Jackson Holliday returns to Coors Field for the first time since the 2007 World Series... seriously

welcome in to the Rockies Insider I am your Rockies Insider Patrick lions and joining me on a very special episode we've got to talk about the return of Matt holiday Jackson holiday in a way he was here as a little kid and now to cap it all off the full Trifecta the return of Danielle allentuck to Colorado what's going on Danielle not much I'm so excited to be back yeah we we've missed you here uh you you've gone on to some winning ways there with the Baltimore banner and uh and and back in Colorado and and I know you were able to do a little bit of hiking already you know how to travel really well how was that enjoying some of the extra fresh Colorado Air I mean you just like forget what the air is like here the sky is so blue um I just love the mountains Rocky Mountain National Park is one of my favorite places in the world so I was really happy that I didn't have to go to La a place that's not my favorite Baseball City and I could come to col early and go do all my favorite hikes yeah I was surprised to learn that the Orioles had not been to La since like 2016 like there are still those strange matchups and you go yeah I guess you don't normally see Dodgers Orioles against each other so uh how how do you think the Orioles fared there I know they've been scrapping a little bit over the last month or so uh particularly on the road despite a a rather good road record for the full season they're just very inconsistent right now they have so many injuries to so many key people they got out of that LA series probably as you would expect from the way that they're playing right now you know they won one game which was big for them and that was on the day when it was you know a guy who they dfade earlier this year and brought back Cole irvan so not their strongest starter um and he was able to get the job done for them that was the game that they won um the next game Corbin Burns who has not been pitching like Corbin Burns this month didn't do great that day and last night they just they didn't get the big hit which has just been their problem for the past two months so I just from watching to see him every day I was not surprised how they played but I think that getting at least one win there was big for them yeah and maybe they're they're getting some of their their bad spell their bad stretch out of the way now I I know they they got in really late last night like at going from LA to Colorado you're already going to lose an hour of time and then that late flight with the late game game so I don't know if we'll get batting practice today on Friday we'll preview the series in a little bit I I'm just curious what are your thoughts on the state of the Rockies here the last year and a half two full seasons since you left I I imagine it's probably gone similar to how you may have even predicted it that would have gone so I left last May May 2023 and I was looking at the roster yesterday and I probably only know half the guys which is just wild that it's hasn't been that long it's only been a little over full season since I left and they've had that much turnover um so that was really shocking to me but I mean last year you knew they were going to lose 100 games you knew it from the third spring training which I did cover for them this year it's just sort of seems like more of the same um I I mean I haven't been there every day to kind of figure out what direction they're trying to go in right now but it's not entirely clear from an outsider's perspective um nor has it been the last couple of years um but they have these guys who are locked up for these extensions and these young guys and that's about it from Outsiders perspective that they have going for them so I'm intrigued now that they have somebody's higher draft picks where they go from here but I just it's kind of exactly played out as I thought it would yeah that that's a common comment from people all around baseball is it doesn't seem like there is maybe a true direction as you said everyone's locked up and everyone's in place and some of the pieces change and and you're right a lot really in the last year year and a half you you basically have a core unit that continues to come back year after year after year a couple of them will will swap in and out and maybe those core pieces are a little bit better right now with with the Ascension of Breton Doyle and Ezekiel Tovar it still is the same group year after year after year so um you're right probably not a surprise to to you and and a lot of other people second consecutive 100 Lost season and attendance also probably not a surprise for you uh to to see how well the Rockies are doing now attendance has dipped by about 71,000 since last year about a little over a thousand per game that ranks 22nd in terms of changed attendance Mets have had the biggest change for the worst but like you said you come out to Colorado uh which a lot of people do it's a great tourist City and it's a lot of folks aren't originally from Colorado so they're going to show up to a couple Rockies games is also going to show up to a couple games of their favorite team it really does seem like the this organization or or at least the tenance at cours field is very much Recession Proof yeah I mean that's what I always thought I mean Denver is a transplant City I mean we're both transplants let's let's be real you're from New Jersey I'm from Maryland originally so when I moved out here you know I didn't have any allegiance to any Colorado sports teams at the time um and neither did any of my friends I didn't have a single friend who's actually from Denver um so they would always want to come to games when the team from their Hometown was there you know my when was from Wisconsin she wanted to come watch the Brewers so that to me always made you know no matter how