It was one of my favorite baseball moments.

BEST SUPPORT ROLE: Ryan Spilborghs. All year, but especially when Tavares went down, this guy was there. You could expect line drives, decent HR pop, and great defense. Always sort of a 'forgotten prospect,' Spilly deserves strong consideration for the CF job next year. If he doesn't get that, he's at least earned a decent share of it while spelling Hawpe against lefties and being our #1 pinch hitter. Either way, he gets 450 PAs next year.

Pitching Side: Josh Fogg. Coming into the season, a common complaint (of which I was a voice) was that we had like 5 #5 starters competing for the last two spots. Well 4 months and roughly 72 pitching injuries later, this guy was still standing at a time when 5-6 mediocre innings was a golden nugget for us. He gave them to us all year, and yes, he amazingly slayed quite a few dragons. He's not a good pitcher, but he's a fine fifth starter, and awfully easy to root for. I've never seen another pitcher give the Monica Seles on perhaps every pitch, and it's funny that the only one who does unleashes 87 MPH fastballs and 76 MPH sliders or changeups.

BEST CAMEO: Seth Smith. Regular season and playoffs combined; 8-14, 6 runs, 2 RBIs, 11 total bases. Quite amazing when you consider; A) Those were his first 14 MLB at-bats, B) Practically all were pinch-hitting duty, which is a very tough thing to do, C) Most of them were at game-critical moments, during 'must-win' or playoff games (or both).

Pitching Side: Mark Redman. A few critical games down our amazing late season run were either pitched acceptably or brilliantly by a guy who wasn't really expected to produce either. That 11-game run doesn't ahppen without him.

BEST "BACK FROM THE DEAD" PERFORMANCE: Matt Herges. For 35 games, it was nothing flashy; throw strikes, keep people off balance, and keep the ball in the yard. He was BABIP-lucky, but he was the glue of our pen down the stretch.

Hitting Side: Cory Sullivan. I know his numbers don't look special, but he was pretty special at the right times. He had deciding hits/plays in several key games down the stretch. He was asked to fill some gaps when Taveras was out and he held his own. Cory Sullivan, I re-knight thee a legitamite 4th outfielder.

BEST UNSUNG-MILD-SUPRISE: Split between four guys who gave us a little more than we hoped for, yet flew under the radar; Jorge Julio, Jeremy Affeldt, Latroy Hawkins, Taylor Buchholz. None were lights out, but the sum of theri 'mild suprises' was huge for us. Julio, even though he blew (or almost blew) a couple big ones, was objectively an eighth-inning man. He's always lived and died with his homeritis, and suprisingly kept it pretty well in check (by coming to Coors... whooda thunk it?). Latroy had a horrible first week; didn't he blow like 3 of his first 5 games or something dreadful? But the rest of the way he was solid and unremarkable. I don't get the dip in K rate of the last 2 seasons, because the velocity still seems to be there. I don't know why we don't let Buchholz start; he showed excellent control and kept the ball in the yard. I wouldn't mind him doing the same for 190 innings next year behind Cook/Francis/Jimenez and in front of Hirsch. Affeldt may have been a baby of BABIP, but he held his own in a slightly-larger-than-LOOGY role, and missed a fair amount of bats. Nobody was expecting that.

Honorable Mention: Team baserunning. I haven't measured this in any useful way, it just strikes me that we were pretty damn good here. Tavares and Matsui are blazers--both stole plenty of bags (and Kaz was tremendous efficiency-wise). Beyond those two, Tulo, Spilly, and Holliday are all pretty damn fast. Todd has great instincts, and while Hawpe has a poor first step, he can fly a little once he's got some steam. The only guys who have pianos on their backs are Atkins and Torrealba, and even they're not dreadful; just below average (and in fact, maybe Yorvit is above average for a catcher). Carrol and Sullivan off the bench are no slouches either. I wouldn't find it hard to believe that our team bsaerunning was a couple wins above average this year.

