MEDIA CLIPS – February 25, 2017

Passionate Anderson to start Cactus opener

By Thomas Harding / MLB.com | @harding_at_mlb | February 24th, 2017

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Rockies left-hander Tyler Anderson realizes the two innings or 30 pitches he'll throw in

Saturday's Cactus League opener against the D-backs aren't likely to be remembered in October -- or April, for that matter. But Anderson is a competitive fellow.

The game will start at 1:10 p.m. MST at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick with Gameday Audio available.

"Once there's somebody in a different uniform and someone's keeping score, it means something to you," Anderson said.

"Even if you're working on something, you don't want to go out and get crushed. Hopefully, you have some success with it."

After recovering from an oblique injury suffered last spring, Anderson made his Major League debut June 12 and went 5-6 with a 3.54 ERA in 19 starts -- 5-2, 3.00 in 12 starts at hitter-friendly Coors Field. Anderson used fastball command and a well-regarded changeup, however, his most defining trait is a competitiveness that can be seen from every corner of the stadium. It's a good trait if channeled properly.

The Rockies are paying attention to his ability to gather himself at key stress points. This has nothing to do with his ejection on Aug. 13 in Philadelphia -- when he was tossed in the fourth inning for hitting Maikel Franco after the Phillie homered in the first inning. Both sides said they didn't believe anything was intentional, even though plate umpire Eric

Cooper took action.

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"We've talked about that," new manager Bud Black said. "There's a part of me that really digs that. I really love that emotion -- long as the emotion doesn't get in the way. But I don't want anybody to change who they are. That's what we love about Tyler.

"The beauty of it is he knows what he does. He knows at times it has worked against him. But emotion, more often than not if channeled the right way, really works for you."

Anderson, a Rockies first-round pick in the 2011 Draft, said the Cactus League opener is nice for some action after a winter of projections that the Rockies could surprise.

"It's exciting for anybody in the Rockies organization," Anderson said. "We have a lot of talent and a lot of people that really want to win. If everyone's pulling for the same goal, we can be dangerous."

Worth noting

• Righty reliever Adam Ottavino faced only left-handed hitters Friday during a live batting practice. Last season, Ottavino held right-handed hitters to a .136 average and .350 OPS, while lefties hit .256 with a .780 OPS. He finished strong against lefties, but has been working on adjustments.

• After Anderson pitches Saturday, the Rockies plan to use righty Antonio Senzatela for two innings, then relievers for one inning apiece -- righties Jordan Lyles, Scott Oberg and Miguel Castro, and lefties Sam Moll and Jerry Vasto.

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Tapia staying ready no matter where he lands

By Thomas Harding / MLB.com | @harding_at_mlb | February 24th, 201

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Rockies outfield prospect Raimel Tapia's job this spring is to prove he is ready, even if he's not needed.

Tapia, 23, who is the No. 90 prospect and one of five Rockies on the MLB.com Top 100 Prospects, batted a combined

.328 with a .361 on-base percentage at Double-A Hartford and Triple-A Albuquerque last season. The performance earned him a 22-game look-see in the Majors during which he hit .263 with a .293 OBP in 41 plate appearances.

The Rockies value Tapia, who has put the barrel on balls throughout his Minor League career and has a unique crouch stance with two strikes. But, although he is close to ready, he appears blocked by a strong outfield that has veteran Gerardo Parra and last year's rookie sensation David Dahl competing in left field. And there is veteran Chris

Denorfia in camp under a Minor League deal, and Jordan Patterson and Mike Tauchman also hoping for big league duty.

Also, Tapia is in a difficult squeeze. Even if his performance warrants 25-man roster inclusion, there is a strong argument to send him to Triple-A for regular at-bats rather than have him live off the morsels of opportunities a bench player may receive in the Majors. But he can't relax, because if injuries to frontliners mount, he has to be ready for starting duty.

"Just keep working hard," Tapia said in Spanish. "If I am in the Minor Leagues, I'll be happy there and just keep seeing the ball and working with my teammates. And if I get the callup, just keep working hard to help the big league team and working with my teammates there. But be prepared, no matter what."

Tapia, listed at 6-foot-2, is a lefty hitter who -- like Dahl -- has been groomed throughout his pro career to hit left-handed pitchers as well as righties. Considered a work in progress defensively, Tapia played all three spots last season and was smooth during his late-season Major League trial. He appears slightly more muscular than last year, and says he weighs roughly 180 pounds.

New manager Bud Black said, "I want to see him play. He's a gifted player. He can do a lot of things. It's a body that's rather thin and maybe not quite filled out, but he's got some strength in his swing, he's got speed, he's got good hands.

"From what I've heard, he's a better game player than what he might show in the batting cage. You don't want it the other way, right? Our people think very highly of him." 3

Diaz on mend from surgery, faces batters

By Thomas Harding / MLB.com | @harding_at_mlb | February 24th, 201

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Reliever Jairo Diaz, whose right elbow injury last March was one of many reasons the Rockies' bullpen struggled last season, took a small but significant step Friday by facing hitters at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick.

