| Show The Salt Lake Tribune Rockies Aim High Shoot for Record Inaugural Season II Continued From E-- 1 good? The projected 29 million fans who will watch the Rockies play at Mile High (they've sold nearly 30000 season tickets) probably don't care They just want to see baseball Big league baseball "You can call it a grace period" said Rockies manager Don Baylor 'Tut I won't" Nope Baylor and the rest of the Rockies want to win And privately they talk of surpassing the best win total ever posted by an expansion team the 70 victories the Los Angeles Angels recorded in 1961 Indications abound that the Rockies have a reasonable chance at bettering the Angels' precedent First the consensus around the major leagues is that both expansion clubs — Colorado and the Florida Marlins — will be better r than normal outfits because they were able to choose from a bigger applicant pool from the American and National leagues instead of just one loop like in past expansion years "There's no reason we can't be first-seaso- n first-yea- team" said Rockies catch- a 500 er Joe Girardi Second the Rockies put a premium on experience in November's expansion draft Of the eight everyday players pen cued in to start in Monday's opener at Shea Stadium second baseman Eric Young is the only one who didn't spend an entire season in the majors last year (Pitching is a different story More on that later) And third the Rockies just completed a successful spring training winning 17 of 30 games As Baylor put it "March baseball doesn't get you a trophy but for this team especially it was important that we learned how to win We did that" On the flip side is this nagging question: What if this team sucks more than just the thin Rocky Mountain air at 5280 feet? If so the number to watch becomes 40 That's the mark for futility the win total achieved by the pitiful expansion New York Mets of 1962 Two arguments could be made that the Rockies will slide that way No 1 Colorado's payroll (between $85 and $9 million) will be the lowest in the major leagues and half that of the Florida Marlins By comparison World Series champion Toronto's 1992 payroll big-leag- - first-seaso- Cole CF Eric Young 2B Charlie Hayes Andres Galarraga Gerald Clark Dante Bichette Joe Girardi Freddie Benavides David Nied 3B THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IF I C Colorado Rockies The Murphy a seven time all-stand two time NL MVP with 398 career home runs was to join the Rockies in Minneapolis for games Saturday and Sunday against the Minnesota Twins He is 27th on the career home run list and fourth among ac- P Pitchers Willie Blair By Player Player Freddie Benavides Vinny Castilla 14 Andres Galarraga 11 Charlie Hayes 20 Jim Tatum 9 Eric Young Outfielders 10 Player Dante Bichette 6 24 5 3 2 Jerald Clark Alex Cole Dale Murphy Gerald Young Jay Drew has-been- Here's a position-by-postio- Daryl Boston 6-- er 6-- five-ma- n Nied" Colorado made Darren Holmes its No 3 pick in the expansion draft with the expectation he would be the closer The former Milwaukee never-will-be- a' 9 Brewer hasn't disappointed Holmes has emerged as the Rockies best stopper "I'm not sure why Milwaukee let him go" said Bearnarth in mind" 74")-1:'‘' -- 1: ' ‘ i :1 --x- : o- - 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24 HRIMERGENCY I I j k4 I 7 t DIV ID o Converted outfielder Eric minor-leagu- er d starters soned n Young is renting second A few errors and Benavides could slide over to the right side Girardi is a solid catcher with Danny longtime Sheaffer emerging as the backup II Starting Pitchers: Much rests on the broad shoulders of righthander David Nied the Rockies first pick in the expansion draft Beyond Nied the Rockies will rely on gray beardturned-no beard Bryn Smith Andy Ashby Bruce Ruffin and Willie Blair Of those Baylor called Ashby "the biggest surprise of camp" The righthander retired 17 and went 823 hitbatters straight less innings at one stretch in spring training look BB Bullpen: The Rockies if be will the but here key strong the relievers can stay rested behind a suspect starting staff Darren Holmes will be the closer If things go as plannned he'll Jeff Parbe set up by middle-merett and Steve Reed Gary Wayne acquired from the Twins midway through spring training joins Scott Aldred in giving the Rockies two capable lefties in the pen non-rost- never-were- n look at the personnel the Rockies will put on the field in their inaugural season: El Outfielders: Jerald Clark will start in left with Alex Cole in center and Dante Bichette in right Daryl Boston capable of playing all three positions will be a fill-iwith Dale Murphy and Gerald Young also available The Rockies are better than average here especially defensively Offensively the word is potential — Bichette Clark and Cole have yet to reach theirs El Infielders: First base belongs to Andres Galarraga while Charlie Hayes is solid at third Freddie Benavides will get a shot a shortstop but if he falters Baylor wouldn't be afraid to insert Vinny Castilla inLefthander Bruce Ruffin 29 a with a woeful 667 ERA for vitee who was