Colorado Rockies Make Bold, Yet Surprising Move

The Colorado Rockies and Clint Hurdle made a bold, yet confusing move this past week.  After announcing before the last weekend of the season that no coaches job was safe, Hurdle finally pulled the trigger on the first victims of the failed 2008 season. 

The Rockies announced that hitting coach Alan Cockrell, bench coach Jamie Quirk, third base coach Mike Gallego would not be retained, and that bullpen coach Rick Mathews would be reassigned within the organization. 

Hurdle, to his credit, is a man who never has an excuse.  He routinely took the blame for a team that underperformed all year.  He made his fair share of mistakes throughout the season and he took the lumps for those mistakes. 

The fact that some coaches were let go came as no surprise. The surprise came with the name of a coach who was not let go.  Many speculated that hitting coach Alan Cockrell would be the first to be shown the door, with the team never quite being able to figure out their issues with runners in scoring position, and hitting a dismal .263 with essentially the same lineup that hit to to tune of.280, leading the National League.  Someone had to take the fall, and Cockrell may have been a prime candidate. 

The big surprise was that pitching coach Bob Apodaca remained unscathed by the firings.  Apodaca seemed to be first in line to be getting the ax.  The Rockies trusted Apodaca to make sure that top prospects Ubaldo Jimenez and Franklin Morales were ready for everyday life in the big leagues. 

After April, Morales found himself struggling to find his command and was shipped back to Triple A.  Jimenez was learning the hard way that 99 MPH heat in the Majors only serves its purpose if it can be located.  Both prospects seemed early on to be deer in the headlights and Apodaca could not seem to figure out the right words to say. 

The 2006 first round draft choice Greg Reynolds was called up in May to be a stop gap for the rotation until it could get in line.  Instead, Reynolds struggled and finally was put out of his misery and sent back to Colorado Springs after his miserable July 4th start.  Reynolds came up to the big leagues looking to be everything that is expected of a second overall pick.  He left looking as if he had no business cashing a paycheck from a professional baseball team. 

If those were the only problems, all could be forgiven; however, the unimaginable happened as the newly declared ace, Jeff Francis, was only a shell of the man who tied the Rockies record for wins in a season with 17 and led the Rockies to their first ever World Series. 

Early on it was clear that Francis' mechanics were out of whack.  Rockies TV color man George Frazier pointed out several times that Francis was not using his legs like he should and overextending his arm, leading to balls being up in the strike zone.  Also, his velocity was way down.  Francis's fastball was routinely clocked at 84 MPH which was more than enough cause for concern. 

In early July, Francis was put on the shelf with what the team described as "shoulder inflamation." Francis was quickly shipped off to Double A Tulsa where he could be reunited with his pitching mentor Bo McLaughlin.  Francis quickly made strides and came back to finish off the season with a renewed sense of confidence and command. 

The concerning question is why could Bob Apodaca not figure out the issues of Jeff Francis?  Jimenez and Morales' issues could be explained away to youth, but Apodaca could never instill a sense of confidence in either one that many of the elite pitching coaches seem to be able to do with their budding young talent.

The Rockies finished their season with a team ERA that ranked next to last in the National League at an abysmal 4.77.

In a season that Clint Hurdle made many mistakes on the field, he may have made his biggest after the season was over.