Sean Keeler: You enter a Yugo in the Daytona 500, the Yugo gets lapped in said Daytona 500, and this is somehow the driver’s fault? Joe McCarthy couldn’t win with this Rockies roster. John McGraw couldn’t win with this Rockies roster. So after a 25-1 loss to the Angels, the temple somehow needs to fall on manager Bud Black’s head? Now as much as we enjoy chewing the fat with the skipper, we get it — Buddy ain’t no Bobby Cox. Jurickson Profar should never hit higher than seventh in a serious batting order. But then again, this isn’t a serious roster. Ownership and the front office have tag-teamed to parallel park the Rox into one of the tightest spaces in baseball purgatory. The end result? A clubhouse torn between high-priced veterans who can’t stop getting hurt (Kris Bryant, Charlie Blackmon) and kids who need to play (Ezequiel Tovar), play a lot, learn to fail at the big-league level and, most importantly, learn how to recover from that failure while still keeping their heads above water. It’s a fine line, but I can’t think of a manager who would do a significantly better job walking it with this collection of players than Black has, warts and all. What say you?
Patrick Saunders: Mr. Keeler, I once had a crush on a girl who drove a ’77 Pinto. But I digress. I was fortunate enough to miss the 25-1 debacle, but I did hear Buddy get chippy with my best pal, Thomas Harding, insisting that “it was just one game!” True enough, but it was also the Rockies’ ninth loss in 10 games. As Ryan McMahon told me, with all of the club’s injuries, and all the young, not-ready-for-prime-time players in the lineup, there is a danger that a losing culture will become permanently engrained at 20th and Blake. Black’s job is to make sure that doesn’t happen. I think he’s up to the task. Fans mostly see Buddy as Mr. Nice Guy, but behind the scenes, he can rip into guys when he needs to.
Keeler: The best-case scenario was always a cross-your-fingers Hail Mary: Namely, that a healthy, productive Bryant would be pulling at the front of Santa’s sled like Rudolph, leading a rag-tag bunch out of the darkness. Instead, No. 23 has appeared in just 92 games over his first two seasons of a seven-year, $182-million contract, and there are pieces of reindeer roadkill all over the place. Take Bryant out of the equation, and you’re left with bags of rags. Among the more helpful metrics tracked by Baseball-Reference.com is a team’s collective Wins Above Average by position group. The Rox woke up Monday among the MLB’s bottom 10 units in pitching (29th in Wins Above Average out of 30), starting pitching (29th), hitters (26th), first base (24th), second base (24th), left field (30th), center field (30th), right field (21st) and DH (28th). If somebody tries to make Quiche Lorraine with SPAM, no shock, it’s gonna come out tasting an awful lot like SPAM.
Patrick Saunders: Interesting, I never took you for a foodie! Here’s the thing: This could get much worse before it gets better. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The Rockies already traded Mike Moustakas, and if they’re smart they will at least try to trade Randal Grichuk, C.J. Cron, Brad Hand, Brent Suter and Profar. The more players they trade, the more kids they’ll have to play, and the more losses there will be. That’s OK. The Rockies need to find out who can play and who can’t.
Keeler: Speaking of health, we’d ask GM Bill Schmidt to cover his eyes before reading this next lovely stat, but he might end up accidentally poking them in the process. Per Spotrac.com, only three NL clubs (as of Monday) had logged more days on injured reserve (Dodgers, Reds, Mets) this season than the Rockies’ 842. And just the Yankees, Mets and Rangers had more payroll devoted to injured players than the Rox’s $22.68 million. Colorado is the only MLB team with a total payroll ($180.3 million, 15th) above the league average ($161.4 million) that also sports a winning percentage below .420 — only the Mets (.455, $344.1 million) and the White Sox (.430, $184.4 million) are getting less bang for their bucks. It’s not that Dick Monfort hasn’t ponied up for decent wheels. It’s that he keeps buying lemons.
Patrick Saunders: The Rockies are paying Bryant $28 million this season and he’s turning out to be an albatross on this roster. Even if he gets healthy and begins producing, I don’t think he’s ever going to be the dynamic, star player Monfort wants him to be. Let’s face it, the Rockies signed Bryant because they wanted a star to replace Nolan Arenado. It was a really bad baseball decision, and what’s more, I don’t think Bryant is ever going to put fannies in the seats. This team needs to find an identity, but Bryant won’t ever be the face of the franchise.
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