Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We're on until six o'clock this evening with Broncos Country
tonight coming up.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
We got the All Star Game for Major League Baseball.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Definitely have some baseball in our minds, especially after last
night's in the home run derby and our color Rockies
drafting Ethan Holiday, and to help us break it all down,
we head out to the KWA Comma Spirit Health Highline
and bringing a very good friend of the program, the
one and only Thomas Harding. Thomas, my friend, how are you?
Speaker 3 (00:24):
I feel good? I feel clean, taking a little bit
of an All Star break before I lean back into
the second half of what's been a total mess.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
For the Rocky and mess is a good way to
describe it, for sure.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Tell us a little bit about before we get into
the first half and expectations for the second half the draft.
Everybody seems to be very amped about Ethan Holiday. How
quickly do you think that he might even get a
chance to play in the big leagues.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
I'll tell you what, Jackson Holiday almost came up his
first full year in the miners, and I wouldn't be
surprised if Ethan isn't in that conversation. Aren't he? Because
he is a big, strong, good applet that can hit
some home runs. A lot of those guys making some
major sleets quickly. And if you're the Colorado Rockies and
I was looking at their system, I actually spent some
(01:09):
time with the Double A team last week. Thirteen guys
who were in Double A last year played at some
point with the team this year with the big league team,
and they're going to get more chances. And I'm going
to be surprised that five or six of those Double
A guys also got to get some the majors this year.
So they're moving them through quickly. That's part of the problem.
You're not enough veterans to hold down these positions to
(01:31):
let the younger guys get ready. So he's a holiday.
He could be in the Rockies sooner than you know it.
Could it be next season. I wouldn't rule that out.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
Hey, hey, Thomas, so this is Shelby.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Here is here?
Speaker 4 (01:43):
I guess my question is, of all the other draft
things and no order in general, who are you most
excited about other than holiday?
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Okay, other than ethan holiday? There are a couple that
I'm pretty excited about because of what we've seen from
the Rockies JB. Middleton, the second round pick. I'm really
excited for him. Right hander, kind of shorter than your
prototypical right hand, but his stuff is really good. It's
very well. Nearly took Southern Methodists to the I'm sorry,
(02:15):
other of Mississippi to the College World Series. He's the
guy I'm excited about because he's been through some things,
an injury, some stumps, and it may be the kind
of person work his way through the Rocky system. The
other guy is you know, there are a number of them,
but Cam Milton, who I think third fourth round pick
(02:36):
out of Wake Forest, an incredible athlete. He missed a
lot of times last year because of a soft tissue injury,
but he's the type of athlete that the Rockies haven't had.
Not the biggest guy in the world. He doesn't take
that home run swing, but he can give you a
good debt. He could really run. He's very athletic. I mean,
just the type of guy that when you look through
a batting order, Yeah, you want to have your big bompers,
(02:59):
you want to have to speak guys. You want to
have a guy also that maybe isn't the biggest guy
in the world, but can hit a home run the
opposite way, So he is exciting me.
Speaker 5 (03:09):
Thomas, let me ask you just off the draft and
about the Rockies in particular, and you have covered them
for a long time and as well as anybody, and
so I want to ask you, just from a fans perspective,
with the season that the Rockies are having this year, what.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Do you think, if anything, the front.
Speaker 5 (03:32):
Office will do with respect to any kind of changes
once the season is done.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
I expect major changes. And the thing that hit me
was when Walker Montfort was promoted to executive vice president,
because while he has worked on the business side, my
understanding is that he is full of newer ideas. Now
the big question will be how much money will he
have to do with actually execute the ideas. My thought
(04:02):
about the Rockies is, and they take a lot of
them sleeves narrows for being behind the times. Part of
it to me is it's a bit of a thin organization.
Where maybe some organizations may have more people working on
a problem, it seems like the Rockies have fewer people
working on the problem. What I want to see a
(04:23):
is what happens at the top of the baseball operation.
Is it just a general manager right now you have
Bille Schmidt or is there a general manager, but above him,
maybe a veteran baseball person, someone who has been a
general manager, negotiated these contracts before getting here to Colorado
and work on it that way and throughout the organization.
That's what I've seen, is like it seems like they
(04:45):
need more help than just a house bleeding. I'm sure
there'll be some changes, but I would like to see
this more help, maybe a beef up organization.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Tom's Harden joining us from MLB dot Com at Harding
Underscore at Underscore MLB on Twitter. So I mean, again,
we don't know how the rest of the season is
going to play out, whether they'll end up with record
wise being the worst team in baseball history.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
They're certainly on target for that, But how would you.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Sum up the first half and there woes their issues
based on what you thought this season was going to be.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Well, it's really interesting. I was actually finishing my mid
term report with him, So I'll have to beat the deadlight,
or if they get as close to the deadlight that
I've blown. But if you look at the Rockies over
the past few years, they were forming to twenty twenty
five as the beginning of something special. But they lost
a bunch of pitchers to Tommy John surgery. A lot
(05:40):
of them that are just not pitching this year, including
Hermy Marquez and Antonio SI's a tell, but I count
at least four or five prospects that should be here.
