Don Baylor - Toughest and Gentlest of Giants

He was celebrated for once throwing a temper tantrum and tipping over the food table with the postgame spread. Why? A young Angels rookie had a bad game in the field, in a bad loss, and was surrounded by the media. Don wanted, needed to pull the media to him. He told me that’s what veterans, team leaders do. So he stagecrafted his way into an impromptu state-of-the-team scrum with reporters, pulling attention away from the kid.

Rockies offered four-year extension to Carlos Gonzalez last spring

The Rockies reportedly offered outfielder Carlos Gonzalez a four-year extension that was rejected during spring training, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports. While Nightengale does not specify exactly how much money Gonzalez turned down, he does go as far as to describe the offer as “lucrative.”

Gonzalez, 31, has really struggled offensively in 2017 with just a .642 OPS and .298 OBP. A free agent after the season, Gonzalez has spent nine of his ten seasons with the Rockies and touts a career 117 OPS+. The three-time Gold Glover hit 25 home runs and drove in 100 runs just a season ago.

Don Baylor, who won MVP with Angels and World Series with Twins, dies at 68

Don Baylor, the 1979 American League MVP, died Monday of cancer. He was 68.

“Don passed from this earth with the same fierce dignity with which he played the game and lived his life,” his wife, Rebecca, said in a statement.

Baylor played for the Orioles, Athletics, Angels, Yankees, Red Sox and Twins over a 19-year baseball career. He was an All-Star and the MVP winner with the Angels in 1979, when he led the majors in RBIs and runs.

He reached the World Series three straight times at the end of his career from 1986 to 1988 and won the title with the Twins in 1987.

Rockies trade for catcher Jonathan Lucroy | MLB.com

Looking for an experienced catcher to help a young staff, the Rockies acquired two-time All-Star catcher Jonathan Lucroy from the Rangers for a player to be named, the teams announced on Sunday night.

Rockies Make Statement About Intent to Win – Inside the Seams

If the team is truly committed to winning this year, it will be interesting to watch the playing time of Carlos Gonzalez.

CBS Denver: Charlie Blackmon Kid Meets The Real Deal

IT’S THE TWO-YEAR OLD!!!

The little boy in the viral video who screamed for Rockies center fielder Charlie Blackmon got to meet the real deal Friday night.

Whenever Blackmon would to the plate, 2-year-old Tommy Carlson would get excited.

Really excited.

Nolan Arenado’s 3 homers leads Rockies’ rout | MLB.com

Best third baseman in baseball.

How the Colorado Rockies learned to (somewhat) tame Coors Field | SI.com

On the riddle that is Coors Field.

Lugo’s arm, bat help Mets handle Rockies again

NEW YORK—The Mets understand the depth of the hole they dug themselves into with a first half fractured by injuries and poor play, so much so that general manager Sandy Alderson all but guaranteed the team would be sellers by month’s end, barring the improbable.

And yet the second-half version of the Mets has looked like anything but sellers after steamrolling through their first two second-half games, putting up Coors Field numbers on the Rockies in Queens again in a 9-3 win at Citi Field on Saturday.

Lugo has provided some stability at the back-end of the rotation, of which the Mets are in dire need. He’s not the sexiest name but he’s likely to get a chance to prove that he deserves a spot in the rotation going into next season.

Numbers behind Rockies’ 8-game losing streak | MLB.com

Allowing more runs and scoring less is a recipe for a losing streak.

Dodgers use wild pitches for 10th straight win | MLB.com

Cody Bellinger doing it all; Adam Ottavino, well, freakish appearance.

“People always talk about hitting is contagious, winning is contagious,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “There is certainly a vibe or mentally that we’re going to win each day; regardless of who takes the mound or what circumstance, we’re not going to get down.”

Have the Rockies Found Answers at Altitude? | FanGraphs Baseball

Just when you think you’ve got it all figured out life will throw you a curveball.

JetHawks’ Rodgers extends hit streak to 20 | MiLB.com News

He’s playing in a bandbox but what he’s doing is still pretty impressive.

LoDo: A renaissance owed to Coors Field, urban pioneers and smart politics

The role played by Coors Field in the rebirth of Lower Downtown Denver.

Rockies: Kid’s Stuff Paying Off – Inside the Seams

On rookie Rockies.

LaTroy Hawkins says Tommy Kahnle “one of the worst teammates I’ve ever had in my life.”

Former major league reliever LaTroy Hawkins pitched for a lot of teams, two of which were the Twins and Rockies. As it happened, the Twins were in town to visit the Rockies. Hawkins, now a member of the Twins’ broadcast team, told a story on air about he and former teammate Tommy Kahnle got into a fight back in 2014 when the latter was a rookie. Hawkins’ partner, Dick Bremer, tried to create a way for him to sugarcoat what he said, but Hawkins didn’t bite, calling Kahnle “one of the worst teammates I’ve ever had in my life.”