Diaz, 25, who possesses a fastball that averaged 97.3 mph while going 0-1 with a 2.55 ERA in 26 combined games with the Angels (2014) and Rockies (2015), said he should be ready for a Minor League rehab assignment by May. When ready, Diaz could add power to a bullpen that looks to improve from last season, when its 5.13 ERA was the highest in the

Major Leagues.

Diaz had plenty of company on the disabled list last season. At various times, significant pitchers Adam Ottavino, Jason

Motte, Chad Qualls, Jake McGee and Scott Oberg were disabled. Diaz watched it all during a lonely rehab after recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Dominican Republic. He has seen improvement, and reported no problems after Friday's session.

"The velocity is coming back pretty good right now and the location is pretty good," Diaz said. "I don't know how hard I'm throwing right now, but I feel pretty good.

"It was really tough last year, watching my partners try to get through all the games last year. I'm excited about this year.

With a manager that was a pitcher [Bud Black], who knows how we feel -- he was a really good pitcher."

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Ryan McMahon seems fast-tracked to the Rockies. But now two all-stars are blocking his paths. The Colorado Rockies’ prized corner-infield prospect has zig-zagged through the minor leagues

By Nick Groke / Denver Post | February 24th, 2017

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Ryan McMahon is never too far from a good burrito, at least in his dreams, even when his team barnstorms the East Coast from road trip to road trip without a home. His Double-A Hartford Yard Goats last season never played a game in Hartford.

So his spring training base about a mile from the Rockies’ offseason headquarters in Arizona seems ideal.

“I’m about a block away,” McMahon said of his go-to burrito spot, close enough to build a five-day streak of burritos to start spring.

The Rockies’ prized corner-infield prospect, a second-round draft pick in 2013, has zig-zagged through the minor leagues, from third base to first, then both, first on a statistical hitting tear through Single-A, then a dip in Double-A.

And while McMahon suddenly found his path to the major leagues blocked, again, after the Rockies’ signed Ian Desmond to an expensive, long-term contract, he remains ever inching closer toward his potential.

“Here’s a fella who has a great skill set. He’s a very good all-around player,” Rockies first-year manager Bud Black said.

“Boy, man, he has a chance to be a very productive player.”

On Thursday at Salt River Fields, McMahon, who turned 22 in December, flashed the power that made him one of the better boppers in Single-A two seasons ago, when he hit 18 home runs and batted .300 in 132 games with the Modesto

Nuts. His .892 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) ranked fourth in the California League, behind only hitters with far fewer plate-appearances.

McMahon displayed pure power from the batting cage facing Rockies first-base coach Tony Diaz, who throws batting practice like he’s slinging a Frisbee, all elbow and no shoulder, along a flat plane. But McMahon’s home run ability stalled last season for Double-A Hartford. In the first two months, he hit just .239 with two home runs.

He tried to change things that didn’t need fixing, he said. He tweaked a swing that was fine in the first place. He was overthinking a simple concept. 5

“I was getting real stiff,” McMahon said. “I’m an athlete. Some guys hit stiff. I don’t. I have a rhythm. I need to get things going. That’s how I react better.”

In the final nine weeks of the season, McMahon righted himself, upping his average to .268 with nine home runs. In July, his OPS jumped to .907.

“Once you find it again, it’s like, ‘Wow, I was doing this wrong and that wrong,’ ” he said.

The Rockies drafted McMahon as a third baseman and paid him a $1.3 million singing bonus four years ago, expecting big things. Last season, with Nolan Arenado standing in his way at third base, the Rockies converted McMahon into a first baseman.

Fielding groundballs basically remained the same, but what McMahon needed to learn in games was how to turn backward double plays and find his spots on cutoffs and pickoffs. He did learn, splitting time nearly equally between both corners. But just as his time to shine neared, Colorado signed Desmond, and now his path is blocked on two fronts.

The Rockies will continue playing him in two positions, probably in Double-A to start, possibly in Triple-A Albuquerque. It doubles his number of possible lanes to the majors. Anything to put him in closer proximity.

“Obviously we have some great players at those positions. So whatever I can do to help, I will,” McMahon said.

“We’re gonna make a push this year. Our team will be really good up in Denver. I just hope there’s some way I can help contribute, maybe make the team better some how, some way in September and for the playoffs.”

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Bud Black wants a specific closer and he likely won’t reinvent the Rockies’ bullpen wheel. “It can become a distraction and uncomfortable if the phone rings and seven guys don’t know who it’s for,” Black said.

By Nike Groke / Denver Post | February 24th, 2017

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — In one pen stroke late last month, the Rockies more than doubled their closer experience. Greg

Holland, among the best ninth-inning pitchers in baseball in 2013 and 2014 for Kansas City, but coming off elbow- reconstruction surgery, signed a one-year contract with Colorado.

Holland has 145 saves in his big-league career. The three full-time closers the Rockies cycled through last year — Jake

McGee (41), Adam Ottavino(11) and Carlos Estevez (11) — have a total of 63 career saves. On paper, Holland seems ripe for the job. But as a post-Tommy John surgery test case, there are questions about him to resolve in spring training.

