World Baseball Classic, Update // MLB: Colorado Rockies, San Diego Padres, Arizona Diamondbacks.

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WBC  ---   Team USA will jump into the World Baseball Classic competition on March 8, versus Team Mexico,  America advantaged by having Cy Young + knuckleball-master, R.A. Dickey (Toronto Blue Jays), as starting hurler, and Ryan Braun (Milwaukee Brewers) as on-base and long ball hitter. Presently, Team Cuba is hottest in the first week/first round of the WBC, having clobbered Team China, 12-0, on Monday, and on the Saturday before having defeated Team Brazil, 5-2, suggesting that Team Cuba may become the favorite for a top three finish and perhaps gaining the 2013 WBC championship title, challenged by possibles from Japan, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic and the USA, though Team Japan has been the top candidate for winning the 2013 WBC-trifecta (three round dominance and the title), as they had during the 2009 WBC.

Team Japan and Team Cuba will battle it out on March 6, indicating an early and informed guess about which is best for the long haul. Next day, Team Venezuela will face Team Dominican Republic, the former hefted by U.S. MLB’s 2012 MVP, Miguel Cabrera (Detroit Tigers).

A high note is that eight of the WBC-assigned national teams will also face MLB clubs during America’s spring training period, e.g., Team USA will face the Colorado Rockies tomorrow evening, @ Phoenix, Arizona.

            Colorado Rockies  ---   Yes, it’s great seeing that Colorado Rockies infielder Juan Pacheco and outfielder Michael Cuddyer are the team’s top spring training hitters, and that LH Jeff Francis and RH Juan Nicasio are hurling well during training, an indication of strengths that could help keep the Colorado franchise leaping ahead of other franchises. But another, and perhaps better way, of knowing where the Rockies will be in the MLB standings by, say, early May, is to look at the scheduled home games that will challenge the Rockies starting with a three-game series versus the San Diego Padres, April 5-7, next vs. the New York Mets, April 15-18, followed by a series vs. the Arizona Diamondbacks, April 19-21.

So, we’re talking nine “home-advantage” games that if won by the Rockies could make a strong difference for them regarding the early season rankings and an edge toward division leadership within the National League.  

Against the Padres, an under .500 team in 2012 (they finished 20th in the MLB rankings, with 76 wins and 86 losses), the Rockies will be facing a team that did better than they in 2012, the Rockies having finished 28^th and sixth from last in the MLB season standings---64 wins, 98 losses (ugh!).

For 2013, the Rockies will be up against a Padres club having 10 hitters with batting averages .240 and higher, among them, third baseman, Chase Headley, a 2012 MVP candidate, his BA .286, on-base percentage 343, with 31 home runs and 151 RBI’s. The OBP's of the Padres five top hitters have certainly been high, more than .330 as an aggregate, but as with the Rockies those on-base hits failed to end up as enough runs for winning more games, while the Padres pitching staff has, like that of the Rockies, lacked enough starters capable of setting up leads within a game’s first four innings. For 2013, the Padres will be counting on a new starter rotation asset acquired from the Oakland A’s, RH Ty Ross, in spite of Ross’s most recent season ERA, 5.3.  

The N.Y. Mets fell just below the Padres in the 2012 MLB rankings---23d, this from 74 wins and 88 losses, but they finished higher than the Rockies and they will still have third baseman and super hitter, David Wright, one of MLB’s top players in 2012---.301 BA, .391 OBP, 93 RBI’s. Also, though the Mets may regret having traded away R.A. Dickey to the Toronto Blue Jays, the trade brought in catcher/reliable hitter, Travis D’Arnaud, who belted 16 home runs in 2012, and achieved 52 RBI’s off of a .297 OBP, his BA .333. And, the Mets line-up includes second baseman, Dan Murphy, .291 BA, 332 OBP, 65 RBI’s, plus shortstop, Ruben Tejada, .289 BA, .333 OBP. But among starting pitchers, the Mets can only boast of one winner, LH Jon Niese, 13-9 during 2012, and only one Mets reliever had an ERA below 3.0 during 2012.

Among the MLB teams cited here, the D-Backs finished best in 2012, though at the margin, .500 from 81 wins, 81 losses, 17^th in the rankings. The D’s will probably be hardest for the Rockies to defeat in April, in that the Arizona team has three winning pitchers within its starter rotation, LH Wade Miley, 16-11, RH Ian Kennedy, 15-12, and, Trevor Cahill, 13-12, plus four relievers with ERA’s below 3.0.

However, viewed against the best qualities of the Padres, Mets and the D-Backs, and the Rockies 2012 slot in final season standings, the Coloradans cannot be defined easily as a losing ball club. The Rockies had four hitters with .300 and higher BA’s in 2012, and five between .260 and .300, and nine with OBP’s above .300, seven hitters with more than 50 RBI’s, and though in 2012 only one Rockies starting pitcher came close to being a winning hurler, the LH Jeff Francis (6-7), nearly all of the Rockies relievers kept their ERA’s low.

There’s no reason to think that the nine home games cited above will be about the Rockies being mice facing lions, not that a good number of lions haven’t fallen to other lions.

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