Rockies glancing at call-ups and stretch-run prep
By Nick Groke, The Denver Post
Discussions began to percolate at 20th and Blake Streets last week with an eye on the stretch run. The Rockies carried the second-best record in club history to that point into a critical weekend series against Milwaukee. And their firm footing in the National League wild-card standings has Colorado’s management plotting.
As they passed each other in the clubhouse hallway, general manager Jeff Bridich stopped his manager to say, “Hey Buddy, we’ve got to talk about September,” Bud Black recalled.
Those discussions will include two key topics.
1. How to navigate the expanded rosters of September, when teams are allowed to field a game-day roster of as many as 40 players, up from the standard 25.
2. How to prepare for a possible one-game playoff, which will pit the two wild-card teams in a win-or-go-home game Oct. 4.
“This is great for us,” Black said recently of playing under playoff pressure. “They’re digging this. And our young pitchers, for them this is awesome. I know what that’s like. They can’t wait to get to the park. They’re like kids going to Little League games.”
Before a weekend series, the Rockies owned the third-best record in the National League. But the Dodgers are on a historic streak, on pace to win 116 games. Only two other teams ever reached that mark, the 1906 Cubs and the 2001 Mariners. The NL West is on lockdown. So Colorado is stuck defending a wild-card spot.
If they get into the playoffs, the Rockies would be forced into a play-in game, the kind that Black suffered through in 2007, when his Padres lost a tiebreaker game to the Rockies, 9-8 in 13 innings, the notorious Matt Holliday sliding home game. Black, though, can dig a one-game playoff. “It is a representation of having a good season, but also a representation of not winning your division,” he said. “You have to draw the line somewhere. I thought the second wild card was a good idea. I still do. You can’t have a (best) 2-of-3 series to get into the playoffs. From the time the regular season ended to potentially the next series starts, that could be four or five days.”
What really nags at Black are expanded rosters. The strategy of juggling a bench and relief pitchers and maximizing a team’s roster suddenly fades when a manager can use a seemingly endless supply of relievers and pinch-hitters starting Sept. 1. Games get long and bad teams can suddenly find an advantage by attrition.
“It’s a completely different game in September,” Black said. “I’m a strong advocate of making changes on that end. A strong advocate. For five months, you truly show the strength of your 25-man roster, then the rules change and in a way, it’s unfair. Teams can aid themselves in a game by making a lot of moves that you don’t make in the first five months. It’s a different strategic game, by far. Teams got to a certain point in the standings playing one way, then the last month, which is arguably the most important, the strategy changes. I don’t like that.”
Commissioner Rob Manfred and the players association talked over the winter about possible changes to the September roster rules, and the prevailing attitude seems to indicate an alteration of that idea soon. But not this season.
So the Rockies will have to make do. In recent seasons, under former manager Walt Weiss, the Rockies used September to give big-league experience to prospects, whether those young players gave the team a better chance to win or not. They were playing for the future.
With the Rockies in contention this season, they will not call on young players just to get them experience.
“No. Not just for the sake of it,” Black said. “The players we bring will be more functional.”
The names headed toward Colorado’s clubhouse are likely familiar, minor-leaguers who have shuttled between Albuquerque and Denver this season. As it stands, the only new name that might crack the 40-man roster is veteran slugger Ryan Howard, who signed a minor-league contract two weeks ago.
“There’s a number that becomes too many; 40 is a high number, that won’t happen,” Black said of the size of the Rockies’ roster over the final month. “But adding to the 25-man roster with five to eight guys, maybe.”
Nick Groke: ngroke@ denverpost.com or @nickgroke