LaTroy Hawkins on Tommy Kahnle: "One of the worst teammates I've ever had in my life, and I've had a lot of teammates" pic.twitter.com/n7vLXc5RBe

— MLB Insider Dinger (@atf13atf) May 17, 2017

Behind closer Greg Holland, the Rockies’ rebuilt bullpen is thriving—even at Coors Field

Holland is exceeding expectations.

In-Market Streaming Of Mariners, Astros, Pirates, And Rockies Games Arrives Via ROOT Sports

Fans of the Seattle Mariners, Houston Astros, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Colorado Rockies can now watching games in-market as the AT-&T Sports Network-owned ROOT SPORTS family of regoinal sports networks announced today that digital streaming is now available. The deal that was announced in March, along with NESN airing Red Sox games, hit a technical snag with authentication services had the networks targeting May as the roll-out, and today, that came to fruition.

The deal between ROOT Sports and MLB Advanced Media will come with no additional cost to authenticated pay TV subscribers of ROOT SPORTS distribution partners.

All games on the networks will be made available to distributors’ authenticated customers and MLBAM will authenticate ROOT SPORTS viewers on MLB.com, team websites and MLB At Bat, as ROOT SPORTS continues to develop a platform of their own to deliver the games to viewers.

Are the Rockies and Diamondbacks about to take over the NL West? | FOX Sports

As the Giants surely can attest, baseball – like life – changes every day.

Early on Sunday, a few hours before Miller’s start, I asked Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo his biggest concern.

He did not hesitate with his reply.

“The fear of injury,” Lovullo said. “The depth in an organization is always a concern. Our health is of utmost importance for us to maintain what we’re doing.”

The loss of Miller for an extended period would diminish the excitement over the early performance of the DBacks’ rotation, which ranks sixth in the NL in ERA. Left-hander Patrick Corbin, in particular, looks ready to fulfill the top-of-the-rotation potential he showed in 2013, before he underwent Tommy John surgery.

How the Rockies rebuilt baseball’s worst bullpen into one of the best – The Denver Post

“Greg Holland and Mike Dunn have been fabulous for the mentality of the bullpen,” first-year Rockies manager Bud Black said. “They have made a marked difference with the professionalism of that group. There’s no doubt they have set the standard.”

Greg Holland latest success from Tommy John | MLB.com

Last year alone, there were at least 190 pitchers in the big leagues who had returned from Tommy John surgery, according to the tracking of Jon Roegle, who has detailed 1,364 players who have undergone the surgery, beginning with Tommy John himself in 1974.

That included several who pitched well enough that they were traded in season to contenders, including Rich Hill from the Rays to the Dodgers, Mark Melancon from the Pirates to the Nationals and Matt Moore from the Rays to the Giants.

Over the course of the 2016 season, the Reds used 13 pitchers who had undergone Tommy John surgery, followed by the A’s with 11 and the Royals and Tigers with 10 apiece.
Holland and starting pitcher Lance Lynn of the Cardinals are the new guys on the list this season.

Ringolsby: Rox bullpen coming to rescue now | MLB.com

And he is enjoying being a part of a bullpen that has so many interchangeable parts.

“[Friday] we knew it was going to be Estevez, Oberg and myself, but we didn’t know who’d pitch the ninth,” said McGee. “It depended on when the left-handed bats were coming up.”

That, he said, is what makes it so much fun to think of what might be in the next six months.

“[The front office] has put a great bullpen together,” McGee said. “We have depth. Think about it. We have no Holland, no Dunn and no Ottavino [on Friday], and we win a 2-1 game with the bullpen working three innings. It’s a good feeling.”

It is, as Black admitted, a sign of the ever-changing times of the game.

Rockies strike deal “in the 11th hour” to keep Coors Field as long-term home

“This was difficult and long, but we’re going to have baseball in Colorado for three more decades,” said Matt Sugar, spokesman for the district. “The greatest benefit will be that the taxpayer won’t have to pay a dime.”

Major League Baseball approved the deal Wednesday morning. Coors Field, the third-oldest stadium in the National League, will remain the Rockies’ home through 2047, when the stadium will turn 53 years old.

The Rockies get it right. Coors is a gem.

Is Trevor Story ready to fill Troy Tulowitzki’s big shoes with the Rockies?

Replacing the best shortstop in the history of the franchise isn’t easy.

Tracy Ringolsby: Rockies must turn to Plan B | MLB.com

Best laid plans…