Does new Rockies manager Bud Black even want a traditional closer? Or may he try to optimize specific pitchers in high- leverage situations, regardless of the inning?

“It can become a distraction and uncomfortable if the phone rings and seven guys don’t know who it’s for. Not good,”

Black said Friday at Salt River Fields. “If guys have a good understanding of what time of the game they will come into, it leads to better performance. There’s something comforting to where a certain part of the game moves forward and that guy knows, ‘Hey, this is my time.’ ”

Black said in his ideal bullpen, he would have a distinct closer, an eighth-inning setup man, a lefty specialist, a righty specialist, middle relief, a long man and a backup long man.

“That’s what I’m talking about, dog,” Black said.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter took some grief in a wild-card postseason game last year for saving his best bullpen arm, Zach Britton, for a save situation, then missing a chance to put him in the game. In the World Series, the Cubs and

Indians used their best relief arms — Chicago’s Aroldis Chapman and Cleveland’s Andrew Miller — in longer relief and earlier in games, when they were needed more.

Rockies pitching staff eager to develop under Bud Black

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After returning from Tommy John surgery the year before, Ottavino was the Rockies’ best bullpen arm last season, finishing with a 2.67 ERA and 0.926 walks and hits per inning (WHIP), the only Colorado pitcher below 1.0. Holland was even better for the Royals, finishing with a 1.21 ERA and 0.866 WHIP in 2013 and a 1.44 ERA and 0.914 WHIP in 2014.

“He comes from a history of closing games out in Kansas City,” Black said. “Two-time all-star. Couple very solid statistical years as a closer: saves, ERA, internal numbers. And coming off his injury, we feel he’s in a very good spot to get back to that level of performance. Time will tell. But that’s where I would like to see him, both physically and production-wise.”

Black listed Holland, Ottavino, McGee and Mike Dunn, who signed a three-year contract in December, as the spine of

Colorado’s bullpen. The order in which they fall to open the season in April will shake out during Cactus League games.

“The veteran guys, we’re looking at them to drive the bullpen train,” Black said.

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FanPost Friday: If baseball were different, how different would it be? There are a lot of rule changes being bandied about. Which changes would you make?

By Adam Peterson / Purple Row | @playerTBNL | Feb 24, 2017, 7:00am MST

Over the past several weeks we’ve heard about some of the changes to the National Pastime commissioner Rob Manfred and Major League Baseball are considering, from pitch clocks to signals for the intentional walk to putting a runner on second base in extra innings. These ideas range from the terrible to the slightly less terrible. This begs the question: can the Rockies fans at Purple Row come up with anything better? This week’s FanPost Friday prompt:

If you could add, subtract, or otherwise change one MLB rule, what would it be?

You don’t necessarily have to be an MLB rules expert to participate. Is there one rule that you just absolutely hate and should be undone? Do you have an idea that you think would make the game even better? Is there something needs just a slight tweak to be perfect?

Write up a FanPost (if you include “FPF” in the title it will be easier to find) and tell us about this rule and how you think it would impact the game. Feel free to debate these changes in the comments of each post.

As usual, we’ll round up all the best responses in a recap next Friday, where debate will surely continue.

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Rockies spring training stats are prologue to baseball Spring training stats and summer dreams.

By Richard Bergstrom / Purple Row | Feb 24, 2017, 7:00am MST

As I look out the window of my Denver apartment, snow is scattered all over the place. Yet, when I look at the calendar and see that Rockies baseball games begin on Saturday, I throw that earlier eye test out the window and beam brightly in the knowledge that, finally, spring is here! After the long winter baseball drought when even the football scene in Denver was shorter than usual, we look to see how Rockies do this spring to gauge whether they will rise to or thwart our summer dreams.

Hope abounds. Every spring, every ballplayer in camp is “finally healthy” and “in the best shape of their life”. Even though I’m 40 years old and have seen quite a few springs and heard those sayings quite often, I still get optimistic. Sure,

I’ll admit I’ve seen some amazing spring performances wither on the season-vine by July while others parlayed a good spring into a season-long bloom. So, this year, I figured it’d be fun and maybe even a tad bit instructive to look back at how the 2016 Rockies performed during that spring and see how well those spring results carried over into the 2016 summer, if anything carried over at all.

Sometimes spring suggests something’s suspect

In the spring of 2016, the Free Kyle Parker movement whimpered into nothing as he hit just .222 over 27 at bats, striking out 10 times with just one extra base hit and one walk. He was released at the end of spring training. Veteran sparkplug Brandon Barnes had what could best be described as a mixed spring training. Though he hit .273 in 55 at- bats, he only drew 2 walks and struck out an alarming 17 times, four whiffs more than any other Rockies player. He made the Opening Day Roster but continued to whiff in April and was demoted by the end of the month. A call-up for June and

July fared no better for him and by the end of the year, the Rockies released him.

