By snoadmin
Obviously we know Hell hasn’t frozen over – if it had, the Chicago Cubs would be celebrating the National League Championship win instead of the Colorado Rockies. And I’m sure Rockies’ owner Charlie Monford upset more than a few disgruntled Cub fans when after the win he said, “The best fans in the world are right here and they got what they deserved.”
Well get over it, Cub fans, and Diamondback fans. All of you Cleveland fans and members of the Red Sox nation may want to start bracing themselves as well, because the Rockies are the hottest team in baseball right now. Their run of 21 of their past 22 games, a one-game playoff win, division series and league series sweeps have earned them their first trip to the World Series in franchise history.
And you better bet the Rockies will enjoy their trip.
Something else you might want to bet on: other teams copying their recipe for success in upcoming seasons.
That recipe looks something like this:
– Two parts young, homegrown farm talent (including a former Dirtbag with a tremendous arm and knack for making oh-my-god-did-you-see-that plays)- Equal parts devastating sluggers to capitalize on a thin air hitter’s park, and consistent pitchers to balance out the team.- Generous amount of solid, virtually errorless fielders.- A handful of aging veterans that aren’t quite over the hill, with prices that wont put a team’s budget over the hill.- One MVP candidate with a swing that could make Barry Bonds jealous.
The Rockies mix of young and old has proved to be the right combination. Veterans like Todd Helton offer experience and wisdom; youngsters like Troy Tulowitzki bring life to the clubhouse and big moves on the field; Matt Holliday is in a league of his own and Willie Taveras, well if anyone can actually catch him let me know.
The winning Rockies are largely a product of a deep farm system, which is, of course, led by Long Beach State alum Tulowitzki and the man who drafted him, Dirtbag founder and former LBSU head coach Dave Snow.
Despite all of the cold words associated with the team, the Rockies have burned up the league and managed to do it with a somewhat small price tag (if you’re a George Steinbrenner-faithful then stop reading here). The minor league contracts that several players are still on make way for the heavier paychecks of Holliday and Josh Fogg, and journeymen like Helton who don’t come with a hefty price round out the lineup.
Some of you are probably wondering about the Diamondbacks, aka the “Babybacks”, who had the youngest team in the MLB this season. They are a perfect example of a deep farm system and because of that, they will be a legitimate threat in the NL West for quite a few years. San Diego Padres general manager Kevin Towers and San Francisco Giants GM Brian Sabean have already said they are trying to revamp their respective farm systems in an attempt to keep up with their division foes.
But lets remember who just got swept here, and who did the sweeping.
The D-backs were just too inexperienced to pull it off. Players like Erik Byrnes helped give the team a little experience but when part of your team can’t even legally drink champagne during the celebration of your division series sweep, you know you’re still a little green. The Rockies mix provided the perfect amount of experience, marquee-name numbers and youthfulness at the right price.
Now I do love my Oakland A’s, and I am a devout Money Ball believer that is fully convinced A’s GM Billy Beane is a genius, but in this case I think Beane needs to take a page from Colorado’s book. Beane has no problem letting his superstars go when their contracts are up in Oakland. Yes, I know that in most cases it’s because the team is as poor as the homeless people living outside of the crumbling Oakland Coliseum (I refuse to call it the McAfee Coliseum), but Beane has made exceptions in the past.
Oakland had farm products galore this past season; with all of the injuries the A’s suffered one reporter told me people were jokingly starting to refer to the A’s as the Oakland River Cats, since all of the injured players’ spots were filled by Triple A-Sacramento River Cats’ players. They also were not lacking in the veterans department, as Eric Chavez and Alan Embree were still on the roster.
But who was the A’s big-ticket name this year? Nick Swisher would be my best guess. Or maybe Dan Haren who people outside of the Bay had barely heard of until ace Rich Harden was hurt. And even in Harden’s case, he had barely been heard of until former staff ace Barry Zito went across the bridge to San Francisco (guaranteed there are several of you thinking “oh so that’s who that guy is” right now). They had no Matt Holliday this year, no MVP to provide the big hit when it mattered the most.
When it comes to Rocky Ball vs. Money Ball, for 2007 I have to give it to the purple and silver.
That reminds me of another purple and silver team. Hey, if the Rockies can do it, why not the Sacramento Kings this season?
(To all of you that are laughing at me for that statement you can stop any time now, thanks.)
