Some Rockies-centric Links (3.14.23)

Here’s what I’m reading, watching, and listening to this week.

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I generally watch a lot of baseball, but the World Baseball Classic has taken that to the next level. On Saturday, I attended the US-GBR game, which was pretty terrific, and Kyle Freeland saw a solid three innings on the mound. (I’m less certain about those cosplaying as founding fathers, but whatever works for those folks is fine with me.)

Sorry, March Madness, but this is a WBC house. Look for my bracket in 2024.

Meanwhile, the Rockies are 6-10 in Spring Training games. To be fair, Spring Training games reveal very little about a team, but an already-thin and increasingly injured lineup is not terribly encouraging news for Rockies fans. Position battles continue, so there’s surely more drama to come.

Here’s what I’m reading this week.

• Aaron Hunt argues that CJ Cron’s time as a Rockie is winding down — perhaps faster than many expected if the Rockies are ready to make a trade (Call to the Pen).

• Brendan Rodgers intends to rehab his shoulder by spending as much time with the team as possible, reports Thomas Harding (Rockies.com).

• Who will win the starting third base position? Skyler Timmins considers the possibilities (Purple Row). I’m going with a Montero-Moustakas platoon.

  

  Nolan Jones and Elehuris Montero

• In his early games (which, admittedly, have been few), Mike Moustakas has found his swing as Manny Radhawa explains (Rockies.com).

• This is a pretty terrific conversation between the Drews Goodman and Romo for The Drew Goodman Podcast.

• The folks over at Blake Street Blogs finished their top prospects list. Here are the top ten.

• I worked with Scott Youngson on a list of the Top 100 MLB players. Spoiler: There are no Rockies on the list, another grim portent for 2023 (PitcherList).

• Connor Joe is settling in with the Pittsburgh Pirates (TribLIVE.com).

• My favorite piece from last week is this Jayson Stark gem about the rules changes (The Athletic - subscription required).

• Josh Kosman reported on the collapse of the RSNs, a fast-moving story. I suspect whatever happens this year is a temporary arrangement while everyone figures out a way forward (New York Post).

• Lucas Gilbreath has become an unexpected face of the Rockies. Initially, I assumed it was mostly because he spent the winter in Denver, so the Rockies called on him when they needed someone to, say, make a holiday video with Dinger. But Gilbreath has a compelling TikTok account, which got some attention last week when he announced his impending Tommy John surgery on the platform. Here’s a link to his most recent TikTok:

  Renee Dechert | reneedechert@masto.ai @ReneeDechert

  Lucas Gilbreath: tiktok.com/t/ZTR7hbdAg/

• You may have heard the phrase “tweeting through it.” Clearly, Lucas Gilbreath intend to “TikTok through it,” and I think this will be a great project for both Gilbreath and baseball fans. Here’s wishing him a good recovery.

Look for a new Rockies Pitch on Friday.

Thanks for reading —

Renee

@ReneeDechert (Twitter) ★ @ReneeDechert (Mastodon) ★ @Renee.Dechert (Instagram) ★ @ReneeDechert (Post)