Poor pitching also permeated throughout the staff that spring. Former staff ace Jorge De La Rosa stumbled out of the gate, allowing a 6.10 ERA while yielding an un-nice 1.69 WHIP over 20.2 innings, giving up three home runs in the process. De La Rosa was one of five Rockies pitchers to give up at least three home runs that spring. He was still better than Jordan Lyles, who had a convenient 7.11 ERA over 19 innings and slurpeed up four home runs. “Here’s a

Hit” Eddie Butler gave up 12 hits in just seven innings in his failing bid to be a Rockies starting pitcher. There were hopes

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that Tyler Matzek had gotten past the anxiety issues that had plagued him in the past, but his spring was unfortunately telling. He appeared in one game, gave up three hits, two walks and a home run, then left camp.

Each of those players had suspicious springs and ultimately disappointing 2016 regular seasons. Of those players previously named, only Jordan Lyles remains with the organization. Coming out of that spring, the Rockies starting rotation looked bleak. But the Gray, Andersons and Chatwoods of the world ended up being so good that though Lyles was the #2 starter in the rotation as recently as 2014, it’s unknown whether he will continue to have a role with the 2017

Rockies at the major league level.

Winning work

On the subject of unknowns, there’s Tony Wolters. A non-roster invitee who had the rare mix of experience at catcher and the middle infield, he looked more like a curiosity and a guy to fill out the field in B-squad games instead of a serious contender for a major league job. He apparently could field, but he hadn’t had an OPS over .642 since A-ball. Yet in that

2016 spring, he hit .406 over 38 plate appearances. More than half of his 13 hits going for extra bases and he also chucked in five walks while only striking out six times.

Now, many guys over many springs have hit .400 during spring training, and it’s definitely no guarantee someone will hit well during the regular season. However, it’s way better to hit .400 while trying to win a job than by hitting .040. Having done so, now he’s known as TFW, and visions of him dance in sabermetricians’ heads. Rafael Ynoa also hit well that spring with a robust .357 batting average. He also won a job on the Opening Day roster and spent some time as the primary left fielder(!), though it was more out of necessity than visions of Barry Bondsflexing in Walt Weiss’s head.

The oft-injured Tyler Chatwood, two years removed from Tommy John surgery, used his 2016 spring to show he was

“close to the best shape of his life” by throwing competently without popping another ligament. Over fourteen innings, he had a 3.21 ERA and a sorta serviceable WHIP of 1.43, though walking seven batters over those innings (and only striking out seven) aren’t usually ratios to brag about. Generally, a pitcher’s command is thought to be the last element to return when coming back from elbow surgery. Yet, because of the failings of the aforementioned starting pitching candidates,

Chatwood’s performance was enough to win him a rotation slot. Now that he’s recovered from surgery and has a healthy season under his belt, this 2017 spring might actually be suggestive of what kind of a pitcher he will become.

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Then again, maybe not. Jason Gurka turned a lot of heads by striking out twenty batters and only allowing one walk in ten spring innings. After he won a job on the roster, he promptly lost it by giving up 16 hits in 9.2 inning and was released from the Rockies in August.

When there are those roster slot battles, it’s usually because the candidates are equally qualified. If a good spring can tell us anything, it’s that a standout performance just might separate one guy from the pack, winning him future major league work through the dog days of summer.

Many mixed messages

Prior to the 2016 season, Purple Row’s own Cameron Goldener (and quite a few commenters) thought that Gerardo

Parra would be “more than capable as an everyday outfielder, and in a vacuum, he'd represent a productive addition to any Major League outfield.” On the hitting side, Gerardo Parra’s first spring with the Rockies left fans with little reason to worry, as he had a spring that pretty much echoed his career stats. Parra put up a .263/.333/.421 line that spring; it mirrored his .277/.326/.404 career slash stats going into that 2016 season. Then the 2016 season actually started and his performance cratered about the time Nick Groke from the Denver Post reported teammates were plugging “Parra for

President” t-shirts. Parra said, “It’s my opportunity to be president. I want to think of something good for the team.”

While thinking, however, about global peace, global warming and Global / Parra Dice, he forgot how to be patient at the plate. Note that Parra walked six times during spring training over 63 plate appearances. By contrast, he walked only nine times the entire 2016 season. He finished the season hitting .253/.271/.399. Score one for the “don’t mix politics and sports camp.”

Jake McGee, also acquired last spring, made an early good impression in camp. Over eight outings and 7.1 innings of work, he had an ERA of 2.45 while striking out seven batters and allowing less than a baserunner per inning. Those kinds of numbers were in the ballpark of his pre-2016 stat lines of a 2.77 ERA, 1.017 WHIP and 11.1 K/9. Perhaps his hurt knee was as much of a factor as he suggests, or the concerns about his fastball velocity (or one leading to the other), but his

4.73 ERA, 1.577 WHIP and 7.5 K/9 were much worse than expectations.

Even with the veterans, spring training performances are mysterious. You might know what you’re going to get once the season starts, but it’s not necessarily because of spring.

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Tweetin’ #thatssospring

After the spring of 2016, it seemed the Rockies rotation would be poor based on the lackluster performances of Jorge De

La Rosa, Jordan Lyles, and others. It wasn’t. After stellar spring outings by Gurka and McGee, there was less reason to think the Rockies bullpen would be bad. It was.