bad the Rockies were playing people still went to games and like you said there's people who fly into Colorado stay in Denver for a night or two and then go up to the mountains and they catch a game while they're down here I actually met a bunch of ORS fans yesterday who were doing that um so in that case I mean I that is surprising that the numbers gone down that much for Crisfield but there still great attendant I think they may even be better than Orioles honestly yeah that that is strange to think about and you know Orioles a a team that's you know in around the best in the American League as far as record is concerned and you say oh man Orioles fans are going to take over Kors field I don't actually know that that's necessarily going to be true I don't know that Orioles fans travel well the fan Bas has obviously taken a hit over over how poorly they've played but you're saying that they are G there's going to be a ton of orange out there this weekend huh so oral fans travel ridiculously well you know we'll be at the airport in Baltimore getting ready to go it's in a race series en Tire flight orol fans it is crazy it happens every single time and there's definitely some cities that are like more popular than others you know Tampa's a big one because they have uh Sarasota which is their training facility in driving distance of there New York's always a big one um Boston but you know they haven't been to Colorado in forever so I would expect there to actually be a decent amount of fans and for Rockies fans who don't know the way you can tell aside from the orange which is bright and obnoxious is during the national anthem they will shout do and that's how you know how many orol fans are in attendance O say can you see there you go o which for people who who don't like how how some folks respond and react to the national anthem that's equally as disrespectful if you really want to break it down but now is not the time orl uh Danielle let's let's talk about these these Orioles and kind of go back a little bit let's let's look back at you know where they were to to get to this place and it's kind of easy to say that hey their rebuild has worked but not all teams who were tanking were able to do it properly I'm just curious how much does that come up or get discussed by michelas and the front office and do fans recognized you know how important that decision was however difficult it was at the time so fans most certainly recognize you know the decisions that the oils made you know and it I I think the difference between oils and Iraqis and I'm sorry just defense Rocky fans it's when the ORS were really bad they had really good prospects that everybody kind of knew they were coming you know they had Jackson holiday and adley rushman and all these other guys eventually Jackson holiday and Kobe Mayo and all these other guys who you know were top 100 prospects um at one point they had I believe 10 top 100 prospects in the country so while they were really really bad for three seasons you know 300 L Seasons there was at least that little bit of like okay at least are drafting well at least there's that hope that these guys are coming up and you know you look at when adley rushman debuted in 2022 and just the course of this team just changed completely and they've had two other top prospects since then gunar Henderson Jackson holiday I think they're about to have another one or Sam basio who's a 20-year-old who just got promoted to Triple A so they have just been a really good drafting team and now they're starting to sign International prospects well which is what Samuel baso is is and so all these factors combined have just you know contributed to the success that you're seeing now from them and it was a strategic approach you know I I I look back on the the Astros and cubs who were the first teams to really say hey if if we're not going to be good we might as well be bad because being in the middle is is virtually pointless and the Rockies lost a ton of games from 2012 to 2015 and they thought they were going to be good and the for the same four-year period of time from 2011 to 2014 only lost one more game so you had a team that was strategically tanking to be bad in order to get better and win a World Series which they did and another team in the Rockies who were just as bad and they were trying to be really good and so they didn't get the same benefits that teams like the Cubs Astros and now the Orioles did I'm also C I'm als one thing the benefit for the orils right now is manager Brandon Hyde was on the Cubs coaching side during that time general manager mik Elias was part of the Astros we buil so they have been through this before which I think is what really help their turnaround now that's such a great Point too because I was just talking with someone Marlins were in town and we were talking about the fact that it seems like another rebuild for the Marlins but now you have someone in place who is very talented at rebuilding a roster on the cheap in Peter Bendix who comes from one of those winning organizations like the Tampa Bay Rays and so when you have really great and Bonafide baseball people in charge who have that track record of success like in Baltimore and now possibly in Miami you're more likely to have that kind of quicker turnaround and get things on the right track right yeah I'm glad you brought up Brandon highy because I was I was curious that you know he was a part of two of those 100 loss two of the three 100 loss Seasons Buck schalter there uh in that first one and I know Houston during their tanking they dumped Bo Porter Cubs went through three different managers in four years before handing the team over to Joe Madden how how is it that the Orioles decided to stick with Brandon Hy and and how has it actually worked out so well for both parties yeah it it's you're right it's very rare that day decided to stick