http://www.sportsnipe.com Colorado Rockies, Team News, Updates, and Stats from all sports sources, updated continually. http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/1045285/friday-rockpile-free-agency-period-starts-today.html More photos » by Ben Margot - AP Did Garrett Atkins hit the ball in this situation? Well, soon the Rockies and their fans won't need to worry about that; some other team will deal with that problem. Browse more photos » Rockies Atkins awaiting "another team" - The Denver PostRenck's blog post about the decision to not release Garrett Atkins today turned into a regular article, but it's the first four words that made me stop for a moment. Clint Barmes, 30, is not the future. He's a stopgap until the Rockies can handle the issue internally. Maybe that'll take a year or two, but representing the future gives off a whole different connotation. Selig: Postseason schedule to be tightened | MLB.com: NewsMakes you wonder what would have happened in 2007 had the Rockies not waited 105 days to start the World Series. Selig: Some teams didn't make profit - The Denver Post World Soccer Digest - Shrinking the Soccer WorldSB Nation continues to grow as it develops a soccer community. World Soccer Digest will follow all the stories leading up to World Cup South Africa and go all out during the event. If you love soccer, WSD will be the place to go discuss the World Cup. Discuss any free agent signings today in this Rockpile. Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/1042823/state-rockies-sane-free-agency-preview.html Ladies and Gentlemen, the siren of the MLB free agency period once again beckons, luring unsuspecting baseball fans into wrecking their ships against the sharp jagged rocks--in this case dreams of big-ticket free agents for even the smallest markets, ill-conceived trade schemes, and long soliloquies about why the owner/GM/beat writer is a complete and utter moron. This column, my dear friends, is the beeswax to put in your ears to defend you from those beautiful seductresses (and their horrible ideas) as you look forward to the 2010 Rockies. Yes, that's right. A few minutes ago, the floodgates officially opened for major league free agency. In addition, all MLB teams are required to set their 40 man rosters in advance of the December 8th Rule 5 draft. I've written about all three subjects in Purple Row Academy before, so for those of you who are curious about how those processes are carried out, check out these primers: Free Agency (the dates listed therein are from last offseason) 40 Man Roster  Rule 5 Draft All three of these articles have supporting links that clarify the issues even further. In this installment of the State of the Rockies, I opine about the puzzling Garrett Atkins decision, revisit Rafael Betancourt's situation, examine the Rockies' current 40 man roster status, and look some free agent targets that I'd like the Rockies to consider (plus, how they would fit into the budget that I've outlined over the last two weeks). Join me after the jump if you value your sanity.  Why didn't the Rockies non-tender Garrett Atkins before the 40 man roster had to be set? Good question. There's one main reason for doing this, and that's to extend the window of time that the Rockies have to trade the underperforming third baseman for another few weeks--until the December 12th deadline for tendering contracts for players under team control. Unfortunately for Colorado and Dan O'Dowd, the chances of such a deal being consummated reside squarely between slim and none. It's not that Atkins isn't drawing interest from other teams. Just three years ago he was a player worth 6.4 WAR, he can play both corner infield positions somewhat passably, and he is theoretically in his prime (he'll turn 30 on the date that the Rockies will probably non-tender him). The problem is, Atkins' value as a trade asset to the Rockies is basically nil. Because by rule Atkins' salary next year unless he is a free agent can be no less than 80% of last year's total ($7.05 million), teams that would trade for Garrett would at a minimum be paying $5.64 million for a player that was flat out awful in 2009. The point is that I can't fathom another team trading the Rockies anything (and I mean anything) for him when he'd come much more cheaply once he's been non-tendered. However, since the Rockies have seven slots open on the 40 man roster as of today (more on that later), it appears that Colorado has enough room to protect the prospects they want from the Rule 5 draft without removing Atkins from it. I'm hoping against hope that O'Dowd can finagle a deal for Atkins, but let's just say that I'm not holding my breath.   What's up with Rafael Betancourt? From the poll results of last week's column, it appears that the vast majority of you want Betancourt back next year, preferably on a multi-year deal with less of a hit on a per-annum basis. Since the Rockies did decline his option, which was the right call in my opinion, they face a further decision with the soon to be 35 year old reliever--whether to offer him salary arbitration or not by the December 8th deadline. It is my opinion that if he were offered arbitration, Betancourt would be crazy not to accept it. His status as a Type A free agent severely pollutes his value on the free agent market, chasing away a number of potentially interested teams that don't want to give the Rockies their first round pick for a solid set-up man. Considering Betancourt's age and the relatively high volatility of relief pitching performance, the risk for another team is particularly acute. I believe that as a result Betancourt would be very fortunate indeed to receive an offer that approaches what he would get in arbitration. And what would that be? Let's look at some precedent--a tale of two relievers, if you will. Last year two veteran relief pitchers (Darren Oliver and David Weathers) accepted arbitration from their clubs. Oliver was a Type A free agent while Weathers was a former closer who had once been perceived as being productive. Oliver was coming off of a 1.0 WAR season in which he was very effective, while Weathers had produced 0.2 WAR. Oliver, who was going to be 38 in 2009, got his salary increased through arbitration from $2 million to $3.665 million, while Weathers, who was going to be 39, went up from $3.3 to $3.5 million. Those are 83.3% and 6% raises respectively, as would befit their recent performance levels. In 2009, Oliver continued to defy science and produced an even better, 1.5 WAR year at age 38, while Weathers was DFA'd and ended up with -0.8 WAR--while being paid $3.5 million. That's the risk inherent with offering arbitration--some decisions pan out and some fail. Given that Betancourt is likely better than both of the pitchers above and a little younger (35 compared to 38-39), he’ll get a slightly higher raise, closer to Oliver's 83% raise and maybe larger. In 2009 Betacourt was making $3.5 million—which means that I’m estimating an increase of 2.9 million (or 83%) to $6.4 million—in other words, more than the option the Rockies just declined should he accept arbitration. Who knows though…arbitrators work in mysterious ways. The draft picks should Betancourt not accept arbitration and sign with another team would be worth about $5 million, so the Rockies are gambling that they can either re-sign Betancourt for a lower price tag or that another team would be willing to offer him a crazy contract despite his free agency status. If it works, O'Dowd is a genius--but I just have serious doubts that everything will work out. Bottom line though, the worst case scenario is that the Rockies pay Betancourt well over $6 million next year--which is pretty palatable as far as worst case scenarios go.   