Thomas Harding of MLB.com confirms that the Rockies have dismissed several minor league coaches, including longtime Triple-A manager Glenallen Hill (link). Double-A hitting coach Lee Stevens and Single-A hitting coach Norberto Martin will also be let go, according to assistant general manager of player development Zach Wilson.
A member of the club’s coaching ranks since 2004, Hill was previously first base coach with Colorado’s big league squad from 2007 to 2012. The 54-year-old Santa Cruz native played for the Jays, Indians, Cubs, Giants, Yankees, and Angels over the course of a twelve-year MLB career. After Hill’s dismissal, top Colorado third base prospect Colton Welker figures to suit up for a fresh face at Triple-A Colorado Springs next season.
More notes from around the National League…
- In another Rockies item, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post gives an eye toward the defensive improvements made in 2019 by catcher Tony Wolters–while also opining that the club should acquire a veteran backstop to lighten the workload of the light-hitting Wolters (link). As Saunders notes, Wolters, a former second baseman, was charged with just one error last season while throwing out 34% of would-be base stealers, a rate which trailed only J.T. Realmuto of the Phillies. Manager Bud Black, for one, told the Post this year that Wolters had turned himself into “one of the best defensive catchers in baseball”. Unfortunately, the value-added performance hasn’t translated to the plate for the 27-year-old San Diego native, as his .239/.327/.324 line in parts of four seasons would indicate. Weighted runs created plus, which discounts the effect of his offensively friendly Coors Field home, pegs Wolters with a 59 wRC+ in that same timeframe, profiling him as one of the weakest-hitting regulars in the sport. For this reason, Saunders posits that finding a platoon partner for the lefty-swinging Wolters will be a high priority for Rockies GM Jeff Bridich this winter.
- Two notes on Nationals players, one bullet point–efficiency reigns here at MLBTR. First up is a piece from MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince, who, in creating a list of eight potential opt-out candidates this offseason, posits that any possibility of Stephen Strasburg opting-in to the remaining four years and $100MM on his contract has been “totally erased” this postseason (link). This seems a good time to supply a standard public service announcement regarding small sample size caveats, as recent history would suggest that postseason performance does not affect free agency decisions as frequently as many would expect. Still, Castrovince might not exactly be going out on a limb RE: Strasberg. While the pitcher’s injury concerns–evidenced best by his team’s decision to hold him out of the 2012 playoffs–have loomed over him for most of his career, Strasberg’s 1.64 ERA across 22 postseason innings this year has arguably gone some way toward ameliorating that fragile rap.
In a piece with fewer implications on the forthcoming hot stove, every baseball fan would be well-served to check out Rustin Dodd’s oral history regarding the college days of one Max Scherzer, published on The Athletic this morning (link). For Nats faithful feeling the afterglow of an NLCS sweep, hearing tales of some of Scherzer’s collegiate habits–including his ravenous affinity for Cici’s Pizza–should provide a giddy laugh. - A Houston source tells David Kaplan of NBC Chicago that Astros bench coach Joe Espada gave a “sensational” interview for the open Cubs manager job (link). Espada gave executive Theo Epstein and GM Jed Hoyer “a lot to think about”, per Kaplan’s source, but the question still remains if Espada can surpass franchise favorite David Ross in consideration for the managerial opening. For the time being, Espada’s ‘Stros will square off with the Yankees in New York this evening for the fourth game of the ALCS.
the triple A affiliate is in Albuquerque now.
Has been for a couple years now, maybe 3. Yeesh. Unless they’ve traded Colton Welker to the Brewers, which is the organization with an affiliate in Colo Springs.
Not to mention that Colorado Springs doesn’t even have a AAA affiliate anymore. Colorado Springs has a rookie ball team now, but the Sky Sox franchise moved somewhere else. San Antonio I think.
I’m genuinely interested in seeing what Strasburg and Cole earn on the open market this off-season. It almost certainly won’t rival the recent Machado/Harper saga but there will be two massive checks doled out for those two. Cole is clearly the prize jewel but Stras should be head and shoulders above the Wheeler/MadBum/Ryu group
It would be legitimately surprising if the Nats didnt either tack on another year to Stras’s deal or push it up 10-20mm.