rip him and I think a main reason that they did was the unexpected success they had in 2022 you know the ray from May on the rest of that year they had a winning record and part of that was because rushman and Henderson debuted that year um but also a lot of it was just the way Hyde managed that team you know he didn't have a lot of talent besides those couple guys at the time um so I think in the O point of view was he earned the chance to see the rebuild through and see it around he saw that last year leading him to the playoffs um this year you know his job has come into de question more mainly by fans Not by anybody inter internal as far as that I've heard but he is a really big fan of you know treating every game like it's most important game in the world which I I don't think is a bad thing um but he will make a switch in the fourth inning if a pitcher is coming in to get a left or right-handed bat into lineups and switch things up like that um and sometimes it plays out and sometimes it falls apart and I think that because of that reason people are like you know you just have if a player's hot if he has two hits let him stay in you know you don't always have to go match up base but he is very very matchup phase um so I'm curious how that continues to play out especially the team you know continues this inconsistent Trend that they're on now but I I don't think by any means his job is in Jeopardy right now I think that they trust him they've seen what he's done the last two years and know that a lot of other factors right now to blame for the way the team is playing yeah I I don't think we're going to have a Mariners situation where they got rid of Scott service there they were they were falling out of contention Oriol are are are still there so his job as you said is is definitely safe Orioles 12 and 13 in July 12 and 14 so far in the month of August I know it's kind of a delicate balance but you know how how do you think they might manage the the pushing for the division trying to earn that first round by with also you know easing into the final month just a little bit to stay that much more fresh in October they they did that a little bit in 2023 or they dealt with that situation last year how do you think they might address that this year so I think it's really helped them that the Yankees are also inconsistent right now um I think I think they're only a game and a half behind the Yankees right now last time that I checked um which is really nothing and they have a four game series to end the year which will be you know crucial as you run down us so I think that they're still very much in the division race um I I think in ori's favor I think that they have a lot of guys who could be coming back from an i soon you know the Rockies fans could see Zack effin on Sunday coming back from the I to start Danny kulum one of their best relievers could come back Jordan Westberg their second basem and so they're going to have a lot of reinforcements coming which will give some of these other guys who have been forced to play every day because they have nobody else right now a little bit of rest um I wouldn't be surprised if in the next couple weeks you see a couple starters getting a start off um Corbin Burns did not have a good August but he has made every start this year on schedule and he pitched an the allar game and he had twins so he's flying back and forth to Arizona all the time so I wouldn't be surprised you know with an off day coming up they just skip a turn um because he's one of the most important if not the most important guy on the team right now so uh I think you'll see a couple extra rest days for adley rushman as you get going um I think they learned a lot from last year about how you know they weren't their freshes in the playoffs um even though they had that week off because they won a division so I think you'll see them learn a lot of lessons from that and kind of take that into the last month of the Season yeah that that'll be interesting to see how how they do that as you said probably learned from last year year is is there anything to learn or anything to know about gunar Henderson right now he's obviously a top tier Talent him and Bobby Wht Junior two Al Short Stops that's going to be really fun to watch over the next decade plus but he's cooled down uh quite a bit since July what's the level of concern for him right now I don't think there's a huge level of concern there was a concern maybe a couple weeks ago by his defense um he was making a lot of Errors towards the end of the first half of the season started the second half um I think that's leveled out I think he's gotten better there um I I think this is still for him you know this is his first last year was his first Major League season full he had two months where he slumped this year is his first time not slumping to start the season so I'm not entirely surprised he's not going through the best time period right now but I think he is out of it I think adley rushman is kind of the bigger concern right now trying to figure out what's going on with him yeah it's funny we we we say hey Gunner's kind of going through some things right now and yet he's one Homer away from tying the Orioles alltime home run record by a short stop he's and really one visit away uh at Kors field from passing both K ripin Jr and Miguel tahada with 34 home runs so he's sitting there at 33 by the end of this weekend uh he very well might get himself right and have himself a franchise record yeah and he's still in the MVP conversation in my opinion at least I don't think he's going to win I think Aaron judge is kind of running away with that maybe con too um but he's definitely going to receive top five votes and he's 23 years old yeah you you mentioned a little bit of concern about adley Rutman what's what has been going on for those that uh might not be informed so he is a little