Denver Post sports writer Patrick Saunders with the latest installment of his Rockies Mailbag.
Pose a Rockies- or MLB-related question for the Rockies Mailbag.
Quick question: Any news on the Rockies’ broadcast situation? Have a great holiday!
— Renee, Cody, Wyo.
Renee, you are one of many Rockies fans who sent me the same question. I expect that the club will announce its television plans very soon, perhaps within the next week.
The negotiations have been pretty hush-hush but this is what I’ve been told:
• Now that AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain will no longer televise Rockies games, Major League Baseball is poised to move in, acquire the broadcast rights, and begin producing games this season. The setup will be similar to what happened in Arizona and San Diego last summer. Last March, the Diamond Sports Group declared bankruptcy and by mid-July had stopped televising Diamondbacks and Padres games. At that point, MLB took over and made games available to local fans via a cable channel or by paying for an MLB.tv subscription.
• I know the Rockies have been searching for a local cable outlet to carry games. I don’t know if that’s going to happen, but I do think something will be worked out, at least for the 2024 season. According to Hannah Keyser of Yahoo! Sports, MLB is looking to complete deals with local cable distributors for several teams, looking to sell advertising from those games and give the advertising money back to the team.
• Various sources have told me that most of the on-air talent, led by longtime play-by-play man Drew Goodman, is likely to return to the broadcast booth and the studio. However, pregame and postgame shows might be more limited than in the past. We’ll see how that shakes out.
• It remains to be seen how a new TV deal with MLB will affect the Rockies’ payroll but it looks like the club will receive less money. Last year, the league guaranteed that any team with games broadcast by MLB would receive 80% of their original contract. I don’t know what the percentage would be for the Rockies in 2024.
Stay tuned.
What is going on with the early Hall of Fame voting with Todd Helton? He’s being dropped from ballots and not being picked up by voters who haven’t voted for him previously, even though the bulk trends show he should be getting in this year. What rationale can you offer and do other voters seek you out for perspective?
— Jason, Visalia, Calif.
Jason, as I write this, Helton is tracking at 82.4% on Ryan Thibodaux’s Hall of Fame vote tracker. That’s the good news. Also, nearly all of the first-time voters have put a checkmark next to Helton’s name.
The bad news is that when actual results are revealed, the candidates usually lose about 6%. That puts Helton on the bubble to top the 75% needed for election Cooperstown.
I know of at least three voters who selected Helton last year but did not vote for him this year. I don’t understand how he could be a worthy candidate last year but not this year. It’s perplexing.
I understand how Helton would get bumped if he was ninth or 10th on a voter’s ballot last year, and then two new candidates — Adrian Beltre and Joe Mauer, for instance — replaced Helton. But a few voters simply dumped Helton even though they had room on their ballots.
How low is the bar set for the Rockies’ 2024 season to be considered a success?
— Matthew, Lochbuie
Matthew, Happy New Year to you, too!
I understand your pessimism. Let me just say that I don’t expect owner Dick Monfort to set the bar of expectations at a .500 season as he did last January. It’s fair to say that even those within the organization believe that the club is at least another year away from being a .500 team.
The low bar? I would imagine that a 70- or 75-win season would be considered a qualified step forward, at least from the front office’s point of view. That scenario would include improved starting pitching, continued growth by the trio of Nolan Jones, Ezequiel Tovar and Brenton Doyle, and a solid, injury-free year from Kris Bryant.
The potential debuts from the likes of infielder Adael Amador, outfielders Yanquiel Fernandez, Jordan Beck and Zac Veen, and the rise of catching prospect Drew Romo, would qualify as part of the Rockies’ success in 2024.
In your estimation, have the Rockies bottomed out with last season’s 59 wins? Or can it get more painful?
— Ed Helinski, Auburn, N.Y.
Ed, to piggyback off the previous answer, I do think the Rockies will be better this season, so, yes, it will be less painful. Still, their record is not going to be good. I don’t think the Rockies will lose 103 games again but I don’t expect a great leap forward. My early prediction — subject to change after spring training — is a 68-94 record.
Who opens the season as the primary (closer)? Tyler Kinley? Justin Lawrence? Someone not currently on the roster? Thanks and be well.
— Greg, Syracuse, N.Y.
Greg, general manager Bill Schmidt said at the winter meetings that the closer’s job is an open competition heading into spring training. Lawrence and Kinley are possibilities, and so is Daniel Bard, but only if he can rebound from his bad 2023 season. I don’t think the Rockies will target someone from outside the organization as a closer this season.
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