Highest. ERA. Ever.

An ERA of 5.66 from Mesa in Colorado would be pretty decent, considering. However, I have a feeling that ZIPs have cut off the '1' from the front of his ERA projection. I'm sure it's hard to format those columns when his ERA is a whole order of magnitude greater than other players.

Oh that's just $#@!%

I suppose Brian Fuentes is no longer a keeper at $11

Mesa isn't being annointed the closer is he?

Perhaps the best non-Astacio season ever from a Rox hurler - and they do this Fuentes.

78 games
74 1/3 IP
34 BB/91 Ks
2.91 ERA
164 ERA+
31 saves in 34 chances.

Please tell me this is a set-up role.

The problem with using Mesa in a set-up role is that then Fuentes will get almost no save chances at all: they'll be lost in the eighth inning. Maybe the Rockies got him for his sterling personality (joke).

Flame on!

I just want to ##### again about what a stupid deal this is.

Is freaking Dan O'Dowd still running this joke of an organization? Why hasn't he been fired? It seems like the Rockies have no idea what they're doing.... From deciding to just pitch Tsao until his arm fell off rather than treating it to bringing in as many 4th OFs and utility IFs as they can, I see ZERO signs of progress beyond a couple really young hitters at the organization lower levels, and God help the veteran GM that thinks projectable 18 year-olds will save his job.

God... you could combine the Rox and the Reds into a single team - take the best 25 guys from each, and I STILL don't see a single division they'd finish .500 in.... nor a home park where the staff ERA would be less than 5.

Zonk's question is a good one (and one that's been discussed before). Isn't O'Dowd now in the top third in terms of tenure for GMs? He seemingly went from 5 "plans" in two years to no plans.
To be fair, ownership changed the rules on him w/ respect to payroll a few years ago, but Zonk seems to be right - their plan is largely to collect as many backup OFs, IFs (and catchers!) as possible.

you could combine the Rox and the Reds into a single team

1. Freel 2b
2. Lopez ss
3. Helton 1b
4. Dunn lf
5. Griffey cf
6. Kearns rf
7. LaRue c
8. Atkins/Encarnacion 3b

1. Harang
2. Francis
3. BK Kim
4. Claussen
5. Sunny Kim/Zach Day

1. Fuentes
2. Weathers
3. DeJean
4. Mercker

That's not THAT bad of a team, especially considering they could trade a bunch of position players for pitching. I think they'd have a good shot at winning the NL West.

Hey, OFF, where's Aaron Cook on that Colo-natti team?

I'm actually not that down on this signing - Mesa's not going to close, it's only a one-year deal, it's not for too much money, and we can cut bait if (when?) he starts to completely suck. It's pretty low-risk as far as I can see. From the Rockies standpoint, they figured out what happened when you throw a bunch of rookies into a big league bullpen to start a season last year, and they didn't much like the results.

For what it's worth, it seems like veteran relief guys are capable of coming into Coors and pitching pretty well... guys like DeJean, Witasick, Chuck McElroy back in the day, Dan Miceli a couple of times...

I think the Rox best bet on the mound is a sort of gimmicky one.

If you look at the hurlers that have had success at Coors -- Fuentes, BKim pitched OK after coming over, Nomo threw a no-no, it seems their best bet would be load up on pitchers with funky or deceptive deliveries.

Has Pat Strange broken down completely? Where's Hideo these days? El Duque could probably be had for a song.

Perhaps the best non-Astacio season ever from a Rox hurler

Marvin Freeman begs to differ!

*tee-hee*

That's about all I have to say on this subject.

That's actually kind of interesting. What's the best team you could make by taking the 25 best guys off two sub-.500 teams? I'd have to think it would be something along the lines of combining Pittsburgh's pitching with a team like Tampa Bay or Cincinnati that has a good offense but no pitching to speak of.

That's actually kind of interesting. What's the best team you could make by taking the 25 best guys off two sub-.500 teams?

I think if you had to pick the 2 teams with the most worthless 25 man rosters, the Rox would certainly be one of them (naming the Reds was just kind of knee jerk thoughts on sucky teams -- technically, they do have some very useful pieces on offense).

Who would the other be? KC probably?

Building a KC/Rox team, I'd guess you'd have:

C Buck
1B Helton
2B Gotay
SS Berroa
3B Atkins
OF Holliday
OF ??? Probably need to have Emil Brown in CF
OF Hawpe? Dejesus? Long?

IF Luis Gonzalez
1b Mike Sweeney
IF Teahan
OF Sullivan
OF loser of the putrid CF battle
C Closser

SP Francis
SP Zack Greinke
SP Joe Kennedy
SP Jason Jennings
SP Aaron Cook

RP Kim
RP MacDougal
RP Fuentes
RP Affeldt
RP Sisco
RP ?

There's some upside up the middle from the Royals... but it says something that staff was would be largely Rox pitchers. The bench would be OK.

But all in all - I don't think this would be a .500 team.

Re: #9

From the Rockies standpoint, they figured out what happened when you throw a bunch of rookies into a big league bullpen to start a season last year, and they didn't much like the results.

So, are you saying that they will like the results Mesa will give them? He's a flyball pitcher. His pitches don't move much -- until their hit, of course. He throws hard, but that'll just provide more energy to propell the ball when batters send Mesa's pitches into the outfield.

From the Rockies standpoint, they figured out what happened when you throw a bunch of rookies into a big league bullpen to start a season last year, and they didn't much like the results.

and even then -- the nominally successful relievers they ended up with, while not rookies, weren't FA or big trade acquisitions....

Witasick, Fuentes, and DeJean were all more or less waiver chaff.

Of course - such stupidity isn't limited to the Rox, it's more of an epidemic - but it's an especially bad idea for teams going nowhere.

If I ran a sub-.500 club, you'd better believe I wouldn't spend 1 dollar of FA money on a guaranteed deal for a reliever, nor would I expend any sort of trading chits with value to acquire one.

True - finding the right guy among 5,6,7 NRIs or career minor leaguers is easier said than done, but that's the way I'd build my bullpen... at least until the team was actually good enough to hand leads over to a bullpen on a regular basis.

Put DeJesus in CF and platoon Hawpe and Brown in RF (god that's an awful defensive platoon!)

Thank god even though 2.5 mil is way tooo much, the Rox don't view Mesa as the closer:

Mesa, 39, has twice been named to the All-Star Game (1995, 1996) and has 319 career saves, but Colorado signed him only after he made it clear he was agreeable to eighth-inning work.

"The best thing he said was, 'If we don't pitch a clean eighth, we don't get to the closer,"' manager Clint Hurdle said. "His eyes aren't going to get big when he comes into a tight situation."

From the Denver Post


Now my last question.... why am I spending so much time on a Rockies transaction thread?

If Mesa somehow pitches well enough to be worth something, will he refuse a trade like he did with the Pirates in 2005?

"Put DeJesus in CF and platoon Hawpe and Brown in RF (god that's an awful defensive platoon!)"

Four arms, no glove.

I can't wait to see which 36 guys he strikes out.