It’s important to remember that though winter feels long, it’s sometimes easy to forget just how few spring training games there are. In the grand scheme of things, while a player’s spring stats might hint at certain things, it’s not definitive. At best, it might only suggest who might enjoy the summer as a major league baseball player for the Colorado Rockies.

However mixed the stats are for players, there’s one area in which spring training has an unblemished record: it means that baseball’s back.

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Colorado Rockies: 3 Things You Should Know on February 25

By Ben Macaluso / Rox Pile | February 25, 2017

Hope springs eternal and it officially starts today as the Colorado Rockies play their first game of the season. The Rockies will take on the Arizona Diamondbacks at 1:10 p.m. at their shared park at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick.

Tyler Anderson will get the first start of the season against Shelby Miller. Thomas Harding of MLB.com writes that

Anderson is preparing for this start like it is a game that counts in the record books. This time last year Anderson was not on the major league roster. He won’t take anything for granted. Look for Anderson to build upon his great start to his career right away.

Check out the game on KOA 850 or on 94.1 FM.

There has been a lot said about Ian Desmond moving to many different positions, but Ryan McMahon of the Double-A

Hartford Yard Goats may give Desmond a run for his money. He was drafted in the second round in 2013 and has played third and first base.

While his path to the big leagues may have been blocked by Desmond, McMahon has shown mighty potential especially from the pop in his bat at the Single-A level. Nick Groke of The Denver Post wrote a magnificent article about getting to know the budding prospect and what his go to meals are before practice in Spring Training.

Get to know McMahon more here.

Nolan Arenado will be representing the United States in the World Baseball classic but his Cuban heritage is a big part of what fuels the way he plays the game. Arenado traveled to Cuba in the offseason. Arenado’s grandfather was a politically prisoner in Fidel Castro’s Cuba. He was able to leave Cuba, first going to Spain and then came to the United States.

Check out this video summarizing his trip and how his heritage inspires him to play the game of baseball. For a more in depth account of his trip, check out the story here.

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REPORT: FBI launches investigation into Rockies Double-A ballpark situation

By Drew Creasman / BSN Denver | February 24, 2017

According to a report from FanRag Sports, the FBI, yes the FBI, has launched an investigation into the mess surrounding the construction, or at times lack thereof, of Dunkin’ Donuts Park, the theoretical home of the Colorado Rockies Double-A affiliate, the Hartford Yardgoats.

According to the report, the city of Hartford contacted the FBI over concerns that the roughly 71 million dollars in tax payer money that has been gathered to pay for it hasn’t gone to waste. The report also sites, “concerns based on allegations that certain vendors and subcontractors that should have been paid were not paid, and that the amount was quite large.”

It should be noted that there is an error in that story, saying that the project has not yet begun when it has. Also, we cannot confirm with our own sources the validity of this story, though we don’t have many sources at the FBI.

The Yardgoats are set to play their first real home game on April 13. Stay tuned to BSN Denver for more as this develops.

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Rockies Explain Signing Of Ian Desmond

By Jeff Todd | February 24, 2017 at 4:52pm CDT

While many have panned the Rockies’ large expenditure on Ian Desmond, in large part due to the fact that he’s slated to shift from being an up-the-middle defender to a first baseman, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports identifies some reasons to support the move. Manager Bud Black says the team was focused less on position than it was the desire to “go get a baseball player who is good.” While Desmond was targeted as a first baseman from the get-go, per the report, GM Jeff

Bridich notes that “there is absolutely the potential” he’ll change positions in the future. And Desmond himself is embracing the challenge of yet another new position much as he did his move to the outfield last year, saying he likes the

Rockies’ “creativity to use my athleticism.” Of course, those statements don’t necessarily counteract the core criticisms of the deal, though they do suggest that the team is looking to be creative and flexible in building out a roster — now and in the future.

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Can Bud Black break the curse of Coors Field?

By Jerry Cransick / ESPN.com | February 24, 2017 at 4:52pm CDT

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Bud Black knows all about the demoralizing impact of hostile atmospheric conditions on baseball players. When he arrived in San Diego to manage the Padres in 2007, the outfield fences were deeper, and hitters from Adrian Gonzalez to Brian Giles had to live with the reality that some well-struck fly balls were going to die at the warning track amid the damp and heavy coastal air.

A decade later, Black isn't about to be cowed by the pitcher-related fatalism that's come to define Coors Field. He has

5,280 reasons to expect glitches in his first year as the Colorado Rockies' manager, but the team motto might as well be,

"Altitude, schmaltitude.''

"When I got to San Diego, it was hard to hit and easier to pitch, statistically,'' Black said. "The message there was, 'Hit the ball on the nose. Get your hits. Let's play a good solid game.' Here it's the other way. It's, 'Make good pitches. Don't walk anybody. Be fundamentally sound and let's go beat the other team.' For me it's sort of the opposite of what I dealt with before, which is exciting.''

