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Colorado Rockies team preview · Foul Territory

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: They need to go outside the organization. Get a president
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: who sees things differently, is not afraid to rock the boat,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: and we'll shake things up a little bit.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: We've got Rockies beat writer Patrick Saunders from the Denver
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Post joining us right now. I can follow him at
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Key Saunders DP and Patrick, great to have you on.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: We're going to jump right into our fancy.
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: Oh no, real quick, before he goes, well, he has
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: this Hall of Fame had on? Did he vote for
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: each row? Did you vote for each row?
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Of course?
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: Okay, go ahead, we're watching, we're watching.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: There you go. Did you make your battle public?
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Patrick? You know what? And this is the God's honest truth. Guys.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: I screwed up. I meant to and the guys at
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame come back. I actually forgot to
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: sign my ballot. It was stupid. I was in the
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: middle of having the flu. Hall of Fame got back
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: to me and made some directions, but I forgot to
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: tell him to make my public. So but yes, I
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: did vote for each roll boom, there you go.
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: Okay, maybe because he didn't sign, it didn't count. So
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: that was the one. We've been doing this all wrong.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: No, this was like it was his flu game.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: He was checking the box.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: He was like, yeah, what I'm doing, but I need
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: to make sure he sure is on there. All right,
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: let's go over a snoozy team, the Colorado Rockies storyline time.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: I mean, I really want the Rockies to beget What
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: are we doing here? Are they too complacent? We're going
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: to start there. Then we'll go over the prospects, because
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: they're a really good ones. Charlie Condon, who many thought
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: would be the number one pick in last year's draft,
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: ended up falling three to the Rockies, could be a star.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: Chase Dolander could be a number one starting pitcher for
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: this team. What about a bounce back season for Nolan Jones.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: He was really good in twenty twenty three and then
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: the Rockies finished nineteen games back a fourth place. Here
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: we go, let's start at the top. Patrick complacency.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: Why what are they saying? Do they care? They say
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: they care? Okay. I did a big, big piece for
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: the Denver Post at the end of the twenty twenty
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: three season, and it was like a four part series
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: that we did and it was called The Rocky Way.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: And what I did was investigator what exactly they're trying
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: to do. And what is the perception outside twentieth and
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: Blake about this team and the perception and not surprising
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: to you, guys, I'm sure, is that this organization is
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: far too insular. They keep repeating the same thing over
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: and over. They don't look for outside interests. They tend
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: to think that nobody else can figure it out because
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: they play at the most challenging venue in baseball because
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: of the altitude occurs, and they're afraid to shake things up.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: And a lot of that goes to the ownership under
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: Dick Monford. He has told me through the years he's
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: loyal to a fault at some point. My opinion, I
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: don't think Dick is ever going to give up ownership
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: of the team because two of his sons are in
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: the organization. They need to go outside the organization, get
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: a president who sees things differently, is not afraid to
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: rock the boat, and we'll shake things up a little bit.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: Doesn't mean you have to clean house completely. But there
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: is a complacency with the Rockies. And yes, they still
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: draw thirty two thousand fans a game at Corsfield every night,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: but I know the fan base talks to me all
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: the time, and the complacency out there for this team
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: is real, There's no doubt about it.
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: There's complacency. Now in the meantime, can Charlie Condon and
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: Chase Dolander be guys that develop enough this season that
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: they're making an impact in the big leagues this year?
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: Not Condon, I mean he struggled last year, right, I
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: mean he was at how He Spokane and he had
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: a couple of nice moments, but he struggled. He's not
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: even close to rag Dollander. However, it's on the record
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: from both but Black the manager and Bill Schmidt, the GM.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: Donander is going to be giving a legitimate chance to
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: break with the starting rotation this spring, which kind of
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: goes against the Rockies usual moo. They are usually very
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: reluctant to push guys that quickly. But Dollander last year
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: made it up to double a put up some really
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: good numbers for Hartford. He's the real deal, and the
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: Rockies have said if he earns the job in spring training,
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: they're willing to put him in the rotation and maybe
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: move one of the veterans to the bullpen. Now, despite
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: everything I said leading off here, guys. I think the
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: depth and the what's the word. I'm looking for the
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: possibilities of the Rockies rotation. If not this year, then
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: moving forward in the next year, it has a chance
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: to be one of the better rotations the Rockies have had,
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: probably since all the way back to twenty eighteen. Yeah,
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: that's if the young guys come through.
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: That's good. That's good. That's good that Doe Lander and Condrin.
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: I mean they brought the SEC guys in. That's how
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: it works. You want to win, you bring the SEC
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: guys in. Okay, Patrick, speaking of all what I've been
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: saying for years, what you said at the beginning, the
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: Rockies got to do some crazy. They need a Joe Madden,
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: not Joe Madden, but a Joe Madden style guy to
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: come in there and just do what he did with
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: the Raice. Just try anything, try crazy stuff like see
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: what happens. Like you never know, something might work in cores.
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: Have five ball pitchers and go back to the ninety
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: five Blake Street bashers, you know. I mean, that's that's
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: to me, that's how you win there. You have these
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: guys yound, you figure out ground ball pitching, and you
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: have dudes that can hit the ball of the ballpark.
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: But anyway, speaking of a guy that needs to bounce back,
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: Nolan Jones, he struggled last year. He had a rough
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: twenty twenty four, twenty twenty three, he was great. Which
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: Nolan Jones are we going to see for the twenty
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: twenty five season.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm hopeful because I'm very fond of the guy,
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: and I know the Rockies are super hopeful that he
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: can repeat twenty twenty three. Everybody I've talked to, including Nolan,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: has said that between injuries last year, he had mostly
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: a back injury, but then also he twisted his knee.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: That was part of the problem. The other problem is
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: Nolan is one of those players who tends to put
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: way too much pressure on himself, and he came out
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: and said he wanted to do better than he did
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty three. He started to internalize it too much.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: He had his first child, he and his wife had
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: their first child. Child, had some complications at birth. Everything
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: worked out okay, but all of that mixed together really
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: messed with Nolan's head. And I think he'd be the
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: first one to tell you that he's got the skill
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: set and the tools. But he's got to find a
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: way to regain his confidence, not be so hard on himself,
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: and learn to enjoy the game again. And I'll be
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: interested to see if you do that, because last year
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: was a mess.
