Tracy needs to get back to what works

Why did the Rockies begin playing better once Clint Hurdle was fired and Jim Tracy took over? That's a difficult question to answer. Several Rockies started playing better after slumping for much of April and May, and that just happened to coincide with Tracy's elevation to manager. But one thing that Tracy did was to start using a consistent starting lineup.

Okay, Tracy didn't exactly send the same eight guys (plus pitcher) out there every single day. But he did start being more consistent with the team's daily lineups. Ian Stewart was allowed to stick at third base, rather than shifting between second and third. That meant that Clint Barmes was allowed to play every day. In the outfield, Tracy began playing Gonzalez, Fowler, and Hawpe most of the time, giving Spilborghs a few starts against lefties and giving Seth Smith the occasional start as well.

And now? While injuries have had something to do with it, Tracy's been shuffling his lineups around a lot over the last couple of weeks. Tracy is falling into the same trap that Hurdle was: we have four outfielders who should be starting, so let's try to give all of them some starts instead of just sticking with the same guys every day. On paper, it seems like a decent idea; after all, everybody gets some rest along the way, and we can bench or play guys based on who's hitting well. Yet paradoxically, it seems to have the opposite effect. If a guy knows that he might wind up on the bench after a bad game or two, he's going to press... and he's not going to play as well. And somewhat strangely, the one outfielder who seems to be the most entrenched, Brad Hawpe, is having an awful month.

Off-day fodder: Why isn't Dex playing?

It's not a cardinal rule of baseball. There's nothing that says that a player cannot lose his starting job because of an injury (aside, obviously, from the time when he's actually injured.) There are plenty of players in all sports who have gotten hurt, then come back only to find that another player had played so well in his absence that he's no longer a starter. (Tom Brady, anyone?)

With that said, it's difficult to understand the Rockies' logic behind benching Dexter Fowler since he returned from the disabled list. While Dex's playing time isn't at Omar Quintanilla levels, he's only made three starts in the month of September. I understand the desire to play the hot bats, especially in a playoff run, but it's hard to suggest that Fowler hasn't been hot. While he's hitting just .250 in September, he hit .361 -- with a .623 SLG -- in August. That September BA is based on just 16 official at bats, as well.

As if the logic needed more clouding, the bats the Rockies have been playing in place of Fowler aren't exactly tearing the cover off the ball. Seth Smith is hitting well right now, but Carlos Gonzalez has been so-so lately -- he's hitting .247 in September after, like Fowler, killing the ball in August. And Brad Hawpe is struggling. He's hitting a paltry .154 for the month. After an All-Star first half, Hawpe's clearly come down quite a lot since the break, and it wouldn't surprise me at all to see him traded during the offseason.

Which brings me back to Fowler. Carlos Gonzalez is young and has a ton of potential, but Smith is older than you might think (he'll be 27 later this month.) While he's had a good year, this is realistically about as good as we can expect him to be as he's already close to his peak. Hawpe is now 30, and players of his type -- power hitters with bad gloves and below-average speed -- fall off more quickly than you might think. It's very possible that Hawpe's second half is the start of a trend, not just a mere slump, and it's also possible that he won't be in a Rockies uniform next year. Dex oozes potential, and he needs to get playing time. So why not play him some more?