In their first 24 seasons, the Rockies tried Don Baylor, Jim Leyland, Buddy Bell, Clint Hurdle, Jim Tracy and Walt Weiss in the manager's seat and ranked last or next to last in the National League in ERA 18 times. Now they'll see if a crafty left- hander can solve the Coors Field Rubik's Cube. Black, who won 121 games over 15 big league seasons on the mound, joins Boston's John Farrell and Cincinnati's Bryan Price as the third member of the pitching fraternity who will be making out lineup cards for an MLB club in 2017.

Hiring a respected pitching mind and giving him the raw materials to win games are two different things, and the Rockies enter the new season with perhaps their brightest outlook since 2007-2009, when Troy Tulowitzki and Todd Helton helped the franchise to two 90-win seasons and its only World Series appearance (in '07).

The Rockies have a formidable offense featuring Nolan Arenado, Carlos Gonzalez, 2016 NL batting champion D.J.

LeMahieu and the addition of Ian Desmond, who signed for $70 million to play first base. The Rockies have also invested the time and resources to assemble a pitching staff that they hope will give the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco

Giants something to worry about in the NL West.

The club added free-agent relievers Mike Dunn and Greg Holland during the offseason. They'll join Adam Ottavino, Jason

Motte, Chad Qualls and Jake McGee in a bullpen that's long on experience. 17

Colorado's fate could ultimately hinge on a young rotation that includes Jon Gray, Chad Bettis, Tyler Chatwood and Tyler

Anderson, with rookies Jeff Hoffman and German Marquez among the top candidates for the fifth spot.

As anyone acquainted with Rockies' history can attest, pitching is the emotional anchor around the franchise's collective neck. So the Rockies have tried everything through the years. They signed big-ticket free agents (Mike

Hampton and Denny Neagle) and invested money in high draft picks who failed to pan out. They focused on sinkerballers for a while, avoided curveballers, and got innovative in 2012 when they tried a four-man rotation and limited each starter to 75 innings. They even became a home for wayward geezers: In April 2012, 49-year-old Jamie Moyer was pitching for

Colorado when he became the oldest major league pitcher to record a victory.

General manager Jeff Bridich, who has been with the organization for 13 seasons and assumed his current role in 2014, laughed when asked if he's learned any lessons through the years that might have allowed him to solve the Coors Field mystery.

"Some of the stuff, I'd have to kill you if I told you,'' Bridich said. A cursory check of Colorado's pitching history shows that success can be fleeting. The best Rockies starters -- Ubaldo Jimenez, Aaron Cook, Jorge De La Rosa, Jhoulys

Chacin, Pedro Astacio, Jason Jennings and Jeff Francis -- enjoyed flurries of success but flamed out relatively quickly because of injuries or ineffectiveness.

Against that daunting backdrop, Black and Bridich agree that an aggressive mindset is vital in slaying the Coors Field monster.

"On top of talent, we need mentally tough SOBs,'' Black said. "We have to find and draft guys who are resilient, who'll bounce back from a tough outing where it might get chaotic in Coors and their ERA takes a hit. It might get a little bit unsightly when it pops up on the scoreboard or on TV. We have to have guys who will overlook that individual line -- who truly don't care about that.''

The early signs for the young starters are encouraging. Gray, Bettis and Anderson all logged better numbers at home than on the road last year, and the Rockies posted a 4.70 team ERA after the All-Star break compared to a 5.08 mark before it.

And if it's mental toughness Black desires, the kids have overcome enough obstacles to suggest they'll stick with it.

Chatwood has survived two Tommy John surgeries. Anderson, a first-round pick out of the University of Oregon in 2011, missed the entire 2015 season with a stress fracture in his left elbow and was 26 when he made his big league debut last 18

summer. And now Bettis is going through an ordeal that would test anyone; he was diagnosed with testicular cancer in

November and had one of his testicles surgically removed. This week, Bettis told reporters that his latest blood work has revealed he's cancer-free.

Three years ago, the Rockies were pinning their hopes on Gray and fellow prospect Eddie Butler. While Butler failed to pan out in Denver and moved on to the Cubs organization in a recent trade, Gray went 10-10 with a 4.61 ERA in 2016, struck out 16 Padres in a shutout in September, and assumed the look of a workhorse. He also arrived at spring training looking a little like Noah Syndergaard -- with long, flowing blond hair that spilled below his shoulders. Gray is planning to get his hair cut soon and donate it to a charity called Locks of Love, which provides hairpieces for disadvantaged children suffering hair loss because of medical conditions.

"I'm ready for it to be gone,'' Gray said. "I didn't realize it was so much work until I actually had it.''

Amid the rigors of life at Coors Field, Gray and Bettis talk about the importance of "changing eye levels'' and becoming more visually aware. When throwing a breaking ball in Denver, Rockies pitchers have to train their eyes on a lower spot than they would on the road to ensure that the ball arrives at the same place. While that sounds simple enough, it takes discipline to do it pitch after pitch.

"We need mentally tough SOBs. We have to find and draft guys who are resilient, who'll bounce back from a tough outing where it might get chaotic in Coors and their ERA takes a hit. It might get a little bit unsightly when it pops up on the scoreboard or on TV."