STEALTH ASSASINS: Brad Hawpe and Garrett Atkins. They're not stealth to us, but to the rest of the league (maybe until now) they weren't getting the respect they deserved. Hawper drew 81 walks and smashed 66 extra-base hits (and consider he put up those totals while sitting plenty against lefties). With the hacks he takes, it's amazing that the guy has hit .291 and .293 the last two years, but there you go. Atkins shook off a nasty first half and mashed .349/.409/.532 down the stretch. He rarely wastes an at-bat and sprays line drives to the gap and over the wall.

BigRapidsJackass · 10-29-2007, 03:42 PM

Interesting thoughts, IR. I agree with the general sentiment: playing in the World Series even if we get swept? I'll take it. Sure beats 76-86.

A few comments:

Quote:

YOU'RE ON YOUR WAY (to being a stud): Troy Tulowitzki.

Before the season, I had said (along with many) that Tulo had the "potential" to be a 25 HR guy down the line, as in maybe 2010. Well, he's a 25 HR man right now. We all new about the defense, but I'm amazed at how quickly he developed as a hitter.

Quote:

BEST SUPPORT ROLE: Ryan Spilborghs. All year, but especially when Tavares went down, this guy was there.

Question last offseason: is he a MLB-caliber player? (Answer: clearly yes). Question this offseason: is he a MLB-caliber starting CFer? (I'm guessing the answer is no, not a full-timer, but I agree that he's a valuable half-timer you can slot in a lot of places)

Quote:

YOU'RE STILL A STUD: Todd Helton.

Agreed. I was right: we'll never see 30 HRs again from Todd. But he's calmed my fears of a continuing steep decline curve. I think he's staying, and I think that's o.k.

Quote:

Pitching Side: Mark Redman.

IR, if I'm not mistaken you had thrown out Redman's name early in the season as a potential ultra cheap/possibly reasonable upside acquisition. It took a while, but that's what he was. Elmer Dessens gets an honorable mention. You could do worse than to give both guys an NRI.

Quote:

Pitching Side: Ubaldo Jimenez. I don't know if we've ever developed a pitcher with this kind of raw stuff.

Chin-Hui Tsao. His raw stuff was every bit as good. I hate to even mention the name lest I jinx Ubaldo. I think Ubaldo will be the #1 we've been waiting for if he avoids injury.

Quote:

Honrable Mention: Manuel Corpas. I like BRJ's idea of trying him as a starter; he seems like Cook with a couple extra ticks of velocity, which could be an incredible thing. But as our closer, we couldn't have asked for more. Pretty damn good control, the ability to miss some bats, and the vast majority of bats who don't miss pound it straight into the ground.

Watching Fausto Carmona gave me the idea. Pretty similar pitchers. Carmona bombed as a closer and made it as a starter. Corpas might be able to go the other way. I think it's worth a try. With the natural sink and the ability to keep pitch counts down, he strikes me as a natural starter. If they re-sign Fuentes, what's to lose?

Quote:

BEST "BACK FROM THE DEAD" PERFORMANCE: Matt Herges. For 35 games, it was nothing flashy; throw strikes, keep people off balance, and keep the ball in the yard.

Agreed. A nice run, fueled by some good BABIP luck. Another possible NRI guy. I'd even go ahead and sign him to a 1-year Tom Martin deal. Beats the heck out of the real Tom Martin.

Quote:

Hitting Side: Cory Sullivan. I know his numbers don't look special, but he was pretty special at the right times. He had deciding hits/plays in several key games down the stretch. He was asked to fill some gaps when Taveras was out and he held his own. Cory Sullivan, I re-knight thee a legitamite 4th outfielder.

My question: why is nobody else interested in this guy? He's pretty marginal as a starting centerfielder, but have you looked at some of the other guys who started a bunch of games in centerfield this year?

Quote:

BEST UNSUNG-MILD-SUPRISE: Split between four guys who gave us a little more than we hoped for, yet flew under the radar; Jorge Julio, Jeremy Affeldt, Latroy Hawkins, Taylor Buchholz. None were lights out, but the sum of theri 'mild suprises' was huge for us. Julio, even though he blew (or almost blew) a couple big ones, was objectively an eighth-inning man. He's always lived and died with his homeritis, and suprisingly kept it pretty well in check (by coming to Coors... whooda thunk it?). Latroy had a horrible first week; didn't he blow like 3 of his first 5 games or something dreadful? But the rest of the way he was solid and unremarkable.