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: How are they going to enjoy the games when last
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: year they were nineteen games back or fourth place, and
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: not only did they not get better, the rest of
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: the division maybe got better than any division in all
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: of baseball. Not just talking about the Dodgers. What's the
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: I mean, what are the chances? What's the even outlook
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: in the sense of, like you talk about, Nolan Jones
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: needed to be positive, the whole team about winning.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: There's no question, right, I mean the Dodgers. We know
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: everybody knows about what the Dodgers have done after winning
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: the World Series. The d Backs, to me, have a
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: very talented lineup. The Giants are kind of trending upward.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: I still can't figure out the Podras. It's almost like
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: they had their shot at the Golden Goose and kind
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: of missed it. But yeah, that's the thing. And the
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: Rockies back to back one hundred lost seasons. For them
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: to get out of the cellar would be I'm not
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: going to say impossible, but unlikely. What they're banking on,
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: they won't say rebuild, but what they're banking on is
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: a young core of starting pitching coming up. Some good
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: young players in the system are already on the team.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: And I think if you had a heart to heart
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: on the record with Bill Schmidt the GM, he would say,
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: it's not gonna be twenty twenty five if we're going
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: to pop, And for the Rockies, popping would be five
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: hundred and maybe taking their way into the playoffs. Seeing
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty six seems more likely. But I can't see
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: him crawling out of the basement. And the other guy
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: we haven't even talked about, guys, is Chris Bryant, right
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: the highest played player on the team, who right now
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: is potenciled as their DH and an occasional right fielder.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: You know, if Chris Bryant doesn't step up this year
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: this season, it would not shock me that they might
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: just eat the money or release him. I'm not saying
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: that's going to happen. I've talked to christ this winter.
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: He says he's finally in a good place helpwise, but
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: they can't afford to pay somebody twenty seven million dollars
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: keep putting them on the field when they have young
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: guys knocking on the door wanting to get their chance. Wow.
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: Wow, I mean this is I love this line. Because
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: the Rockies they have the five year plan. We're gonna
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: rebuild for five years, and then GM's like, oh no, no, sorry,
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: something went wrong, so we're gonna do it again. It's
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: just amazing me. The Rockies make no changes. It's the
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: same story over and over and over again. And it
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: starts at the top and we'll see what happens. But man,
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: are they in a tough spot because the Dodgers ain't
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: going away, The Diamondbacks don't look like they're going away
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: anytime soon. The Padres, once they get their ownership, is
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: going to try to figure it out again, right. The
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: Giants always are trying to figure it out. Now they
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: have Buster Posey, they've changed their philosophy. They went one way.
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: Now they're back to the way they were when they won.
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: And then you have the Rockies. It's just a bat
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: spall for the Tovien. Like you said, you mentioned Chris Bryant.
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: We don't even talk about Chris Brian because he hasn't
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: played right, Chris Bryant. I mean, that's the point why
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: we don't talk about him because he's never on the field.
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: He doesn't play enough to where you're like, man, Chris
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: Bryant's doing what he did when he was MVP and
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: all that stuff just not there anymore. It sucks.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: Yet the guys you guys did not bring up in
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: and I think it's worthy of mention the too legitimate,
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: really potential perennial All Stars, and that's Bren Doyle's center
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: field two type Gold Glove winner. If he ups his
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: power a little bit, his average a little bit, he's
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: an All Star. I think he's the best fielding center fielder,
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: best fielding outfielder in all of baseball. Doesn't get much
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: love because a few people see the Rockies, but he
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: is sensational, probably the best fielding outfielder in Rockies history.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: And then their shortstop Ezekiel Tovar. He want to go
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: glob last year in his second year. Way too high
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: strikeout rate, but he is a special player. He's already
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: locked up until I tease, I think it's a twenty
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: thirty if I'm not mistaken. Those are two guys there.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: They're the lynch pins for this team if it's going
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: to improve going forward. They're the two guys that they're
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: going to build around, all right.
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: I hope that they keep those guys for a while
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: and then build on it and give us some hope
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: because the way that I'm talking right now is about
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: the way that I feel about the product on the field.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: But as we always.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: Try, yeah, try try to cover them every day. It's
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: it's a little tedious. Let me let me say.
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: Nice the million every year they.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: Three million?
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I love that part to Patrick, But when we
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: how much we love what do we have?
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: Have?
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: The Christmas Tree farm in center field with a little
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: if you ever go out there, they have like a
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: little waterfall.
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: It's very beautiful.
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: It's very very nice.
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: Nice, and they invented blue moon there.
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: Let's all forget.
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: That's nice.
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: It's nice.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: Sarcasm here, guys. I'm not sure if I'm right, but
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: I sense a little sarcasm.
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: We actually do love the ballpark way too much about
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: loving the ballpark experience and wanting to take your friends
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: that don't really care about baseball, because you're going to
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: be like, hey, if you're actually trying to get into
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: a team. This is not the one. But if you
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: want to get into a ballpark experience and just chat
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: the entire time, barely look at the field and what's
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: actually happening, or watch the opposition, this spot is for you.
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: So uh there it is. Patrick, A lot of respect
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: for what you do, love following your work, and better
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: times ahead. It can't get much worse.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us.