"That's something we learned in the second half,'' Bettis said. "Pitches move a little different, and you have to make those adjustments faster than three innings into a game. If you don't, you'll find yourself out of a game real fast.''

Black and Padres pitching coach Darren Balsley earned raves for turning around pitchers at Petco Park. In Denver, Black will continue to rely on a collaborative effort with pitching coach Steve Foster, who stresses the mental side of the game, and bullpen coach Darren Holmes, the team's resident authority on pitching mechanics.

Rather than dance around the topic of Coors Field and its reputation as a self-esteem killer for pitchers, the Rockies are ready to stare down their organizational demons from a distance of 60 feet, six inches.

"It's no longer the elephant in the room,'' Bridich said. "We don't dwell on it, but we address it openly -- this misnomer that success can't be had at altitude from a pitcher's perspective. We're 25 years old now as an organization, and there are all 19

different types of pitchers who've had success. A lot of it has to do with mental makeup and the belief guys have in themselves and each other. And some of it is about weeding out the noise.''

When things get too loud, chaotic or just plain crazy at Coors this summer, Colorado's pitchers can count on Bud Black's calming voice gently guiding them back to earth. He's ready to bring the perspective and the encouragement. All they have to do is make the pitches.

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Rockies believe bullpen can make the difference in 2017

By Tony DeMarco / FanRag | February 22, 2017

Ask Bud Black what the key is to the Colorado Rockies making good on the early vibe that they can contend for a National

League playoff spot, and he is quick with an answer.

“We need a good bullpen,’’ Black said. “All teams that are successful have good bullpens, and that’s especially the case at Coors Field.

“The Dodgers kept their guy (Kenley Jansen). The Giants went out and got (Mark) Melancon. The Indians did it in the middle of last season (by acquiring Andrew Miller). The Yankees got (Aroldis) Chapman back. It’s a simple formula in a way — get good guys.’’

And Black thinks the Rockies have done exactly that, as well. He already has anointed Greg Holland, signed to a one- year-plus-option deal coming off Tommy John surgery, as the Rockies’ closer.

“In a world that’s right, meaning he’s throwing the ball like he can, and he’s healthy, I think based on where he’s been and what he’s done, he’s the closer,’’ Black said about Holland.

‘Throwing the ball like he can’ for Holland means his brilliant 2013-14 seasons for the Royals — almost duplicates, really:

• 2013: 1.21 ERA, 47 saves, 67 IP, 40 hits, 103 Ks, 0.87 WHIP

• 2014: 1.44 ERA, 46 saves, 62.1 IP, 37 hits, 90 Ks, 0.91 WHIP

In case you missed it, while the Rockies have had some successful closers in their history, they haven’t had anything close to those two All-Star-level seasons.

That said, coming off surgery 15-plus months ago, Holland will be a work in progress in regaining his peak form. His innings and appearances — especially back-to-back — will need monitoring, but Black is confident the situation will work.

The way Holland’s deal is structured also signals that the Rockies expect to count on Holland in most of their save situations this season.

Holland’s deal is one year and $7 million guaranteed — $6 million for 2017 plus a $1 buyout if there is an opt-out of a $10 million mutual option. With incentives based on appearances and games finished, Holland could more than double his 21

2017 salary, as well as up his 2018 option to $15 million. There even is a bonus for winning the Comeback Player of the

Year award this season.

“We feel very good about Greg Holland being healthy, and having his appearances monitored,’’ Black said.

When Holland isn’t able to close, Black will turn to Adam Ottavino, who’s currently penciled in as the primary right-handed setup man. Ottavino came off Tommy John surgery last season, and says he felt 100 percent back by the end of 2016.

Another year removed figures to translate into numbers along the lines of the April 2015 ones he put up before the injury:

10.1 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 13 K, 0.48 WHIP.

Small sample size for certain, but as Black says: “The internal numbers were great. He has real nasty stuff. Deception, big across the body, with power stuff. We’re looking forward to him (being) healthy for an entire year.’’

Ottavino compiled a 2.67 ERA and seven saves in 27 second-half appearances last season, and should be a bargain this season at $2.1 million before his salary kicks up to $7 million in 2018 — the last of a three-year, $10.4-million deal.

Jake McGee, the top left-handed late-inning option, also is coming back from a subpar season caused in part by a nagging patella tendon issue that cost him some command and velocity. So far this spring, Black says that issue has cleared. McGee will make $5.9 million in 2017, the last of his two-year deal.

Former Marlin Mike Dunn was signed as a free-agent to a three-year, $19-million deal with an option for 2020 to replace what was an excellent 2016 season from Boone Logan. Dunn will earn $4 million this season, then $7 million in 2018 and

2019.

Jason Motte, 35, returns — also healthier after dealing with issues of his own in 2016 — for the second year of a two- year, $10-million deal. So doing the math shows you how much general manager Jeff Bridich quietly has sunk into an experienced back end of the bullpen: $23 million guaranteed, plus Holland’s potential incentives windfall.