Sometimes I love being wrong. LaTroy, my apologies. He was very good after that return from the DL. He was actually underutilized throughout the playoffs. The big drop in K rate really bothered me when he was nominally a fly-ball or neutral pitcher. Now that he seems to have become positively Cook-esque in his GB/FB rate, I like him a lot better. They've got an option on him. I'd rather bring LaTroy back at $4 million than Fuentes at $7 million. Do it. When all was said and done, Affeldt was a .268 BABIP guy with a 5+ BB/9 rate. And for whatever reason, he's not terribly effective as a LOOGY. Say goodbye.

10-29-2007, 01:49 PM	#1 (permalink)
TheIncredibleRox Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 284	I'll Take It/Season Awards So that World Series went awfully poor, but that's the best complaint I've ever had as a Rockies fan. NL Champs. I'll take it. Tell me this would have happened in May, and I'd have called you a fool. This team played good baseball from May on, and played historically good baseball in the last couple weeks, resulting in the most magical playoffs run in recent memory. I'll never forget game 163-- it's the best baseball game I've ever been to, and I'll be lucky to see another game that dramatic in the next decade or more. Truly electric. While everyone who played a role this year deserves commendation, I've got some of my own hardware to hand out. The "YOU'RE A STUD" award: Matt Holliday. To me, he's the NL's MVP. Some of the NL's best bat speed with good hand-eye coordination and 225 pounds of solid muscle behind it. A powerful hitter indeed, but he's really more of a pure hitter than he gets credit for; .340 with 50 doubles, and until our final 3 weeks he was like 8th-12th on the NL HR leaderboard. You do that by being able to mash line drives on anything in (or out) of the strike zone. Pitching Side: Jeff Francis. A true number one, no; that requires dominance. But Francis is a good combination of Tom Glavine and Al Leiter; very good command/deception with a decent propensity to miss bats when he so chooses; he had a couple important starts down the stretch where he turned in double-digit strikeouts. That contract he signed before the season looks more beautiful than ever. YOU'RE ON YOUR WAY (to being a stud): Troy Tulowitzki. There are several guys on the roster about whom you could say "this team would have been nowhere this year without" them. He's certainly not the pound-for-pound MVP, but Tulo filled a huge void for us and blew away reasonable expectations. He busts his ass while carrying a big bat, a big glove, and a loaded cannon. It will be a blast watching this guy for the next five years. Pitching Side: Ubaldo Jimenez. I don't know if we've ever developed a pitcher with this kind of raw stuff. Baldo shows all the hallmarks of dominance, and was able to keep his control pretty well in check during his regular MLB season. If he tightens up his command just a little as he matures, next year's 1-2-3 punch of Francis, Cook, and Baldo looks trememdous. Honrable Mention: Manuel Corpas. I like BRJ's idea of trying him as a starter; he seems like Cook with a couple extra ticks of velocity, which could be an incredible thing. But as our closer, we couldn't have asked for more. Pretty damn good control, the ability to miss some bats, and the vast majority of bats who don't miss pound it straight into the ground. YOU'RE STILL A STUD: Todd Helton. Tell me where we are this season without a .434 OBP in the middle of our lineup. And, before Denver awoke and only us die-hards were watching, that bottom of the ninth homer off Saito at the start of our run has to go down as the moment at which we became, as BRJ would say, "THE TEAM OF DESTINY!!" It was one of my favorite baseball moments. BEST SUPPORT ROLE: Ryan Spilborghs. All year, but especially when Tavares went down, this guy was there. You could expect line drives, decent HR pop, and great defense. Always sort of a 'forgotten prospect,' Spilly deserves strong consideration for the CF job next year. If he doesn't get that, he's at least earned a decent share of it while spelling Hawpe against lefties and being our #1 pinch hitter. Either way, he gets 450 PAs next