Books and other stuff I feel like discussing
By education and experience - Accountant with a specialty in taxation. Formerly a CPA (license has lapsed). Masters degree in law of taxation from University of Denver. Now retired. Part time work during baseball season as receptionist & switchboard operator for the Colorado Rockies. This gig feeds my soul in ways I have trouble articulating. One daughter, and four grandchildren. I share the house with two cats; a big goof of a cat called Grinch (named as a joke for his easy going "whatever" disposition); and Lady, a shelter adoptee with a regal bearing and sweet little soprano voice. I would be very bereft if it ever becomes necessary to keep house without a cat.
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Post Post-Season Rockies
A little good news, some bad news, and a glimmer of hope.
Good news - Third baseman Garrett Atkins will return next year. I think he was one of the players who could have gone elsewhere, but he signed on for 2008 almost as soon as the World Series hoopla ended.
Not so good news - Troy Tulowitski came in second in NL Rookie of the Year balloting, two first place votes behind Ryan Braun of the Brewers. Braun plays third, Tulo plays short. So both are defensive positions, and looking at fielding statistics, it's very hard to accept Tulo's second place finish. Braun's fielding percentage was .895 for the 07 season, while Tulo's was .987. But at the plate, Braun was better than Tulo by quite a bit - a .324 batting average compared to Tulo's .291.
.291 is not too shabby in my book, and combined with the fielding performance, I don't think I'm displaying favoritism to say that Tulo had the more impressive rookie season. What I find even more ironic about this is that in the early days of the Rockies' franchise, the team was widely critcized for being all offense - with the "Blake Street Bombers" hitting home runs all over the place, the ball traveling farther at high altitude, blah, blah blah. So now we have a very respectable defense, a decent team ERA, a much more balanced game, and still the Baseball Writers give the award to a offensive sensation who can't field very well at all. The comments to the effect that "this is voted on before the post season, nobody knew about the Rockies until October," and so on is just so much weak rationalization as far as I'm concerned. If we are a little defensive about coverage from the national sports press, events like the robbery of Tulo are good reasons to display a little defensiveness.
Clint Hurdle was third in NL manager of the year balloting, and Bob Melvin of the Diamondbacks. This is easier to understand, and I do think Melvin had a remarkable season with a group of guys who were mostly unknown quantities in early April.
The glimmer of hope - Yorvit Torrealba supposedly found a better deal with the Mets, and we were starting the search for a new lead catcher. But wait! In a very strange press release, the Mets stated that there was not now, and never had been a deal with Torrealba. (?) But that's probably good news for us, the Rockies will resume negotiations to resign him. While he wasn't that impressive in thwarting attempts to steal second, he provided excellent guidance behind the plate, especially at mid season when two young guys, Jimenez and Rosales joined the starting rotation.
We're still waiting on NL Most Valuable Player award. Matt Holliday is definitely in the running - we'll see how the national press handles this one!
Good news - Third baseman Garrett Atkins will return next year. I think he was one of the players who could have gone elsewhere, but he signed on for 2008 almost as soon as the World Series hoopla ended.
Not so good news - Troy Tulowitski came in second in NL Rookie of the Year balloting, two first place votes behind Ryan Braun of the Brewers. Braun plays third, Tulo plays short. So both are defensive positions, and looking at fielding statistics, it's very hard to accept Tulo's second place finish. Braun's fielding percentage was .895 for the 07 season, while Tulo's was .987. But at the plate, Braun was better than Tulo by quite a bit - a .324 batting average compared to Tulo's .291.
.291 is not too shabby in my book, and combined with the fielding performance, I don't think I'm displaying favoritism to say that Tulo had the more impressive rookie season. What I find even more ironic about this is that in the early days of the Rockies' franchise, the team was widely critcized for being all offense - with the "Blake Street Bombers" hitting home runs all over the place, the ball traveling farther at high altitude, blah, blah blah. So now we have a very respectable defense, a decent team ERA, a much more balanced game, and still the Baseball Writers give the award to a offensive sensation who can't field very well at all. The comments to the effect that "this is voted on before the post season, nobody knew about the Rockies until October," and so on is just so much weak rationalization as far as I'm concerned. If we are a little defensive about coverage from the national sports press, events like the robbery of Tulo are good reasons to display a little defensiveness.
Clint Hurdle was third in NL manager of the year balloting, and Bob Melvin of the Diamondbacks. This is easier to understand, and I do think Melvin had a remarkable season with a group of guys who were mostly unknown quantities in early April.
The glimmer of hope - Yorvit Torrealba supposedly found a better deal with the Mets, and we were starting the search for a new lead catcher. But wait! In a very strange press release, the Mets stated that there was not now, and never had been a deal with Torrealba. (?) But that's probably good news for us, the Rockies will resume negotiations to resign him. While he wasn't that impressive in thwarting attempts to steal second, he provided excellent guidance behind the plate, especially at mid season when two young guys, Jimenez and Rosales joined the starting rotation.
We're still waiting on NL Most Valuable Player award. Matt Holliday is definitely in the running - we'll see how the national press handles this one!
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