We’re five-deep before we get to an option former manager Walt Weiss was forced to turn to in save situations for a good part of the 2016 second half — Carlos Estevez. After an initial burst of success, the inexperience of Estevez, 24, began to expose him, and he was left with seven losses and a 5.24 ERA to go with 11 saves.

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“He has a big arm, and projects to be on the team,’’ Black said of Estevez. “But if he is, he projects to pitch the fifth or sixth inning. And if a guy is down, he should pitch the seventh. He’s good. He throws 100 mph, and has a good slider. But he shouldn’t have to pitch the ninth inning now.’’

The other change currently being pondered is a more-permanent decision to stick with eight relievers — which often has been done at times in the past, primarily during long homestands — leaving the bench with only four role players.

“We’ve talked about it,’’ Black said. “The (front office and coaching staff) guys who have been around awhile feel pretty strongly about it. I’m used to a seven-man pen and a five-man bench. (An eight-man bullpen) limits you a bit in the middle part of the game (as far as pinch-hitting and defensive substitutions). It doesn’t give you the matchups you want with five

(position players) on the bench. But you have to offset that with what we have to deal with, and the issues we face at altitude.’’

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Charlie Blackmon and Chris Denorfia on Launch Angles

By David Laurila / FanGraphs | February 24, 2017

Charlie Blackmon and Chris Denorfia share a similar philosophy when it comes to swing paths and launch angles. Each eschews chopping wood and champions the value of hitting the ball in the air, not on the ground. But while the Colorado

Rockies’ outfielders are kindred spirits when it comes to process, their approaches to the science aren’t alike. One is more studious in his pursuit. The other is satisfied to simply be aware of the concept.

Blackmon and Denorfia shared their thoughts on the subject earlier this week.

———

Charlie Blackmon: “I try not to get super technical. I do understand that I want to match the angle of my bat with the angle that the pitch is coming in. I think that’s the best way to transfer the most energy into the ball. In saying that, I can feel what’s good and what’s bad. I can feel when I’m hitting the ball hard and when I’m just spinning the ball — I’m swinging at too much of a downward angle and just clipping it — as opposed to squaring it up and getting a lot of my energy transferred to the ball, with a better bat path.

“I haven’t seen a lot of the data, to be honest. I’d be interested in seeing it. But I think that no matter what the data says, I don’t think you can know what the launch angle is, and then backwards engineer a good swing. I think that would be hard.

“Math and statistics are a good way to figure that out, but at the same time, launch-angle data is essentially going to tell me to hit hard line drives. It’s going to say, ‘Hit like Miguel Cabrera.’ Guess what? I’m trying to hit like Miguel Cabrera.

“I would be very hesitant to let someone tell me I needed to do something different because they have a lot of math on it.

If you’re more general and say ‘steeper swings’ or ‘inside-out swings’ or ‘a better bat plane’ — generalities like that can help a guy in the right direction; they can better help him understand. There are a lot of ways to say ‘Stay inside the ball.’

Some guys might say that, some guys might say ‘backspin the ball.’ There are a lot of ways to get to the same feeling.

“What I want is to be very connected to my back side. The proper swing is going to have a slight up-tilt to it, because that’s the way the ball is coming into the zone. Really, I think what [people who study launch angles] have done is gone out and proved something that is somewhat common knowledge. That said, there are some people who want to swing

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down on the ball. That works in certain situations, but I don’t think it’s the way to go. I don’t want to hit ground balls.

Absolutely not. Ground balls make outs. Another thing to consider is that a fly ball is a nearer miss than a ground ball.”

Chris Denorfia: “The last couple of years, I’ve trained with those types of things in mind — the exit velocity and the launch angles. There are different hitting systems now that we can install in cages. They can track that while we practice, so we can practice what we’re trying to do in the game.

“I know that the Cubs have a system installed in their new place, although the ones I’ve used have been outside of organized baseball, like when I’ve been training back home. It’s interesting to train that way. Instead of worrying about one mechanical part of your swing, you’re trying to find out what works to get the best results. There are different ways you can go about generating that kind of exit angle, that kind of launch angle. At the same time, the swing down on the ball, to try to get on top of it, is kind of falling out of favor.

“Everybody used to tell you to get on top of the ball. Well, if you hit a ground ball, you’re more likely to get out. I think that’s where launch angle comes into play. We’re not trying to hit a low line drive in the cage anymore. We’re trying to hit into the top of the cage. That, over the 15 or so years I’ve been playing, is the biggest thing. We used to get patted on the back for hitting a line drive four feet off the ground. Now it’s not what we’re looking to get.

“I tend to like the analytics part of the game. I don’t think numbers lie, and you have to try to remove yourself from taking them too personally. That’s where the front offices are going for their information. They’re trying to set the deck, if you will, to count the cards. They’re doing the best they can to predict what a guy is going to do, and what his potential is, so they can assign the right dollar amount to it.

“Right now, I think players are kind of split on the analytics, including [launch-angle data]. Some people like it and some people don’t. Like I said, I’m on board with it. If used properly, guys can not only get better, and get better results, they can also appeal to more organizations who are analytically minded. That can impact a career.”

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