Let’s first just take a moment to step back and bask in that fact.

Rockies news and links for February 14 Corey Dickerson Jersey , 2019"WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Scaling the RocksPebble ReportRockpileRockies Game ThreadsRockies Fan ExperienceRockpilePressure will be on the Colorado Rockies starting rotation in 2019New,120commentsRockies news and links for February 14, 2019MSTShareTweetShareSharePressure will be on the Colorado Rockies starting rotation in 2019Mile-high milestone: Rockies anchored by homegrown rotation | USA TodayThe Colorado Rockies have a clear area of strength: their starting rotation. With a tip of the cap to Jeff Bridich and Bud Black and so many others, it’s just so awesome that the Rockies think their rotation can stack up with anybody and they’re not wrong or crazy.As for 2019, this article drives home the pressure on the starting rotation as the Rockies try to catch the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West. Kyle Freeland and German Marquez need to be studs again. Jon Gray needs to get on track. Tyler Anderson needs to be more consistent. Antonio Senzatela and a cast of others need to offer depth.There are plenty of reasons to think they can get it done in 2019. But it also doesn’t take much for starting rotations, especially young starting rotations, to have things unravel. That’s the pressure on these young pitchers as we get ready for Spring Training.Rockies spring training guide: Five key issues, with what’s new and needed in Colorado | The Athletic ($)It doesn’t take long to list off what’s new in Colorado. In with Daniel Murphy, out with DJ LeMahieu and Adam Ottavino. What is needed is a more complicated question.The obvious need for improvement lies with the offense. That doesn’t mean that we should just assume the starting rotation is set to dominate again in 2019. As Nick Groke notes in this rundown, it’s a lot of pressure on a young rotation to keep up as the league adjusts to them. It’s also always dicey to assume young starting pitchers will stay healthy.That brings us to potential questions for the Rockies on the pitching side. Will they have the depth in the rotation if they need it? Do they have enough firepower in the bullpen? Now is the time of year when it’s fun to consider those questions Austin Meadows Jersey , and the Rockies have a lot of them even as they look like contenders once again.Trevor Story Will Do More Than Play a Superb Shortstop and Slug for the Rockies This Season | ForbesThe Rockies need their offense to be better in 2019. Part of that will come down to improvements from guys already on the roster and youngsters coming up through the system. But an equally important part of that will be sustained contributions from the good performers such as Story.As Jack Etkin notes in this article, Story will have to step up in a different way this season as well. He will need to be a leader for whichever prospect grabs the second base job, whether it be one or a combination of Ryan McMahon, Garrett Hampson and Brendan Rodgers.Story seems like the type who will be up to the task. This also underlines the importance of strong locker room guys, a consistent priority for the Rockies. Just because they overpaid doesn’t mean those guys don’t provide leadership.Machado and Harper haven’t signed because baseball teams are now run like ‘quant funds’ | CNBCIt’s me, a guy with two English literature degrees, here to tell you that I still have no idea what a quant fund is. I do know this article by Michael Santoli is too quick to assume that the rise of analytics in baseball means the end of traditional scouting. That’s a false choice and teams still use both.I also know that if some front offices view their teams as a portfolio in cold hard terms, that doesn’t necessarily include the Rockies. For better or for worse, the Rockies seem to factor in other considerations. That brings you questionable moves like Ian Desmond’s contract or CarGo’s return last season, but it might also bring you a Nolan Arenado mega extension as the rest of the league avoids Machado and Harper. Here’s hoping! MINNEAPOLIS — Stephen Gonsalves’ major league debut didn’t go nearly the way he imagined it. The young left-hander allowed four runs on six hits while needing 55 pitches to get through just 1 1/3 innings on Monday against the Chicago White Sox.He’ll get another chance to show why he was considered the Minnesota Twins‘ No. 5 prospect Saturday when he takes the mound again Colin Moran Jersey , this time against the Oakland Athletics at Target Field.Article continues below ...“As much as I think he’s got a pretty cool, calm demeanor, there was obviously an effect of being here for the first time in a major-league game, and not spring training,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said of Gonsalves’ nightmarish debut. “That’s not necessarily a bad thing or a knock, it’s just kind of the reality of it sinking in. You’re out there and you’ve got a lot of time to think and you look up and see your parents and your fiancée, in a big-league stadium.“That’s my take on it, I think it affected him. The command issues that were hampering him a little bit earlier had been kind of cleaned up, and he had been doing really well with all his pitches, and last night David Freese Jersey , we didn’t see that.”Gonsalves (0-1, 27.00 ERA) admitted that nerves were a factor in his first outing.“It’s been my childhood dream to get here,” Gonsalves said. “The fact I can call myself a big-league pitcher is unbelievable. All the bullpen guys, I put a little stress on them. But they all came up to me and said it’s still a big deal.“My whole first inning, the back leg was shaking. By the second inning, I was fine.”He’ll need to be a little bit better than “fine” against the A’s. Oakland has been one of the hottest teams in baseball since the All-Star break and comes into Game 3 of this four-game set looking to gain ground on the AL West-leading Houston Astros.The A’s had dropped two straight games — their first consecutive losses since late July — before snapping that slump behind Matt Chapman’s three-run homer Friday night.Oakland goes into Saturday’s contest 1 1/2 games back of Houston in the divisional race but up four on Seattle for the second AL wild-card spot. Mike Fiers (9-6, 3.21) has been a key part of the A’s surge, and he will start Saturday’s game. The veteran right-hander is 2-0 with a 1.47 ERA in three starts since he was acquired by Oakland and is coming off his best performance of the season. He held the Rangers to one hit over seven scoreless innings with eight strikeouts in a 9-0 victory on Monday.He needed 46 pitches to get through his first two innings but cruised through his final five frames, tossing just 54.“How he turned it around, throwing as many pitches as he did early on http://www.padresfanproshop.com/authentic-brad-hand-jersey ,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “It didn’t look like he had command of really anything, then he and (catcher Jonathan Lucroy) were discussing things on the bench and I think (Lucroy) pointed out he was a little offline, and all of a sudden it was a quick fix. It’s what batterymates will do for each other. After that, he was fantastic.”Fiers is 5-1 with a 3.06 ERA in nine career appearances (eight starts) against Minnesota, but has not faced the Twins this season.