beat up um he had a sore back that took him out for a couple days he was also been hit a couple times by pites which this entire Oriols lineup has been hit a lot this year but particularly him and he plays a very demanding position as catcher um he has just looked off at the plate for probably the last month and a half two months um his Ops is really low during this time period I think it's maybe only like 500 600 uh last time I checked um so not ideal for him he just hasn't been producing in the big situations like they need him to who's it's funny you talk about you know him slumping a little bit Gunner going through some issues feels like every team has that guy maybe towards the bottom of the line that when they come up you go all right maybe you can you can take take a deep breath and and and compose yourself but that's the guy you got to look out for for the Rockies it's been Jake cave uh Jake cave is the man of the people he's the rally starter for the Rockies so uh for the Orioles fans keep an eye on Cave because when he comes up that's when you know it it might go down H when when you think you're safe who's that guy for the Orioles right now is it Eloy Jimenez it maybe um I not my first answer I would go Anthony s there um he's a switch hitter I don't think think he's very well known in the league yet even though he wasn't allar this year he is I believe third in home runs right now he may have dropped a four5 been in a Mountains for a couple of days so not quite caught up on my numbers but last time I checked he was third in the league in home runs um he has just been off the charts this year he's had a couple Grand Slams he's had a couple game-winning hits um he's been incredible Ramone urius is so hot right now he is playing Third Base because they have nobody else to play Third Base right now they are that jard right now at the J field and he's been great he has more home runs this month than he had all of last season so he has been incredible for them he has been the guy in a lot of situations when nobody else in the lineup is hitting he's had two other three hits that day so he has been great this month yeah I think he just got his 10th home run Orioles have the most players with 10 or more homers in all of baseball nine pretty much one through nine right other than guys on the I like you said he's playing third base for Jordan Westberg so that's a deep lineup I mean Cedric mullen's a guy who some people I think are are pretty familiar with he might have even been on Team USA uh somewhat recently so you know he's he's a superstar guy who's who's having somewhat of a Down year but you got him hitting seventh and then right behind him batting eighth the hometown kid in a way Jackson holiday the return of Jackson holiday I don't know if he's officially never been back to Colorado since 2007 since he was a three-year-old I imagine in 2018 when Matt came back to play for you know the final two months of the Season maybe he was in the building and whatnot but uh what have you seen so far in the early going of the big league career of Jackson holiday yeah I mean he cut off to such a bad start and he'll be the first one in a minut it I mean it's very clear based on the facts that he went I believe it was two for 34 in his first 10 major league games um he came up there was so much fanfare about him you know the media scrum eight people deep just in a lot of lot L of attention on a 20-year-old making his major league debut and he couldn't live up to the pressure you know he had a really really bad first 10 games and they optioned him and it was very surprising that he got optioned that quickly and that they didn't let it play out but it ended up being the right decision for him you know he goes back down to Triple A he does have a little wrist injury in there which I think was a nice little reset for him nothing serious just a little minor thing comes back up after the trade deadline hits a grand slam his first game back his first major league home run heal Oriols when just couldn't write it any better um he had a really good first two weeks back up in a major after that he had a fourhead game he you know had his first multihomer weekend just doing great stuff and he's kind of leveled out since then um but he's still you know doing so much better than he was first time around and defensively this is his first year playing second base ever so that's been a little bit of adjustment but I have seen so much progress from where he is now to where he was in spring training at second base so he's come a long way defensively yeah I was thinking that uh I was curious about that hype like is it just more National hype and then locally there there there hasn't been as much pressure I imagine again depending on where you're looking there they're probably is that that hype and there is that pressure but in a lineup where you're surrounded by guys and now you're you're hitting eighth I imagine that he's settled in he's like yeah this isn't the Jackson holiday show this is the Baltimore Orioles and I'm a I'm a cog in that system uh for for having that kind of success I recommend everyone to go check out a wonderful article that you wrote Danielle was fantastic the stories of Jackson CH excuse me the stories of Jackson holiday's childhood As Told by his father's teammate you can check that out over on the Baltimore Banner great work as always from you so I'm uh we we'll get a chance to talk to Matt he's gonna be going today this afternoon we'll have some of that video up on the Rockies Insider on YouTube Jackson will be talking inside the clubhouse uh well Ethan is there going to be a press conference from Ethan I haven't heard about that yet is he gonna maybe is he going to do like a LeBron decision kind of show like I've decided here's where I want to play and I don't care if they're the seventh overall pick obviously he can't do that