Milwaukee last year has pitched well in spring training and could be the Rockies No 2 starter Another free agent Bryn Smith formerly of the St Louis Cardinals has recovered from month-olarthroscopic surgery and looks like a sure bet to be in the starting rotation with a 402 ERA with the AsButch Henry tros last season and fireballer Andy Ashby scooped from the Phillies in the expansion draft will likely round out the starting rotation "We've had some positive outings" said Bearnarth "There's more to this staff than just 6 s n their shoulders" shrugs Baylor "We have guys with something to prove Money is secondary to them right now" Another alarming factor: Colorado enters its inaugural season with a young unproven group of starting pitchers Of the five projected starters only Butch Henry spent the entire 1992 season on an active roster "Pitching is the thing" agrees Baylor "But we think we have a defense that can go get the ball" 6 n was $49 million "We got guys with chips on ' - 1: TUCSON Ariz — In his seven seasons as the Montreal Expos pitching coach Larry Bearnarth earned a reputation for his ability to nurture young prospects and save fading careers If you think that was a challenge consider what Bearnarth now the pitching coach of the expansion Colorado Rockies has to deal with this season The Rockies opening day pitcher David Nied went from Atlanta's top minor league prospect to the Rockies staff ace after just three major league starts And then it gets worse The rest of the pitching staff looks s like a combination of s but Bearnarth says he's ready and to begin construction "I see a lot of potential in this group" he said "We could see some nice surprises from what we have here" For starters the Rockies will have some sea- Girardi 12 No get" "I can't turn back the clock and be like it was 10 years ago" when he was a National League MVP with the Braves "I'm healthy I still feel like I can play and I want to play" Murphy was Atlanta's first pick in the June 1974 amateur draft He won Gold Gloves from 1982-8and was the NL MVP in 1982 and 1983 THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Infielders 21 going to r Rockies' Pitching Coach Will Earn His Money 16 Danny Sheatter No - A 0 TUCSON Ariz — One trip to Salt Lake City this winter convinced KOA Radio broadcaster Jeff Kingery that Rockies Fever had swept into Utah "Everywhere we went people were talking about the Rockies" said Kingery "It was unbelievable" The Rockies will have 107 games broadcast in the Salt Lake area on station 1065 FM (The Score) which is part of Denver flagship station KOA's expansive network covering 12 Western states "We'll follow them all the way through the playoffs" quipped station manager Barry King Kingery voice of the Denver Nuggets for 11 seasons will handle the color commentary while Wayne Ilagin will do lIagin has 11 years of major league broadcasting experience having previously covered the Oakland A's San Francisco Giants and Chicago White Sox Utah fans can also catch 39 Rockies games on KXIV-TCh 14 with veteran NBC broadcaster Charlie Jones and former major leaguer Duane Kuiper providing action and commentary Kingery along with Rockies manager Don Baylor and No 1 starter David Nied visited Utah in January as part of the Rockies Caravan tour "The caravan trips convinced us more than anything that the Rockies are a lot more than just Denver's team" said Kingery So what can Utah listeners expect from the Rockies radio broadcasts? "We'll have a lot of fun" said Kingery "The Rockies will be entertaining to watch Our job is to get that across to all the people out there" Kingery says he realizes many of the people tuning in won't necessarily be Rockies fans but major league baseball lovers "I won't be a homer" he said "But I will get excited The Rockies are bigger than just Colorado but baseball is bigger than the Rockies We'll keep that play-by-pla- y Catchers Jae vi '41 : --74 tive players one behind AnDale Murphy dre Dawson of Boston "We needed an experienced bat off the bench who might give us a little power" Rockies gen Butch Henry Darren Holmes 17 David Nied 38 Jeff Parrett 39 Steve Reed 18 Bruce Ruffin 28 Bryn Smith 53 Gary Wayne 27 40 7 - By Jay Drew THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE 19-ye- non-rost- "4 ld No Player 32 Scott Aldred 43 Andy Ashby No n one-yea- SS Broadcasts Should Help Rockies' Fever Spread eral manager Bob Gebhard said "I felt this offered us a chance to get somebody who might turn on the ball and hit a three-ruhome run in the eighth inning of a game" Murphy hit 231 this spring in 14 games and eight starts as a player The veteran played in only 18 games last year because of knee surgery He hit 161 with two home runs Murphy said his right knee "is as good as it's PHILADELPHIA — Dale Murphy was released from his minor league contract with the Philadelphia Phil lies on Saturday and signed a r contract with the — IB ROSTER 19 E7 Sunday April 4 1993 Veteran Mmphy Bound for Mile High City Rockies Lineup Alex BASEBALL El El nu en ol A I I II -J i ki k - kA00004RweioAOWa'!4-- - - - - - - I |