year. Pitching Side: Josh Fogg. Coming into the season, a common complaint (of which I was a voice) was that we had like 5 #5 starters competing for the last two spots. Well 4 months and roughly 72 pitching injuries later, this guy was still standing at a time when 5-6 mediocre innings was a golden nugget for us. He gave them to us all year, and yes, he amazingly slayed quite a few dragons. He's not a good pitcher, but he's a fine fifth starter, and awfully easy to root for. I've never seen another pitcher give the Monica Seles on perhaps every pitch, and it's funny that the only one who does unleashes 87 MPH fastballs and 76 MPH sliders or changeups. BEST CAMEO: Seth Smith. Regular season and playoffs combined; 8-14, 6 runs, 2 RBIs, 11 total bases. Quite amazing when you consider; A) Those were his first 14 MLB at-bats, B) Practically all were pinch-hitting duty, which is a very tough thing to do, C) Most of them were at game-critical moments, during 'must-win' or playoff games (or both). Pitching Side: Mark Redman. A few critical games down our amazing late season run were either pitched acceptably or brilliantly by a guy who wasn't really expected to produce either. That 11-game run doesn't ahppen without him. BEST "BACK FROM THE DEAD" PERFORMANCE: Matt Herges. For 35 games, it was nothing flashy; throw strikes, keep people off balance, and keep the ball in the yard. He was BABIP-lucky, but he was the glue of our pen down the stretch. Hitting Side: Cory Sullivan. I know his numbers don't look special, but he was pretty special at the right times. He had deciding hits/plays in several key games down the stretch. He was asked to fill some gaps when Taveras was out and he held his own. Cory Sullivan, I re-knight thee a legitamite 4th outfielder. BEST UNSUNG-MILD-SUPRISE: Split between four guys who gave us a little more than we hoped for, yet flew under the radar; Jorge Julio, Jeremy Affeldt, Latroy Hawkins, Taylor Buchholz. None were lights out, but the sum of theri 'mild suprises' was huge for us. Julio, even though he blew (or almost blew) a couple big ones, was objectively an eighth-inning man. He's always lived and died with his homeritis, and suprisingly kept it pretty well in check (by coming to Coors... whooda thunk it?). Latroy had a horrible first week; didn't he blow like 3 of his first 5 games or something dreadful? But the rest of the way he was solid and unremarkable. I don't get the dip in K rate of the last 2 seasons, because the velocity still seems to be there. I don't know why we don't let Buchholz start; he showed excellent control and kept the ball in the yard. I wouldn't mind him doing the same for 190 innings next year behind Cook/Francis/Jimenez and in front of Hirsch. Affeldt may have been a baby of BABIP, but he held his own in a slightly-larger-than-LOOGY role, and missed a fair amount of bats. Nobody was expecting that. Honorable Mention: Team baserunning. I haven't measured this in any useful way, it just strikes me that we were pretty damn good here. Tavares and Matsui are blazers--both stole plenty of bags (and Kaz was tremendous efficiency-wise). Beyond those two, Tulo, Spilly, and Holliday are all pretty damn fast. Todd has great instincts, and while Hawpe has a poor first step, he can fly a little once he's got some steam. The only guys who have pianos on their backs are Atkins and Torrealba, and even they're not dreadful; just below average (and in fact, maybe Yorvit is above average for a catcher). Carrol and Sullivan off the bench are no slouches either. I wouldn't find it hard to believe that our team bsaerunning was a couple wins above average this year. STEALTH ASSASINS: Brad Hawpe and Garrett Atkins. They're not stealth to us, but to the rest of the league (maybe until now) they weren't getting the respect they deserved. Hawper drew 81 walks and smashed 66 extra-base hits (and consider he put up those totals while sitting plenty against lefties). With the hacks he takes, it's amazing that the guy has hit .291 and .293 the last two years, but there you go. Atkins shook off a nasty first half and mashed .349/.409/.532 down the stretch. He rarely wastes an at-bat and sprays line drives to the gap and over the wall.