but that will be interesting to see that if if maybe the Rockies get the first overall pick or even or the second or the third if you know a team doesn't want to go ahead and pay that that big bonus to Ethan holiday if he could end up in Colorado that that would make for quite yet another interesting story for the holiday family and the Colorado Rockies yes there one and they say he could be a number one pick you know first Brothers they go both number one so be interesting to see what happens there yeah doing doing a Manning brothers kind of thing there going first overall that's neat have you seen Ethan around like he's bigger like he's built a little bit more like his dad apparently he is yeah he is definitely bigger I think he's already taller than Jackson um saw a lot more in the beginning um when Jackson first came up haven't seen him much since then but you know he has his own baseball to play and school and all that jazz so can't be around every day is there a name for that cutout in left field like I I I don't know if it's been given any kind of name we know in Kors field there's the bridage barrier out in right center that's preventing balls so this is the reverse this is well this is also preventing home runs I should say it's not the reverse it's almost the exact same thing but instead of a wall they just have a a clobber cave you could use that if you want that's that's what I've come up with the clobber cave just balls go there to die in our outs is there a name for it yet we call it Walmore oh okay I didn't come up with it it was before my time but it it's just kind of stuck yeah that's uh that's interesting out there but I mean Gunner's he went opposite field I think once that way didn't he and adel's gone opposite field too couple couple random things Orioles just claimed Force wall off waivers we Reigns to be seen if we'll see him this weekend but it was kind of interesting and and I I know you you'll like this Danielle Jesus tanoko came back with the Marlins came by to say hi to Buddy and some of the coaching staff he actually got the win on Thursday that was his first big league win he gets it at C's field as a member of the Miami Marlin so I don't know what Forest walls got left in his bag of tricks he already has a Homer in his career maybe he'll get his first triple his first walk-off hit for the Orioles but it's one of those stories where again it it it'll either come back to bite the Rockies or you know what as Bud would like to say that's baseball those things happen yeah yeah um we talked about the power in the lineup let's get into the pitching matchups Austin gber versus Albert Suarez on Friday Saturday felner versus Dean Kramer and then Sunday it's gonna be Cal Quant against to be announced but it does seem like as you've kind of hinted at Zack effin probably coming off the iil to make that start on Sunday so not three of their uh most noteworthy uh pitchers going in Colorado uh they're again this is a great team this is a first place of clubz has the best starter ER this season better than Corbin Burns yeah so they're so they're not names like people are hey I want to see Grayson Rodriguez or maybe even Zack effin or Corbin Burns but right the numbers are are actually there for these guys uh it's it's a really good squad I mean right now there's an entire rotation on the iil between effin K bradish John means Grayson Rodriguez and Tyler Wells so injuries are part of the game like I think a lot of people will will Overlook that when they see the Rockies are going to lose a 100 games in consecutive years and point to you know the loss of two stalwarts in the rotation and senzel and Marquez but every team has to deal with these kind of injuries and the Orioles are right there with them yeah I mean it's been I don't want to say disaster injury rise but it's just been a awful awful year for them you know they've had three of their starters need season ending surgery in the same week you know there's only so much you can do to replace those guys and Albert s who will be pitching tonight is one of those guys who stepped up when they needed him for those who don't know him he debuted for the Giants in 2016 pitch a little bit for them in 2017 decides to go overseas go to Japan go to South Korea gets injured in South Korea so he gets kicked off of his team comes back to the US and the oil ass sign him to minor league deal and all of a sudden he is you know their best starter their most consistent guy for them so he is to me a comeback player the year and he has just been incredible for them all year long so consistent yeah you definitely like stories like that um Craig Kim the opposite of comeback player of the year he's who's in the ninth now is it Yer Canó I know Felix Batista another one of those injuries you're kind of alluding to there uh done for the year who who's in the ninth and are you going to be a little bit worried to see how it kind of plays out because you've seen a lot of games get crazy here at corfield so SAR Anthony Dominguez who they traded for to deadline from the Phillies is they they won't officially call him their closer but he's the guy who's been getting the ball in the nines all right Danielle go ahead and plug away thanks for joining me everyone's really excited to have you back this weekend uh more so than the holiday guys like who cares about them Danielle's coming to town uh so go ahead and plug away let let folks know where they can catch all of your Orioles content yeah I'm on Twitter at Dore allent talk and then on the Baltimore banner.com that's good stuff right there the rocky Insider podcast leave review rate comment we love that same thing on YouTube Rockies inssider and Patrick deons Patrick deons MLB Danielle appreciate the momentum you've given me here but you know as nobody other than me likes to say that momentum is only as good as my next show so I will talk to you then