Who is worth protecting from the Rule 5 draft? As I mentioned above, the Rockies have only 33 spots filled on their 40 man roster, meaning that they technically have room to protect up to seven prospects from the Rule 5 draft. Of course, that's not really realistic. As I've outlined previously, the Rockies have holes on the major league roster that need to be filled--namely replacements for their ten free agents and Atkins--so in effect they can protect only a few players. Hat tip to WolfMarauder on this, but going strictly by the Purple Row PuRP list, the Rockies have four prospects that would need to be protected from the draft: Michael McKenry (C), Cole Garner (OF), Chaz Roe (RHP), and Edgmer Escalona (RHP)--plus Alberto Alberquerque (RHP), who the Rockies received in exchange for Jeff Baker. Now admittedly the minor league system isn't my area of expertise, but if I were to hazard a guess, the Rockies will likely protect McKenry, Garner, and Roe--leaving both Escalona and Alberquerque (among other lesser prospects) eligible for the draft. They simply won't be able to protect more than that--not if the Rockies plan to field a complete roster come Opening Day 2010. We'll see soon enough.   Who should the Rockies be looking at in free agency? Given that, by my calculations, the Rockies currently have 23 players under contract for next year (22 if you allow that Buchholz will start on the DL), they will need to fill those holes. This might be through re-signing free agents such as Yorvit Torrealba at back-up catcher, Rafael Betancourt as a set-up man, and Joe Beimel as a lefty out of the pen. Or they could go by the cheap youth method, promoting McKenry to the big leagues come Opening Day while using Deduno and Chacin in the bullpen. Or they could make a foray into the free agent market. Finally, the Rockies could explore the trade market both as a buyer and a seller. To that end, Baseball Prospectus has a few tips for those interested in making up interesting trade rumors. My prediction is that the Rockies will explore a little of each, signing at least one of their free agents (my guess is that they do get Betancourt back one way or another) and maybe two (Torrealba seems somewhat likely as well), while should Torrealba fall through McKenry seems to be the most cost-effective candidate. I think that the Rockies are likely to trade one of their outfielders (and I've recommended Hawpe many many times), maybe two--and O'Dowd could perform a miracle and trade Atkins. Either way, I think the Rockies will be looking for one of two things in free agency: a back-up corner infielder/veteran and a relief pitcher, preferably a lefty. Given this and the fact that the Rockies' budget is undeniably tight, here are a few players that I would recommend at least kicking the tires on that are within the Rockies price range. By no means is this list exhaustive, but these players would fill a need for Colorado. Free Agency Targets Pedro Feliz: Yes, he's a pretty bad hitter and yes, he's old, but Feliz fields his position very well (he could likely play first base at a high level too) and has shown at least some power--two important characteristics for a NL bench player. He's sufficiently veteranny (he'll be 34 years old), he's right-handed, and would likely cost around $3-5 million to sign. Ultimately, he's injury insurance that gives the Rockies a lot of flexibility in later innings. Obviously, Feliz will be looking for a starting situation before he would choose to come to the Rockies, which is a big stumbling block. Jamey Carroll: He has already been awesome for the Rockies before (3.1 WAR in 2006), plus he can play almost anywhere on the diamond (and do it well). The fans and players love him already, and he's willing to come off the bench. The problem is that the competition for the utilityman will be fierce this offseason, and he might be snapped up for close to $3 million. Felipe Lopez: He represents an upgrade at second base, plus he has defensive versatility. His excellent year last year could price him out of Colorado's range, though in my opinion he is being severely undervalued by many. This is a pipe dream that RMN and I share. Juan Uribe: He's another former Rockie, one who has excelled in this type of role already on the Giants. Unfortunately for Colorado, he may have performed too well for the Giants, who really want him back. My prediction is that San Francisco gets their man. Joe Crede: He's great with the leather and serviceable with the bat. The problem is that he's looking for a starting job and he's had three back surgeries already. Give him an incentive laden salary with a low base and he's your man--but Crede's probably not coming to Colorado in a part-time role (especially since he's a Boras client). Eric Hinske: The last three years, the teams that Hinske has been on have made the World Series, winning it twice. How much more of a veteran winner can you be? Plus he's good with the bat and is versatile (though not particularly competent) defensively. Jose Contreras: More than any other Rockies free agents, I want Contreras back next year as rotation insurance and as a swing man with excellent stuff in the bullpen--heck, I'd like to see the Rockies pay up to $3 million for his services. Whether that would be enough is another matter. John Smoltz: If he'd deign to sign with the Rockies, Colorado would be glad to have his power arm in the bullpen or even in the fifth starter's role. Rodrigo Lopez: He has found success in Colorado before and would serve as rotation depth. Mark Hendrickson and Scott Eyre (Type B): Serviceable veteran left-handed relievers that would cost around $2-3 million each. To that effect, there are many relievers or failed starters that O'Dowd could pick up cheaply off the scrap heap that would perform at a decent level for this team--I'm not really as worried about the bullpen.   The bottom line is that I think the Rockies should sign Feliz or a similar player to replace Atkins while inking a veteran starter/reliever for the bullpen. If Colorado does move Hawpe, they'll likely receive a bullpen arm in return that could fill the void as well. Either way, I'm expecting free agency to cost the Rockies around $8-10 million, bringing their ODP to around $87 million. Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/1041234/atkins-wont-be-released-friday-when-40man-roster-set.html Atkins won?t be released Friday when 40-man roster set From Renck at the Denver Post... I don't know, but this just seems a little ridiculous to me. Is there anyone who will really give up a player for Atkins given that he will cost at minimum $5.6 million next year should he be traded for. I can understand interest in Atkins from other teams, but not at that price. For that reason Atkins is a waste of a 40 man roster spot that could be used to protect another prospect from the Rule 5 draft. More on this decision when I post my free agency preview sometime soon. Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/1039069/thursday-rockpile-more-jim-tracy-reaction-rockies-to-battle-for-hearts-minds-albuquerque-next-spring.html More photos » by Elaine Thompson - AP He who laughs last... Browse more photos » Troy Renck has compiled the overwhelmingly positive reactions from Rockies players toward Jim Tracy and his extension and notes that his three year deal is north of $1 million per season. The Rockies should be a high quality club over the course of that contract, so Tracy has definitely found himself in a better situation than he did with his last gig in Pittsburgh. I don't think anybody has shown that they can predict managerial performance with any accuracy beyond what we would expect the team itself to do, which is a large reason why I feel that the manager is less important to the regular season than a lot of fans, but I do think at a very basic level that it's important to have a guy that has the trust and confidence of the players. The Rockies did not have that with Clint Hurdle, they do now with Tracy, he's earned it (and the extension) and let's hope he keeps it. **** While the Rockies full Spring Training schedule for 2010 has yet to be announced, press releases from other teams/venues this week have shed some light on who and where they will be playing. For instance, we know that there will be five games against the Diamondbacks, four in Tucson and one in Hermosillo, Mexico. We now also know that the team will be finishing its Spring schedule in Albuquerque, where they are set to play two games at Isotopes Park against the Mariners. Albuquerque remains a valuable prize as far as the expansion of the Rockies brand is concerned, but the Dodgers affiliation with the Isotopes, and the added bonus of the Manny Ramirez PED suspension drama that played out there last year, has suggested that the Rockies might be losing some branding ground with Colorado's neighbor to the South. I don't know how far two exhibition games will go in rebuilding our base down there, but they certainly don't hurt. Part of why the Rockpile this morning is so late was that the Hermosillo and Albuquerque exhibitions got me to thinking of where the Rockies would seem to be a natural fit as favorite or second favorite MLB team, or where the brand has the most promise of expanding. Outside the state of Colorado, Albuquerque has to be first or second on the list depending on how one views Salt Lake City, which seems to have a bit more of an antagonistic element toward Denver and its teams as a result of the spillover of the Jazz/Nuggets and MWC rivalries. Outside those two cities, I would think the entire cattle/energy corridor that roughly follows the I-25 in the US and extends to Calgary/Edmonton in Alberta and down to Chihuahua in Mexico would be where the bulk of Rockies fans get nurtured. Yeah, that last one is really the reason for most of the delay. I just never really thought about Chihuahua the city before. I think I avoided thinking about it because of the connection with those annoying little wheezy dogs (except for Russ's of course, those that don Rockies gear get immunity from my bias) but I ended up reading a lot about the history and development of the city that really had nothing to do with the Rockies at all. So, uhm, sorry about that. Hey, it's the offseason. But really, somewhat back on track, the sister city of Pueblo should be a natural fit for Rockies fans. I suggest Purple Row organize an advertising expedition to head there at once. Russ, what's our budget for that? Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/1039068/gold-glove-fielding-yet-another-reason-ubaldo-jimenez-awesome.html More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP "Oh, I can get you out this way as well? Man, I should do this more often!" And he did. More than anyone else in the NL. Browse more photos » Oh yes, we're discussing fielding. That can of worms that doesn't seem to get measured right, credited appropriately, or appreciated properly as far as building a team goes. There's a lot of debate on who are the best fielders, which metric does the best job, who are the best judges, and are Gold Glove awards complete tripe, or recognition of truly, the best gloveman? Well, none of this really applies to pitchers, so you might as well close the can. A position player has a zone they're supposed to cover or what have you, have to play balls and field them to make outs, turn complicated plays, etc etc etc. If a fielder can't field, they'd better be able to club the ball, and vice-versa. However, a pitcher's job is to pitch the ball. Being a solid fielder is somewhat of a bonus, but not really a make-or-break kind of situation, as most balls that a pitcher actually needs to properly field aren't going to fall in the gap for doubles or rattle around in the corner; that is to say that typically, the worst thing that can happen by a pitcher not getting to a ball is an infield single. Definitely not ideal, but could be much much worse. Of course, I'm excluding throwing errors, which are such a huge deal, but that's another story, and we'll touch on them later. Back to the issue of zone ratings and such, they don't apply to pitchers. Pitchers may be the only fielder that we can actually look at the basic metrics and get an idea of how well they did. So let's dive in. Now, I have all of the pitcher fielding stats from Baseball-Reference (God Bless that site) all sorted into - you guessed it - a big ol' spreadsheet. I started by narrowing it down to only pitchers who faced more than 500 batters this season, basically eliminating relievers and longmen, leaving us with the guys who were starters most of the season - 62 of them. The top 5 on this list are Adam Wainwright (STL), Jason Marquis (COL), Bronson Arroyo (CIN), Ubaldo Jimenez (COL), and Danny Haren (ARI). These guys all faced 942 or more batters this season. The rest of the top-10 are NL West pitchers as well. Note the lack of NL East pitchers...sissies. The bottom 5 are Dave Bush (MIL) with 523 PA, Kyle Lohse (STL), Homer Bailey (CIN), Mike Hampton (HOU), and Hiroki Kuroda (LAD). This kind of is a combination of longevity and inability to get outs. I'm sure you can figure out who is who. Next, I want to take a look at % of balls in play - meaning anything that isn't a K, BB, HR, or HBP. Top 5 there are Joel Pineiro (STL), Zach Duke (PIT), John Lannan (WAS - hey, an NL East candidate, finally!), Aaron Cook (COL), and Braden Looper (MIL). 81% or more of plate appearances these guys were involved in resulted in a ball in play. The bottom 5 are Tim Lincecum (SFG) at 64%, Jonathan Sanchez (SFG), Yovani Gallardo (MIL), Clayton Kershaw (LAD), and Rich Harden (CHC). Jorge De La Rosa was 6th from last at 66%, and Ubaldo was 12th from last at 69%. Adam Wainwright checks in at 44th, with 72% BIP. What this part tells us that these guys punched out a lot of guys to get their outs, possibly got in trouble with walks/HBP, and generally didn't rely on their defense for too much. So far, not very interesting. Probably not going to get any better, either. We're just kind of trying to paint a picture of how pitchers do their job, namely Ubaldo. Let's keep plugging on. Next thing we should look at is how many balls in play a pitcher actually fields - not how many balls a pitcher can successfully turn into an out, mind you, but getting to the ball is half the battle. In terms of just number of balls fielded, Ubaldo leads the pack with 57 fielded balls, followed by Marquis with 52 and Cook with 44. Ryan Dempster (CHC) and Paul Maholm (PIT) fill out the rest of the top 5 in that category.  Wainwright snatched up 35 balls, good for 14th overall. But raw numbers don't really tell us much there, because these pitchers may be completely different in how their plate appearances end up. Ubaldo was pretty near the back end in terms of BIP% and yet let the NL in fielded balls. So I took their Ball-In-Play% and PAs and found out how many balls were put in play. Then I went to find out what percentage of balls in play were fielded by the pitcher, because it's kind of hard to field a ball when it ends up being a strikeout. Leading this category is our boy Ubaldo, who gets a glove on 8.77% of balls put into play, as expected. Trailing are Cookie, Marquis, Livan Hernandez (NYM), and Ryan Dempster again. The least gloveworthy pitchers are Aaron Harang (CIN) and Jonathan Sanchez, tied at 3.34%, followed by Todd Wellemeyer (STL), Manny Parra (MIL), Johnny Cueto (CIN), and Dave Bush. So now that should seem like a good enough point to hang our hats on, but I thought a bit harder about this: What if a guy isn't a bigtime groundball pitcher? Ubaldo got 52.5% Groundballs on BIP in 2009, while Aaron Harang only saw 34.9% of BIP on the ground. Should we penalize Harang for not having as many opportunities? I mean, how is a pitcher going