They had Tommy John surgery.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
And also some.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Guys didn't pan out the way they wanted. I mean,
Brendan Rodgers, he was a good player, but was he
one of the leaders. David Dall, he was an All Star,
completely dropped off. So in the beginning they were already
behind him. Then when Ezekiel Tolberg got hurt the start
the season, that that that dumped them into this threatening
the worst team of all time because you already had
(06:13):
tyrostroa hurt. And as much as as much effort as
Chris Bryant put into getting getting healthy, he never did
get healthy. You've got a team that you look all
around the diamond and they're amusing people, and they're putting
out a team with a lot of guys that maybe
are trying to get trying to work their way into
the big leagues, maybe even not ready for the big leagues.
(06:35):
And this is what happens hy Thomas.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
Just for me, I guess last question for obviously, trade
deadlines obviously a big deal in baseball, and the Rockies
are obviously going to be sellers and they're not going
to buy. So for you, what who was most likely
to end up going in the trade deadline trade this year?
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Yeah, and I know the reputation as holding on the guys,
this is not the year to do it. I wouldn't
be surprised if Hermi Marcus and the other pitcher, the
left handed pitcher Alison Gomber with her in the last
year of their contracts, get something for them. Ryan McMahon,
he has some time left on his contract on a
good team. He's an asset as a great defender and
(07:20):
somebody to hit down in the order. He's hitting in
the meat of the order for the Rockies and that's
not working. Also, I would look around the field. I mean,
had a couple of guys out of the bullpen, Jake Burn,
Tyler Kinley, even Jimmy Hergert who's pitch well. Trade some
of those guys and maybe you can help build your system.
But I do want one of these trades, whether it's
one of those guys or whether it's Tyro Estrada or
(07:42):
Mickey Mognac or somebody like that, to get in a
veteran type because there aren't enough veterans and that's one
of the issues. Very quickly they make these trades. They
may weaken the team right now, but I'll help them
in the future. So they beat the trades and it
assures them of being the worst team ever. Let's look
in two years and see that hasn't helped them get
to be a continued fantastic point.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Thomas. Always great to catch up with you man. Thank
you so much for the time.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Hey, thanks for having me
We're on until six o'clock this evening with Broncos Country
tonight coming up.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
We got the All Star Game for Major League Baseball.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Definitely have some baseball in our minds, especially after last
night's in the home run derby and our color Rockies
drafting Ethan Holiday, and to help us break it all down,
we head out to the KWA Comma Spirit Health Highline
and bringing a very good friend of the program, the
one and only Thomas Harding. Thomas, my friend, how are you?
Speaker 3 (00:24):
I feel good? I feel clean, taking a little bit
of an All Star break before I lean back into
the second half of what's been a total mess.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
For the Rocky and mess is a good way to
describe it, for sure.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Tell us a little bit about before we get into
the first half and expectations for the second half the draft.
Everybody seems to be very amped about Ethan Holiday. How
quickly do you think that he might even get a
chance to play in the big leagues.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
I'll tell you what, Jackson Holiday almost came up his
first full year in the miners, and I wouldn't be
surprised if Ethan isn't in that conversation. Aren't he? Because
he is a big, strong, good applet that can hit
some home runs. A lot of those guys making some
major sleets quickly. And if you're the Colorado Rockies and
I was looking at their system, I actually spent some
(01:09):
time with the Double A team last week. Thirteen guys
who were in Double A last year played at some
point with the team this year with the big league team,
and they're going to get more chances. And I'm going
to be surprised that five or six of those Double
A guys also got to get some the majors this year.
So they're moving them through quickly. That's part of the problem.
You're not enough veterans to hold down these positions to
(01:31):
let the younger guys get ready. So he's a holiday.
He could be in the Rockies sooner than you know it.
Could it be next season. I wouldn't rule that out.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
Hey, hey, Thomas, so this is Shelby.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Here is here?
Speaker 4 (01:43):
I guess my question is, of all the other draft
things and no order in general, who are you most
excited about other than holiday?
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Okay, other than ethan holiday? There are a couple that
I'm pretty excited about because of what we've seen from
the Rockies JB. Middleton, the second round pick. I'm really
excited for him. Right hander, kind of shorter than your
prototypical right hand, but his stuff is really good. It's
very well. Nearly took Southern Methodists to the I'm sorry,
(02:15):
other of Mississippi to the College World Series. He's the
guy I'm excited about because he's been through some things,
an injury, some stumps, and it may be the kind
of person work his way through the Rocky system. The
other guy is you know, there are a number of them,
but Cam Milton, who I think third fourth round pick
(02:36):
out of Wake Forest, an incredible athlete. He missed a
lot of times last year because of a soft tissue injury,
but he's the type of athlete that the Rockies haven't had.
