Denver Post sports writer Patrick Saunders with the latest installment of his Rockies Mailbag.
Pose a Rockies — or MLB — related question for the Rockies Mailbag.
Good day, Patrick. You give great insight on the product on the field, the workings of the management side (when allowed an interview). Can you provide info on who brings the game to the fans behind the scenes (no offense to Drew Goodman and his crew), radio, journalists and official scorers.
Loved the story on Jillian Geib. Thank you, as always.
— Robert Emmerling, Limon
Hey Robert, thanks for the compliment on my story on Jillian. I really enjoy doing those types of features.
As for your question about the “behind-the-scenes” folks, there are a lot of them and I’m afraid I’m going to miss somebody, but I’ll give it a shot.
Let’s start with the Rockies’ media relations staff, which remains the best I’ve ever worked with in all of my years covering sports. Warren Miller headed the department from 2015-20, but he retired. He was replaced by the very talented Cory Little.
The Rockies have lost a lot of good media people in the past year or so. Helping Little out now are Shelby Cravens and Rob Livingston.
I’d also like to mention that Julian Valentin, who headed the Rockies’ social media department for more than 10 years, retired last week. Julian was incredibly creative and the Rockies’ Twitter account was considered one of the best in pro sports.
At AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain, there are a ton of people behind the scenes, producing, doing graphics, crunching the numbers.
Here goes:
- Tavis Strand and Alison Vigil (game producers)
- Erica Ferraro and Jarrod Ligrani (game directors)
- Doug Marino (statistics)
- Ryan Morrison (“The Club,” producer)
- Nicole Gates, Mike Coniglio, Matthew Shapiro (pregame producers)
- Susan Strand (Chyron operator, graphics)
- Charlie Felix (camera operator)
On KOA radio, there are two main people behind the broadcasts for Jack Corrigan and Mike Rice.
This is what Corrigan sent me:
“Jesse Thomas is our executive producer and on-site engineer. He makes certain we’re on the air and sounding good … or as least as good as we can sound. He also coordinates our timing, in and out of breaks, and keeps track of all the commercial reads we do during a broadcast.
“Jesse also contributes a segment during our pregame show called ‘Pioneers of the Game.’ It’s a look at baseball history around that particular day’s date. He is very creative, super talented, and we’re fortunate to have him.
“Back at KOA, Doug Niemeyer is at master control. He delivers our broadcast out to the radio audience, not only in metro Denver, but also to our 40-some network affiliates throughout the region. Since there are local commercials and network ones, he has to ensure that all that happens properly.
“He’s also the one that selects the music as we return from breaks. We have fun with that as Doug, also known as ‘Deadman’ in a play on his last name and the Doug (Neidermeyer) character in ‘Animal House,’ has theme nights often in terms of the music that is played. Others fill in on occasion, but he’s in that spot most games.”
Two questions: 1. I did not live in Colorado when the Denver Bears were the pro baseball team, so I am wondering if they had as much trouble hitting on the road as the Rockies have had over the years?
2. From what I have read, the Rockies have a pretty anemic analytics department. I see several possible reasons:
- Jeff Bridich didn’t believe in analytics so he didn’t staff it up.
- Dick Monfort didn’t believe in analytics and/or simply wouldn’t provide the necessary money for a top-flight staff.
- People with the necessary expertise don’t want to work for the Rockies because there are better jobs to be had in a baseball front office. Your thoughts?
— Dave, Fort Collins
Dave, I honestly don’t know the answer to your first question. Perhaps another fan can help us out. I have access to the Bears’ statistics but I don’t have home/road splits.
What I do know is that many Bears (Zephyrs) teams were very good and won a lot on the road, but I don’t have the specifics on their road stats.
I did look up some stuff on the 1980 Bears team that is considered one of the most talented in minor league history. That team included, among others, Tim Raines and Tim Wallach. Here’s a link to that team’s history.
As for your second question, you make a lot of suppositions that aren’t true. Bridich did believe in modern analytics as any contemporary GM must. You’re right that the Rockies’ department is smaller than most other teams, but I don’t know if that’s because Monfort didn’t want to spend money. I would be speculating if I said that was definitely the case.
I do know that the Rockies lost a number of young analysts over the last two years, but from what I understand, they got out of baseball and went on to more lucrative fields. Do the Rockies attract baseball’s best and brightest young minds? Probably not. The Dodgers do, for sure.
What’s the latest on Trevor Story? Are you hearing if the Rockies might move him before the trading deadline or will they try and keep him?
— Marshall, Parker
Marshall, I just got done talking to manager Bud Black before Tuesday’s game at Miami. Although Story is not back from the injured list yet, he will be soon. His sore elbow is much improved and he should be OK.
In regard to Story being traded, I do think the Rockies will move him, but not until after the All-Star Game. From everything I’ve been told, Story is not going to re-sign with the Rockies when his contract expires at the end of the season.
Interim general manager Bill Schmidt said last week that he has not given up on retaining Story, though I don’t see that happening.
With Jon Gray on the injured list, who should fill in for him? I know the answer is Chi Chi Gonzalez. It’s always Gonzalez, who’s become our default No. 5 guy when someone’s hurt. But I can’t see him as a staple of the rotation in the future. Why not give Ryan Rolison a shot or even Dereck Rodriguez, who’s had major-league success as a starter in the past?
I will say I’ve been impressed with Austin Gomber. That 1.33 ERA and 0.984 WHIP at home is mightily impressive. It takes away a bit of the pain that is the scalding hot oil burn that was the Nolan Arenado trade.
— Kevin L., Lakewood
Kevin, Gonzalez has been serviceable as the long reliever, but he’s been too inconsistent to be the fifth starter. But that’s what the Rockies have, at least for now. But I do think Gonzalez is better and much more consistent that Rodriguez, even if he doesn’t have the same firepower.
As for Rolison, Schmidt told me last week that the lefty had a good chance of making his big-league debut in the second half of the season. Rolison, however, had an attack of appendicitis and had to undergo surgery. On Tuesday, Black said Rolison will be out of action for at least a month.
Denver Post sports writer Patrick Saunders with the latest installment of his Rockies Mailbag.
Pose a Rockies — or MLB — related question for the Rockies Mailbag.
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