to field a flyball to right-center? No, the only balls a pitcher can really get to are ground balls or bunts, and for the sake of this part of the analysis, we're going to just use non-bunts - or at least balls that weren't deliberately bunted. I reworked that percentage to just see what percentage of GROUND BALLS in play a pitcher was able to get his glove on, and the numbers changed a pile. Livan Hernandez now leads the pack, fielding 18.12% of balls put into play on the ground. Ubaldo trails him, followed by Barry Zito (SFG), Kenshin Kawakami (ATL), and Johan Santana (NYM). The bottom 5 in terms of groundball grabbing are: Hiroki Kuroda, John Lannan, Dave Bush, Johnny Cueto, and Manny Parra. Wainwright ranked 44th, at 10.11%. So simply put, we've established that Ubaldo is at or near the top in terms of being able to get a glove on balls that are hit his way. That's pretty impressive stuff, being able to carry a K/9 over 8 and also be agile enough to field his induced grounders. But that's not the name of the game of defense, now is it? The goal of defense is to take batted balls and turn them into outs. So who's the best at that? Well, I suppose the best way to look at it would just be the number of outs converted based on the number of balls fielded, or at least a good starting point. The top 5 on this list is as follows: Carlos Zambrano (CHC) at 96%, followed by John Lannan, Bronson Arroyo, Kenshin Kawakami, and Kevin Correia (SDP).  Bottom of the list has Homer Bailey at 71%, Rich Harden, Jamie Moyer (PHI), Manny Parra, and last, Ted Lilly. Ubaldo and Wainwright tied for 32nd at 86%. So this is kind of closed and finished now, right? Best fielding pitcher in baseball is Carlos Zambrano, right? Well, you could easily make the case that Big Z did the best job on average with the balls he fielded. But there's other good to be drawn from the numbers we have. How many assists was the fielder responsible for? How good of a job did they do in covering 1B on 3-1 putouts? How often did they start double plays, how often did they make a 1-6 (or 1-4) putout? These are all pretty advanced fielding plays for a pitcher to make, given that they're completely off balance from pitching and probably a bit wary, watching for comebackers. So for starters, the 3-1 putout. Wainwright and Pineiro led the majors with 23 "3-1" putouts, showing that they did a fine job covering 1B on those bouncers up the line. Chris Carpenter (STL) fell right behind them, followed by Bronson Arroyo and Kevin Correia. Ubaldo comes in at 44th, with only 6 such putouts. The highest Rockie in this category is Aaron Cook, with 15. Does this mean Ubaldo doesn't cover 1B well enough? I don't think so; I think it rather speaks more to the fielding ability of the 1B. Albert Pujols is still arguably the best defensive 1B in the game, so there's a good chance he's making more absurd grabs at 1B that Todd Helton may not be able to get to that enables him to start the 3-1 putout. Considering 3 groundballing STL pitchers are on top of the list, I don't think that's too much of a stretch. Anecdotally, I know that I see him at or near 1B when these plays occur pretty often. But "Anecdotally" only counts for the people actually making the decisions, I need evidence. So let's move on. I'd argue assists are a pretty huge part of a pitcher's job as well. Being able to get that simple 1-3 out can be a make-or-break kind of play during an inning. Just in terms of assists, Ubaldo leads the NL with 47, followed by Marquis, Paul Maholm, Cook, and Zach Duke. What's more interesting than the cute little underhand or alligator arm toss to 1B is the plant-and-throw to 2B to nail the lead runner. Ubaldo is 2nd in the NL with assists made to 2B, with 4. Kenshin Kawakami ranks 1st with 6, and then Duke, Arroyo, and Wainwright are tied with Ubaldo at 4 2B assists to round out the top 5. Additionally, Ubaldo leads the NL in Fielder's Choices, with 3. Wainwright only has 1. To take the 2B assist farther, you can then look at how many 1-6-3 (or 1-4-3) DPs are started by pitchers, but I don't put nearly as much credit on that as I would the 2B assist, simply because the 6/4-3 turn can be more indicative of the fielder. But then again, it could also be a result of a perfect (or errant) throw that causes (or undoes) the double play. Zach Duke leads the NL with 1-6/4-3 double plays, with 4. Kawakami, Arroyo, Cook, and Brian Moehler (HOU) follow with 3 apiece. The leaders in groundball double plays where the pitcher was involved in any way, shape, or form offer no real surprises, as the top 5 are Ryan Dempster, Zach Duke, Aaron Cook, Brian Moehler, and Kenshin Kawakami. Finally, errors - and I promise this is almost done - play a big-ish part in pitching fielding, but only in certain ways. If a pitcher can't field a ball cleanly or what have you, typically that results in "everybody's safe", but not much more damage than that, given the fact that the ball was hit about 60 feet, tops. However, throwing error, those are the big ones. Those are the ones that let guys score, give extra bags, and make everyone look dumb. Tied for the MLB lead are - you guessed it - Jorge de la Rosa and Doug Davis (ARI) with 5.  Following them are Aaron Cook and Jon Garland (ARI) with 4, and 5 people tied with 3.  Ubaldo and Wainwright are tied for last with 0, along with a bunch of others. HOWEVER, Ubaldo does have 2 fielding errors, being his only blemish in this category, while Adam Wainwright is spotless as far as his errors go. So this needs to wrap up, I've rambled about rankings for long enough. Let's draw some conclusions. Just comparing Ubaldo and Wainwright, both are as good at converting the balls they field into outs. Good for them. Ubaldo fielded the most balls in the NL this season, hands down. Ubaldo also led the league in assists. He muffed 2 balls to Wainwright's 0, while neither of them committed a throwing error. Simply looking at the number of "leads" or "top-5" categories Ubaldo falls into as compared to Wainwright, I'd give it to Ubaldo over Wainwright. But I just can't get past that "% of balls fielded turned into outs" ratio that Ubaldo ISN'T leading in. He's clearly good at getting to the balls, but it would seem he's eating a decent number of them - which can be the best fielding decision in itself. So to conclude, if you asked me who I'd award the Pitching Gold Glove award to, which is the stupidest category (pitcher fielding) of the stupidest postseason award anyhow, I'd be torn between Bronson Arroyo, Kenshin Kawakami, and Ubaldo Jimenez. I don't think Wainwright is bad, but I don't see him making the smart plays, nailing the lead runner, etc, and I feel as if a lot of his putouts are just because Pujols is able to turn a single to RF into a 3-1 out. Not to say that Wainwright doesn't hustle, but come on, who doesn't? I'd probably give it to Kawakami over Arroyo, but Ubaldo's clearly showing his agility in the sheer number of balls he's able to get to. Ubaldo Jimenez: Out Machine. If you'd like to see the raw data, check it out here. Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/1036947/tracy-wins-nl-manager-award-gets-3year-contract-pa-sportsticker.html The Colorado Rockies have rewarded manager Jim Tracy with a three-year contract. Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/1033080/rox-to-visit-albuquerque-in-spring.html Rox to visit Albuquerque in spring Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/1032170/tracy-wins-nl-manager-award-gets-3year-contract-ap.html The Colorado Rockies have rewarded manager Jim Tracy with a three-year contract. The Rockies announced the deal Wednesday, less than an hour after he won the NL Manager of the Year award. Tracy was promoted from bench coach in late May after Clint Hurdle was fired. The Rockies went 74-42 under Tracy and won the NL wild-card spot. Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/1031124/tracy-rewarded-nl-manager-honor.html Tracy rewarded with NL Manager honor Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/1031123/jim-tracy-wins-manager-year-award.html More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP HEY! I WON THE AWARD! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?! Browse more photos » Mirroring The Sporting News' awards earlier this month, Jim Tracy and Mike Scioscia have won the Manager of the Year awards for their respective leagues. In a suprising twist, Jim Tracy actually won in a landslide (the landslide part being the twist), by even a bigger margin than Zack Greinke won the Cy Young. Only 3 managers received 1st place votes, with Tracy taking home 29 of them. Behind him, Tony La Russa received 2 and Joe Torre received 1. Complete tallies below. Tracy, as many of you know, led the Rockies to a 90-2 record after Clint Hurdle was fired with a team record of (-14)-29. In the meantime, Tracy also cured cancer, brought peace to the Middle East, and was a soft-spoken gentleman the whole way. Seriously, Tracy did bring something to the club we lacked in Hurdle. Maybe it was just a different personality, maybe it was something in his actual coaching ability, but whatever it was, it seemed to work pretty well. The next big hurdle for Tracy will be to get Tulo and the rest of the Rockies to not play like they're all on sedatives or something. Speaking of Hurdle, he was hired by the Rangers as their pitching coach earlier this month. Across the pond (ok not really), the Angels' skipper Mike Scioscia did some good work with a slightly mismatched and overpaid squad of guys, put some spitpolish into guys like Kendry Morales, and dealt with some serious adversity to start their season as they finished by taking yet another AL West title, and finishing their season in the ALCS vs the Yankees. Kudos to both managers, and may 2010 bring fortune to them both. More importantly, our clubs.   NL Results Name 1st 2nd 3rd Points Jim Tracy, Colorado Rockies 29 2 0 151 Tony La Russa, St. Louis Cardinals 2 13 6 55 Joe Torre, Los Angeles Dodgers 1 7 7 33 Bobby Cox, Atlanta Braves 0 3 6 21 Bruce Bochy, San Francisco Giants 0 5 3 18 Charlie Manuel, Philadelphia Phillies 0 2 4 10 Fredi Gonzalez, Florida Marlins 0 0 4 4 Bud Black, San Diego Padres 0 0 2 2   AL Results Name 1st 2nd 3rd Points Mike Scioscia, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 15 10 1 106 Ron Gardenhire, Minnesota Twins 6 12 6 72 Joe Girardi, New York Yankees 4 3 5 34 Don Wakamatsu, Seattle Mariners 2 2 3 19 Ron Washington, Texas Rangers 1 1 11 19 Jim Leyland, Detroit Tigers 0 0 2 2 Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/1030195/wednesday-rockpile-jim-tracys-nl-manager-year-fate-to-be-resolved-today-no-word-on-when-his-contract-status-rockies-will.html More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP 6 months ago: Colorado Rockies manager Clint Hurdle, right, talks with bench coach Jim Tracy while facing the Florida Marlins in the seventh inning of the Marlins' 3-1 victory in a baseball game in Denver on Saturday, May 9, 2009. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) Browse more photos » Jim Tracy is the favorite to win the NL manager of the year award today, so says MLB.com and the Denver Post among other places and despite some argument for other candidates such as Joe Torre, it will be an upset if the voting is even close. Patrick Saunders writes about Tracy here. At times, I actually try and avoid reading articles like this because my skeptic's mind always wonders what's being left unsaid about the person that's not getting mentioned, and I know a lot of Purple Row readers do this too given our catcher debates, for instance. But today I'd be careful not to do that "as compared to..." exercise, as it could get us in trouble and my guess is that we'd be incorrect and reading too much into the article. Of course, for some of you that don't have that hitch in your brain that I do, I've now put the thought in your mind and you'll do it anyway, so sorry about that.   ***** A week or two ago I suggested that the Diamondbacks seemed to be angling to cut salary for 2010, which very well may have been my well notated anti-Snake bias talking because their front office in recent days has made it clear that the team will raise the opening day payroll to around $75 million from the $73.5 million level it was at the start of 2009. After the salaries of departing players are taken into account, the Arizona front office suggests that it will have $10 million or more to spend. CEO Derrick Hall and others have been indicating that the team will look for at least one free agent starter, a late inning reliever, and the same kind of right handed corner infielder that the Rockies are targeting. They have hinted that there may be more money available, which would almost certainly come from trading catcher Chris Snyder and his $4.75 million 2010 obligation, as I don't believe any of their other contracts are movable (either because Arizona wants to keep the player, or because it's Eric Byrnes). Trying to assess where the D-backs will end up after 2010 is a little tricky, and let me lay out why: We know an opening day 2009 to opening day 2010 comparison will probably reveal less on paper talent in the coming season as Doug Davis, John Garland and Felipe Lopez are going to have their roster spots replaced by lesser parts. Not only that, projections for several important players like Chris Young, Stephen Drew and Conor Jackson will take large dips from what they were prior to the 2009 season because this past year was so disappointing. CHONE is projecting a lineup of Miguel Montero, Brandon Allen, Tony Abreu, Mark Reynolds, Drew, Jackson, Young and Justin Upton to be an aggregate -16/R150, meaning the team's lineup is already projected to be worse than San Francisco's next year, and that's before the Giants add anything. However, the Diamondbacks two big health return wild cards, Brandon Webb and Conor Jackson, are substantial. Chris Young and Stephen Drew are likely what they appear to be at this point in their careers, but until non-star players actually turn 30, I'm generally hesitant to write their chances of putting up elite, All-Star worthy seasons off completely, particularly those with the kind of talent hype that these two had at one point and the glimpses of that talent that they have shown in the past. As a fan of an opponent, the nightmare scenario is picturing what surprise career years by several of these D-back players at once would look like. Given the team's youth, it's not as unlikely a scenario as I would want. I guess in all, I still think the Rockies and Dodgers finish ahead of Arizona, but they're not a typical fifth place team, and I admit that I'm still paying attention to what they do in the off season more as it pertains to 2010 than to future seasons as I am say with the Padres. They do worry me, and I won't really be satisfied on this until there's an out of contention x next to their team in the standings. Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/1024408/tracy-expected-to-add-more-hardware.html Tracy expected to add more hardware Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/1022353/tuesday-rockpile-chone-back-in-town-figgins.html More photos » by Ben Margot - AP CHONE doesn't buy CarGo's strong 2nd half. Browse more photos » The 2010 CHONE Projections have been posted.  I recommend switching to wide view  to see the table. In case you're curious what would happen if Colorado opened the season with Jeff Kindel, Rex Rundgren, Daniel Mayora and Darin Holcomb in the infield, their projections (among others) are in the link.  