Not to mention he instructed Boras to secure an extension during his final arb season. Presuming the Nationals intend to take care of him, I see no reason he’d leave Washington this offseason.
Yeah, sticking in D.C. is certainly an option (especially so if Rendon leaves) but I think the $$$ amount is going to be higher than $25m AAV he’s currently owed. I could see something approaching deGrom’s 5/$137m
Rick Porcello will come at a fraction of the price of a Strasburg.
Rick is younger and has a Cy Young, a ring, and a better health record.
I believe the Astros will target Porcello with a massive discount contract and make more people realize guys in the Strasbourg class, good not great, are worth: 4/48 type contracts going into their thirties that only work if you have an amazing coaching staff.
When all your friends are talking about getting steak and you bring up going to Burger King to whoopers.
@Ej – Porcello’s velocity also a fraction of what it once was. He can win so long as you can squeeze in 10 or 12 runs.
Gotta love scherzer
Dylan–nice word usage! –ameliorating. Not a word used every day. 🙂
So a bunch of folks not named Bridich are taking the fall in Colorado.
Beautiful.
Welker needs to be traded instead of suiting up at AAA next year. Colorado has already made the mistake of not trading a top third base prospect when they already have a good one at the MLB level before. Ryan McMahon, for one. Now he is a glorified utility player instead of being used to get stronger at a weak position. Even swapping him for a prospect is better than having to move him to a different position.
It even goes back to when Garrett Atkins was peaking and Ian Stewart was the overall #4 prospect in the game. The Rockies could have traded Stewart for an absolute ace or a top hitting prospect and possibly won the World Series in 2007. Instead they kept both and tried to split time. Then neither got the time to develop and both flopped.
But hindsight is 20/20 I guess. The point is that the Rockies third baseman at AAA should NOT be a top prospect. It should be a fringe big league player that fills the spot and would only ever come up if Arenado is hurt. Having a top prospect at the same position as one of the best players in the game that is locked up for many years is just crazy. Especially for a team like the Rockies.
What are you complaining about? You got seven years of DJ Le Mahiei for Ian Stewart.
No they got one year of Tyler Colvin for Ian Stewart. DJ was only included in that trade because of Former Rockies #1 pick Casey Weathers.
Besides DJ was an incredible stroke of lottery ticket luck. Ian Stewart was the #4 overall prospect. Lucking into a lottery win is no reason to celebrate the mismanagement of that mess.
Plenty of teams would give Strasburg more than 4/100 to sign him, so if more money is his desire he will opt out. Reaching World Series might make him want to remain in DC though.
Saying that Strasburgs’ possible opting-out is based on the stats of 22 post-season innings misses the issue.
It’s impossible for a small group of people to thoroughly cover 30 major league teams, and well over 1,000 players on ever changing rosters over the course of a 162 game season and post-season. Let me help….
To put it succinctly – in 2019 Stephen Strasburg grew up as a major league pitcher. He kept his poise and cool in pressure situations for the first time in his career. He used all his pitches in all situations, instead of overusing his fastball and reverting to it in clutch situations. Batters no longer could follow the book on Strasburg.
While Max got all the elite pub and is truly a generational HOF pitcher, he was injured a good part of the year. It was Strasburg that was the Nationals staff Ace and Stopper in 2019. He carried the pitching staff, almost always putting out a solid pitching effort. He deserves to be considered as a Top 3 NL Cy Young candidate in 2019…..but he won’t be. The American media in all facets of American life leans on stereotypes, images, and groupthink, instead of seeing and reporting on who’s accomplishing what.
Stras appreciates how much the franchise values his health and career longevity. Stras is known for doing best when things are just so without a lot of unexpected change. He just moved his entire family to DC from San Diego. Of all the Nat’s free agents he seems to be the odds on favorite to remain with the team that drafted him. He may elect to opt out to negotiate an updated deal with the Nats and just the Nats.
Maybe MLBTR ought to look at Mark Zuckerman’s pre-world series Q&A where he addresses this instead of quoting a guy who has no clue or frame of reference when it comes to the player.
Teams should be eying Houston’s pitching coach. He seems to have a knack for getting the most out of his guys.
I could see the Rockies signing Sandy Leon after he gets non tender by the Red Sox
Good catcher. If only his slash line was greater than his weight