Rockies Get Their Man!
The Colorado Rockies have been busy all season totally revamping their club after a very disappointing start to the 2014 campaign in which the team and fans expected to compete for the NL West title after winning the 2nd wildcard spot last season. After #1 starter Kris Medlen went down in the first inning of the first spring training game, it was clear that the current team composition was not going to make the team a contender. At one point in May, the team found itself holding up the entire league at the bottom of the power rankings, holding the #30 ranking. GM Stamey had had enough and decided to clean house and bring in players that wanted to play. Stamey promised the fans in a press conference in May that he would put a product on the field that they would be proud of and it seems that he is sticking to that promise.
In May, the Rockies suffered through a long losing streak of 10 games and quickly fell to the bottom of the NL West and any shot of a playoff spot seemed unrealistic even with much of the season still left to play. In July, the team has turned things completely around having won 11 of their last 12 which has included a 6 game win streak and their current 5 game win streak. They now hold a winning record at home with a 30-24 record and are 15-4 in the month of July. This after going 19-36 in April and May combined.
The current Rockies roster is completely different with the exception of one stalwart that proved his solid season of last season was not a fluke. All-Star 2B/SS Josh Rutledge continues to make the fans forget Troy Tulowitzki. Rutledge is hitting .302 with 18 home runs and 69 runs batted in in the first half of the season and has proven the front office’s trust and confidence in him was well placed, enough to trade Tulowitzki, a fan favorite, last season. Even though the team re-acquired Tulo, he was promptly shipped back out during the revamping of the team roster of the last two months. Gone are Tulo, Rosario, Arenado, CarGo, Medlen and others. In are C Matt Wieters, 1B Eric Hosmer, 3B Lonnie Chisenhall, SS Didi Gregerious, OF Emilio Bonaficio, CF Travis Janikowski, SP Mat Latos, SP Clayton Richard, SP Garrett Richard, SP Cory Mazzoni, CL Joba Chamberlain and a host of others.
And the final piece to the rebuilding process was acquired today as the Colorado Rockies acquired a much sought after starting pitching talent, Jameson Taillon from the Pittsburgh Pirates. With Mazzoni and Taillon, the Rockies have acquired two outstanding young talents who should be in the Rockies rotation for many seasons to come. With leadership from Latos, Buehrle and Richard, the two young phenoms can learn from three of the best and hopefully reach their potential. Mazzoni went straight to the big club upon acquisition and pitched a beauty. He had never pitched above AA prior to be acquired. He has shown the potential to be a very solid arm in the rotation as such a young age and the team and fans are excited about him. It is expected that the team and fans will be even more excited with the acquisition of Jameson Taillon who has already shown he can pitch at the big league level having pitched 20 innings already with a strong 1.80 earned run average and 1.11 WHIP to go along with a 2-0 record. At just 22, he has plenty of room for improvement and has a strong work ethic.
The Rockies future is looking up and with their current July record, they are only 8.5 games out of a wildcard spot. It may not be realistic that they can make up that ground and take a playoff spot this season, but this young team will only continue to get better and the 2015 season will hold even higher expectations for the team than were being held for the 2014 season.