However, I filtered out the minor leaguers, and here are the projected main contributors for 2010. Note CHONE tempers its expectations on Tulo and Cargo, which is typical for a projection system for young players. Exceeding those expectations would give the Rockies not only on-field success but offensive starpower the team lacked. Player Pos Age G HR RBI SB CS PA AVG OBP SLG wOBA Helton, Todd 1B 36 134 13 68 0 1 582 .284 .385 .430 .364 Young, Eric 2B 25 149 8 38 39 18 547 .276 .347 .398 .332 Barmes, Clint 2B 31 136 15 58 8 6 509 .258 .306 .420 .314 Stewart, Ian 3B 25 145 22 75 6 4 499 .263 .349 .483 .359 Iannetta, Chris C 27 105 15 53 0 0 384 .260 .370 .465 .367 Fowler, Dexter CF 24 124 4 31 21 11 414 .271 .365 .391 .338 Smith, Seth OF 27 135 15 60 4 2 428 .291 .374 .489 .376 Hawpe, Brad OF 31 144 23 86 1 2 572 .271 .365 .482 .368 Gonzalez, Carlos OF 24 134 15 66 12 6 462 .285 .342 .478 .354 Murton, Matt OF 28 129 10 52 5 2 438 .280 .349 .427 .343 Spilborghs, Ryan OF 30 127 10 49 7 4 398 .271 .352 .424 .342 Tulowitzki, Troy SS 25 142 22 80 10 8 580 .292 .369 .497 .373 Should we be surprised few outside of Colorado expected the Rockies to make the playoffs down the stretch?  The Rockies won with depth, which just isn't sexy.  They are projected to have great depth again in 2010, with only Clint Barmes having a below average wOBA.  Their third "most valuable" hitter in 2009 came off the bench in a third of his games.  The 3-4 hitters combined for 15 HR in 2008.  The team's two All-Stars combined for just eight AB's in the playoffs.  Th top three hitters were only 15th in WAR in MLB, behind the Padres, Nats and Mariners as well as every playoff team/contender sans Atlanta and the Giants.  In addition to the team's history, is it any wonder the Rockies weren't viewed as legitimate? The idea that Rockies pitching can be good has yet to truly sink in among casual fans, and Joe Fan/John Kruk don't have the time/desire to evaluate depths of teams.  They look for starpower, and admittedly, the Rockies were a little shy in that department last season.  Should we see a repeat performance from Cargo and Tulo in 2010, there may be some recognition of the mountain time zone, although truly, it was a joy to expect and then see the Rockies defy expectations down the stretch.   Links The Rockies and Diamondbacks officially broke ground on their spring training facility in Scottsdale, Arizona yesterday.  It is set to be completed approximately 435 days from now, just in time for use for the 2011 season. As linked in the Rockpile yesterday, Juan Morillo is headed to Japan.  Remember when Dan O'Dowd replaced him on the roster in April with some dude from Tampa Bay?  Good move. Patrick Saunders opines that Dexter Fowler deserved better than eighth place in the NL Rookie of the Year voting.  I would disagree with his assessment that this is a "banner year for rookies," but I am a bit surprised he got no more love than Gerardo Parra or Everth Cabrera. Fangraphs awarded their 2009 Carter-Batista Award, an award given to a player whose perceived value is most inflated by RBI.  The winner was rumored to be acquired by the Rockies before the season, while Bengie Molina tops the three-year leaderboard. The Hardball Times compares Jonathan Sanchez and Clayton Kershaw, noting both electric young NL West southpaws have something else in common - traffic on the basepaths.  Who would you rather have on your team in 2010?  Troy Patterson's answer may surprise you. Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/1018994/walkers-impact-shows-in-trophy-case.html Walker's impact shows in trophy case Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/1015422/nl-west-in-review-shortstops.html by David Zalubowski - AP If UZR wasn't so strangely hard on Tulo, the Rockies' shortstop would be even higher above his competition. View full size photo » This is about as suspenseful as a modern day cookie-cutter horror flick.  Not even our pudgy four-letter Philly fan can deny the proper anointment of the NL West's top shortstop in 2009.  However, it wasn't quite so clear just last March. Coming off of a miserable 0.8 WAR season in 2008 (at the same level as Brian Barton and Carlos Gonzalez), Troy Tulowitzki silenced all critics in 2009, giving the Rockies a clear advantage over every team in the West.  In fact, the 6.85 WAR that Tulo, Barmes and Quintanilla generated represent the strongest infield position of any team in the division. Even considering Tulo's down year, the preseason projections had the Rockies as clear favorites in the NL West, with Los Angeles, Arizona, San Francisco and San Diego following in order.  Colorado delivered in a big way, representing the division's sole above average offensive unit.  Everth Cabrera's surprising rookie season ruined what would have otherwise been an accurate ranking: Teams Players Avg HR RBI OBP SLG wOBA* WAR 1. Colorado 3 .298 32 96 .377 .536 .387 6.85 2. Los Angeles 4 .271 9 54 .330 .371 .321 3.64 3. Arizona 3 .265 12 73 .332 .417 .326 2.49 4. San Diego 4 .231 4 43 .319 .328 .304 1.98 5. San Francisco 4 .255 11 72 .306 .353 .296 0.74 Shortstop was the most stable position among divisional infield positions, as all five teams had clear full-time starters from start to finish.   With the positional RAR set at +7.5, here is the graphical RAR representation: For the full rankings and team rundowns, turn the corner. Seventeen different men manned shortstop, including Josh Wilson twice (for San Diego and Arizona), and all but five were above replacement level: Rank Player Team PA Avg HR RBI OBP SLG wOBA* UZR WAR 1 Troy Tulowitzki COL 628 .296 32 92 .377 .551 .362 -1.2 5.07 2 Rafael Furcal LAD 671 .266 8 45 .331 .368 .321 8.0 3.24 3 Stephen Drew AZ 586 .262 12 65 .320 .432 .334 3.4 3.00 4 Everth Cabrera SDP 437 .255 2 31 .343 .362 .335 -11.7 0.84 5 Augie Ojeda AZ 116 .289 0 6 .381 .371 .331 3.2 0.83 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 14 Blake DeWitt LAD 5 .000 0 0 .200 .000 .141 -0.4 -0.08 15 Luis Rodriguez SDP 119 .196 1 6 .314 .268 .272 -1.8 -0.12 16 Kevin Frandsen SFG 20 .056 0 0 .150 .056 .119 -0.2 -0.21 17 Chris Burke SDP 76 .214 1 5 .276 .314 .268 -2.6 -0.23 18 Josh Wilson SDP 42 .108 0 1 .195 .162 .141 -2.0 -0.55 For a the full spreadsheet of the players rankings, team rankings and raw data, check this Google Docs link.                   Arizona 2009 in Review After a spectacular second half the previous season, the bright young shortstop took a huge nosedive with the bat this season, falling from a near elite shortstop to a below average league bat.  Sound familiar?  Augie Ojeda also performed well in 116 PA to usurp Renteria for the fifth most valuable shortstop in the division, just a tenth of a run behind Everth Cabrera for fourth.   2010 in Preview Diamondbacks fans are hoping for a Tulowitzki-like bounce-back year in 2010 from Drew.  Arizona's 2004 first-round pick made $1.5mil last season and is up for arbitration.                    Colorado 2009 in Review Remember in May back when even Rowbots were drawing parallels between Tulo and Khalil Greene/Bobby Crosby?  I hardly do myself.  Four months later, Tulo finished the season as MLB's third-most valuable shortstop.  For some reason, UZR pegs Tulo as a below average MLB shortstop, which is clearly fishy.  That plus April/May make his season's ranking all the more incredible.  Clint Barmes was solid in in 49 PA, enough to finish seventh in the NL West despite no home runs and four RBIs. 2010 in Preview Troy Tulowitzki made a paltry $1million in 2009, the second year of a six year contract.  He is guaranteed $3.5million next year, but hopefully, he'll cash in with more.  He'll pocket $25k each for a Gold Glove and All-Star appearance and $50k with a Silver Slugger.                   Los Angeles 2009 in Review Rafael Furcal was borderline MVP caliber to start 2008, but after an early summer injury, he never really recovered.  2009 started poorly as well, as Furcal hit below .250 for almost the entire first half.  