First Quarter Report Card: Pitching

Rotation -- Grade: C+

Without Ubaldo Jimenez, probably a D+.  He's worth a whole letter grade himself.

The last week or so though the rotation would get an A.  It's possible they're hitting their stride heading into June, which would be further aided by Greg Smith's exit from the regular rotation after his emergency start last night.

Then again, it's difficult to be all in on guys like Jeff Francis, Jason Hammel and Jhoulys Chacin at the moment.  Too many ifs involved with each for different reasons.  All we can do is cross our fingers and hope for the best there.

Read more »

First Quarter Report Card: Offense & Defense

For the next couple of days I will be grading the Rockies performance in several categories over the course of the first 40 or so games.

We begin with the offense and defense.

Offense -- Grade D+

Trying to not overact to the recent struggles.  There have been some positive moments, but overall this offense is very disappointing in 2010.  All this versatility and talent, and they have yet to truly find any sort of groove -- pun partially intended -- or any kind of consistency.

The lack of power from Helton and Tulowitzki has been quite troubling.  The lack of timely hits and productive outs are what stands out to me though.  Just far too many wasted opportunties and empty plate appearances that could have truly turned a baseball game in the Rockies favor.

This isn't a new thing though, which actually scares me a lot.  The offense did the same thing pretty much all through the final porition of 2010, but were somehow able to win games with pitching and defense.  That is not happening enough in 2010.  The offense has to improve very quickly.

Because.

Defense -- Grade C

They aren't the Bad News Bears out there... or even the Milwaukee Brewers, but this team is capable of much better glove work.  Their grade should consistently grade as a low A or high B.

It comes across at times like they're lazy or unprepared.  I don't believe lazy to be true.  Sometimes I question their preparedness.  A lot of that goes on Jim Tracy for putting guys at positions they aren't accustomed to playing.

There's far too much sloppiness and failure to execute an entire play going on.

• Throwing to the wrong base.  
• Sloppy throws to first. 
• Poor footwork.
• Inability to complete double plays.  

You can't underestimate how important each misstep is.  Every out you fail to secure extends an inning and a pitch count.  It changes matchups later in the game.  It can literally change the entire complexion with of the game even when it doesn't directly impact the score.

To be honest, when you look at the grades so far, it's a minor miracle this team in only one game under.