Not the biggest guy in the world. He doesn't take
that home run swing, but he can give you a
good debt. He could really run. He's very athletic. I mean,
just the type of guy that when you look through
a batting order, Yeah, you want to have your big bompers,
(02:59):
you want to have to speak guys. You want to
have a guy also that maybe isn't the biggest guy
in the world, but can hit a home run the
opposite way, So he is exciting me.
Speaker 5 (03:09):
Thomas, let me ask you just off the draft and
about the Rockies in particular, and you have covered them
for a long time and as well as anybody, and
so I want to ask you, just from a fans perspective,
with the season that the Rockies are having this year, what.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Do you think, if anything, the front.
Speaker 5 (03:32):
Office will do with respect to any kind of changes
once the season is done.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
I expect major changes. And the thing that hit me
was when Walker Montfort was promoted to executive vice president,
because while he has worked on the business side, my
understanding is that he is full of newer ideas. Now
the big question will be how much money will he
have to do with actually execute the ideas. My thought
(04:02):
about the Rockies is, and they take a lot of
them sleeves narrows for being behind the times. Part of
it to me is it's a bit of a thin organization.
Where maybe some organizations may have more people working on
a problem, it seems like the Rockies have fewer people
working on the problem. What I want to see a
(04:23):
is what happens at the top of the baseball operation.
Is it just a general manager right now you have
Bille Schmidt or is there a general manager, but above him,
maybe a veteran baseball person, someone who has been a
general manager, negotiated these contracts before getting here to Colorado
and work on it that way and throughout the organization.
That's what I've seen, is like it seems like they
(04:45):
need more help than just a house bleeding. I'm sure
there'll be some changes, but I would like to see
this more help, maybe a beef up organization.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Tom's Harden joining us from MLB dot Com at Harding
Underscore at Underscore MLB on Twitter. So I mean, again,
we don't know how the rest of the season is
going to play out, whether they'll end up with record
wise being the worst team in baseball history.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
They're certainly on target for that, But how would you.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Sum up the first half and there woes their issues
based on what you thought this season was going to be.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Well, it's really interesting. I was actually finishing my mid
term report with him, So I'll have to beat the deadlight,
or if they get as close to the deadlight that
I've blown. But if you look at the Rockies over
the past few years, they were forming to twenty twenty
five as the beginning of something special. But they lost
a bunch of pitchers to Tommy John surgery. A lot
(05:40):
of them that are just not pitching this year, including
Hermy Marquez and Antonio SI's a tell, but I count
at least four or five prospects that should be here.
They had Tommy John surgery.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
And also some.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Guys didn't pan out the way they wanted. I mean,
Brendan Rodgers, he was a good player, but was he
one of the leaders. David Dall, he was an All Star,
completely dropped off. So in the beginning they were already
behind him. Then when Ezekiel Tolberg got hurt the start
the season, that that that dumped them into this threatening
the worst team of all time because you already had
(06:13):
tyrostroa hurt. And as much as as much effort as
Chris Bryant put into getting getting healthy, he never did
get healthy. You've got a team that you look all
around the diamond and they're amusing people, and they're putting
out a team with a lot of guys that maybe
are trying to get trying to work their way into
the big leagues, maybe even not ready for the big leagues.
(06:35):
And this is what happens hy Thomas.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
Just for me, I guess last question for obviously, trade
deadlines obviously a big deal in baseball, and the Rockies
are obviously going to be sellers and they're not going
to buy. So for you, what who was most likely
to end up going in the trade deadline trade this year?
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Yeah, and I know the reputation as holding on the guys,
this is not the year to do it. I wouldn't
be surprised if Hermi Marcus and the other pitcher, the
left handed pitcher Alison Gomber with her in the last
year of their contracts, get something for them. Ryan McMahon,
he has some time left on his contract on a
good team. He's an asset as a great defender and
(07:20):
somebody to hit down in the order. He's hitting in
the meat of the order for the Rockies and that's
not working. Also, I would look around the field. I mean,
had a couple of guys out of the bullpen, Jake Burn,
Tyler Kinley, even Jimmy Hergert who's pitch well. Trade some
of those guys and maybe you can help build your system.
But I do want one of these trades, whether it's
one of those guys or whether it's Tyro Estrada or
(07:42):
Mickey Mognac or somebody like that, to get in a
veteran type because there aren't enough veterans and that's one
of the issues. Very quickly they make these trades. They
may weaken the team right now, but I'll help them
in the future. So they beat the trades and it
assures them of being the worst team ever. Let's look
in two years and see that hasn't helped them get
to be a continued fantastic point.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Thomas. Always great to catch up with you man. Thank
you so much for the time.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Hey, thanks for having me
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