The former Brave was saved by an 8.0 UZR - quite strange in that he was average or below average every year of his career up to 2009, and only Elvis Andrus was more valuable defensively.  I'm not sure I buy that.  Chin-Ling Hu, Blake DeWitt and Juan Castro washed out to about replacement level. 2010 in Preview Furcal was a below average bat last season, not what Los Angeles was hoping for after signing him to a 3-year $30mil deal before the season.  He'll be making $8.5million next season, a value he has reached four of the last  five years (Fangraphs).  Still at 32, he could certainly regress.                   San Diego 2009 in Review Everth Cabrera was the full-time starter for the Padres at shortstop minus two months he missed with a fractured bone in his hand.  The Rule 5 pick impressed greatly with his bat after jumping from A-ball, with a park-adjusted .335 wOBA, comfortably above league average.  However, he struggled greatly defensively, as the Rockies saw first hand.  His UZR was worst in the division and fourth worst in MLB.  Luis Rodriguez was essentially the worst shortstop in the division who got any real number of ABs, but Chris Burke and the San Diego version of Josh Wilson join him as three of the five below replacement level contributors. 2010 in Preview After an impressive rookie year, Bud Black will be writing Cabrera's name in his line-up card with great regularity. Everth should get a slight bump from the league minimum in 2010, but it won't be much.                   San Francisco 2009 in Review Edgar Renteria's best days appear to be behind him.  The 34-year old Colombian was less than half as productive as his prior career-worst season.  His .288 wOBA is just pathetic - even Garrett Atkins was better, and he wasn't a defensive asset either.  Juan Uribe was solid as a backup, with Ryan Rohlinger and Kevin Frandsen also got some reps. 2010 in Preview Edgar Renteria was one of the first signings last offseason, before the market crashed.  Consequently, his contract looks silly now, as he just finished the first year of a two year $18million contract.  Nine million of that will come in 2010, with an obvious $500k buyout to be exercised next offseason.  The option year in 2010 is for $10.5million.  If Renteria falters there more, the Giants could do a lot worse than using Juan Uribe there.   Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/1013525/monday-rockpile-bbwaa-awards-given-out-this-week.html More photos » by Ed Andrieski - AP No matter where he winds up in the NL Rookie of the Year voting, Dex will still be all smiles. Browse more photos » Renck: Rockies' strategy with Betancourt risky, yet clever - The Denver PostTroy Renck opines that we should trust what Dan O'Dowd is doing with the Rafael Betancourt situation because the last year has shown O'Dowd to be a shrewd dealer/negotiator. The mental institute has tons of open spaces available, so it could be lonely for anyone there. Baseball's biggest honors up for grabs | MLB.com: NewsHapp, Hanson among NL ROY candidates | MLB.com: NewsFirst up, Rookie of the Year awards. The second link examines several NL RoY candidates. Discuss the results here after the awards are announced later today. 2010 UZR Projections - Updated 11/15/09 - Beyond the Box ScoreGuess who has the worst projection? Villalona has U.S. visa revoked | MLB.com: NewsSan Francisco Giants prospect Angel Villalona, who was charged with killing a man in September, had his U.S. visa revoked. Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/1007477/sunday-rockpile-what-mets-learn-from-late-larry-walkerera-rockies.html More photos » by Rob Carr - ASSOCIATED PRESS He doesn't wear #33, but something about Carlos Beltran's situation should be familiar to Rockies fans. Browse more photos » While reading Bill Baer's piece on fixing the New York Mets for 2010 (it came up in a Google news search for the Rockies because one of his prescriptions is going after Rafael Betancourt) I was reminded actually about the early 2000's Rockies teams and it struck me how many people might not realize the predicament that the Mets are in right now. One sentence stood out: Everybody is coming out of the infirmary, barring more bad luck down the road. That’s right — the Mets are hoping to get 600 plate appearances each out of Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes in 2010, and 33 starts from Johan Santana. Alright, this is where a lot of baseball fans, and at least a few front offices, seem to get it wrong. With Jose Reyes, the Mets really shouldn't be blamed if they count on a rebound of 600 plate appearances in 2010. He's in the prime of his career and 2009 was really only the first time injuries were an issue. It's the other two names that drew up my attention and brought me back to those Rockies teams where the names on the lineup would have a lot of quality but not much reliability. Larry Walker was a premium player, but after the turn of the decade, he just was no longer a reliable one. Same goes after the Mike Hampton trade with Preston Wilson and Charles Johnson. Carlos Beltran similarly has entered that phase of his career where counting on him to be an everyday producer is just not a wise decision. Starting pitchers almost by nature are walking injury risks, and so Baer's on the right track in suggesting that the Mets would be better off targeting two decent starters rather than going after the one big fish in John Lackey, and the Maine/Perez/Pelfrey trio that they already have are probably due for some sort of rebound, but even if you add Joel Pineiro and Jason Marquis to that group it would still seem underwhelming to me. Now, does this mean that the 2010 Mets are a lock for also ran status again? Hardly, but without building sufficient depth, Omar Minaya shouldn't point his fingers at anybody else if it does happen. At any rate, I think New York's problems are deep enough that they're still on the outside of the playoff pack next season. In fact, I think everything I've heard and seen of the off season thus far leads me to the conclusion that there really isn't going to be much change in the NL contenders next season. I think three of these following seven teams win their division, and the other four compete for the wild card in 2010: East: Philly/Atlanta Central St. Louis/Chicago West: Los Angeles/San Fran/Colorado Florida isn't going to get better, so they'll probably drop back, but I don't really see anybody in the next tier stepping up to take their place.  **** As Betancourt's cache increases, it would seem less likely that the Rockies will retain him, and may have to let him walk if the bidding gets to fierce. It's similar to the situation they found themselves in after 2007 when LaTroy Hawkins' help for the playoff push made him one of the more desirable free agent targets despite only being good for sixty or so innings a season. The good news is that this is a scenario that having one door close means that another becomes easier to open, and other relievers that can provide just as much quality (including Hawkins himself) are out there. If you fret that losing Betancourt would kill the Rockies chances or prove that were a second rate organization incapable of doing what it takes to win, you should probably consider checking yourself into an institution before you get to the next stage, which would be putting up a FanPost with liberal use of CapsLock and not so cleverly derived nicknames for the front office. Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/1000670/saturday-rockpile-rockies-players-young-refining-their-tools-old-negotiating-pay-hard-at-work-during-offseason.html More photos » by David Zalubowski - ASSOCIATED PRESS The Rox are still hoping to bring back Betancourt on a more club-friendly deal. Due to MLB's draft pick compensation system, they have the leverage to accomplish just that. Browse more photos » List of Rockies’ arbitration eligible players | All Things RockiesTroy Renck of the Denver Post made a blog post that contains a list of the Rockies' arbitration eligible players - one of which is Jorge De La Rosa, who Dan O'Dowd says will likely not be offered a multi-year deal at this point. I think it's fitting that Ryan Spilborghs (accidentally or not) has a smiley face wearing sunglasses next to his name. Rockies Venezulean League UpdatesCarlos Gonzalez has posted two straight "0-fers" to begin his VZL season. He struck out twice against White Sox pitcher Lance Broadway in his first game. Still, I think he'll be alright. A couple of nights ago, Jhoulys Chacin had a decent outing - at least according to Chino Carvajal (the guy who runs the blog). He got knocked around a tad, giving up 2 runs on 7 hits in 4 innings, but supposedly displayed good control during the 65-pitch appearance. Last but not least, Franklin Morales continues to stretch himself out in an effort to get ready for his first start, which will come on December 1st. Let's just hope we don't see any tired arms when next season rolls around... Arizona Fall League Blog - ESPN (INSIDER ONLY)Jason Grey posted a recap on each of the middle infielders that participated in the Arizona Fall League. Here's what he had to say about Rockies' shortstop prospect Hector Gomez: Gomez is a live body with a wiry frame who possesses bat speed and can run, field with a rocket arm, and hit for some pull power. The problem with Gomez is not one of tools but of approach. Gomez likes to hit early and often in the count, and posted just a .310 OBP this year due to a lack of patience after missing most of 2008 due to injuries. He's a fastball hitter who is always looking dead red, and he has a tendency to get himself out by chasing the pitcher's pitch. His swing has been a little bit shorter here at the AFL and he's started to go the other way a bit more, so at just 21 years of age, he's still well worth watching. No sure deal for Betancourt - The Denver Post As mentioned in the FanShot below, Rafael Betancourt's option was declined by the Rockies yesterday. Also as mentioned in the comments, I think of this as a complete no-lose situation for the Rockies. They either work out a different deal with him, or offer him arbitration and assuming he declines, they'll get two additional picks in the first two rounds of the draft if he signs with another team. Also mentioned in the piece is that in addition to working on resigning Betancourt, the Rox are exploring bringing back Joe Beimel and Jose Contreras. Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/995735/rockies-decline-5-million-option-on-betancourt-ap.html The Rockies have declined a $5 million option on right-hander Rafael Betancourt, a key setup man as the Rockies won the NL wild-card race. Betancourt can now become a free agent. Colorado general manager Dan O'Dowd says the team will continue to negotiate with the reliever. Betancourt went 4-3 with a 2.73 ERA in 61 games while splitting time with Cleveland and Colorado last season. Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/993070/friday-rockpile-if-danny-ardoin-answer-chris-iannetta-doesnt-have-much-problem.html More photos » by Paul Abell - AP None shall pass. Browse more photos » It's a light news day for the Rockies as there's nothing much out there, but here are a few links: Inbox: What's next for Hawpe and Atkins? | ColoradoRockies.com: NewsThomas Harding dips into his mailbag to answer questions Atkins and Hawpe, a big right-handed bat, and who the backup catcher will be. One of those questions involves Danny Ardoin (HINT: It's not the one about the big right-handed bat). All about the high inside fastball - The Hardball TimesNick explores one of the game's best pitches. The College Baseball Blog " Top 100 PlayersThe College Baseball Blog looks at the Top 100 CBB players for the upcoming season. This will be a good resource to turn to for the 2010 draft. Free Agent Friday: Second Base 2010 - Beyond the Box ScoreWho are the best available second basemen in this year's free agent crop? Hint: it's not Orlando Hudson. Find out the answer now at Beyond the Box Score. Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/990548/state-rockies-post-gm-meetings-update.html In what will be a semi-weekly occurrence from now until January on Purple Row Academy, I'm going to update my post on the State of the Rockies. In other words, I will update my loyal readers (all three of you)--as well as anyone stupid intrepid enough to follow me after the jump as to the roster framework the Rockies are looking at as some big offseason deadlines approach. This week, I'll be looking at what has happened thus far for the Rockies and what that means going forward. Also discussed will be the Rockies' impending decision on Rafael Betancourt's club option and how the Rockies are affected by the Elias Free Agent classifications. By next week, we should have a better idea of what the Rockies are doing as the beginning of free agency and the deadline to set 40 man rosters approaches (November 20th). Jump with me, brave souls, to roster-building nirvana... Before I begin, let me first note that this analysis will be limited to what I can project the 25 man roster to be, since I'm forecasting the 2010 ODP (which only includes the active roster and DL). For most of the players not on the 25 man roster but who are on the 40 man, they will be paid the prorated minimum should they make the Show and considerably less in the minor leagues. What the Rockies Already Owe in 2010 This category is for money that the Rockies have already committed to the 2010 roster. Note that this only includes players who are under contract with the Rockies (not just under team control), giving management concrete salary obligations to work around. This data, as well as much of the data for the rest of this study, was contributed by the incomparable Jeff Euston at Cot's Contracts. For each player I'll give their name, approximate ML service time, 2010 salary, and minimum future salary obligations. Player Name ML Service Time 2010 Salary Add. Min. Obligation Years After 2010 Todd Helton 12.059 $16,600,000 $23,700,000 1 Aaron Cook 7.02 $9,833,000 $10,583,000 1 Brad Hawpe 5.058 $7,500,000 $500,000 0 Jeff Francis 5.04 $5,875,000 $0 0 Troy Tulowitzki 3.033 $3,500,000 $25,750,000 3 Manuel Corpas 3.076 $2,750,000 $3,750,000 1 Ubaldo Jimenez 2.087 $1,250,000 $8,000,000 2 Yorvit Torrealba 8.03 $500,000 $0 0 Alan Embree 15.059 $250,000 $0 0 Total $48,058,000 $72,283,000 This list of players the Rockies definitely owe money to next year has become more certain, especially since Colorado declined the options of Embree and Torrealba as I predicted. Embree won't be back, but as RG wrote this morning, the door is open for Torrealba to return.   Pre-Arbitration Players For the players listed below, the Rockies have the option of keeping them under control for several more years and can do so cheaply in 2010 (for a price between $400,000 and $460,000). For the purposes of this exercise I'm assuming a 3% raise over 2009 salary. Player Name ML Service Time 2010 Salary Eric Young Jr. 0.042 $412,000 Dexter Fowler 1.027 $413,030 Franklin Morales 2.01 $414,060 Ian Stewart 1.154 $416,120 Carlos Gonzalez 1.06 $415,090 Seth Smith 1.119 $415,090 Matt Daley 0.155 $412,000 Total $2,897,390 The main difference on this pre-arb chart is that I've taken out Paul Phillips, who was outrighted on Monday to clear up 40 man roster spots and looks like he'll become a free agent. That leaves a hole in the projected roster at backup catcher, perhaps to be filled by Torrealba, a cheaper in-house option such as Mike McKenry, or even a free agent catcher. Even with the extra spot in the roster open, I'm not using Matt Murton to fill it because he would be the sixth outfielder. One of Murton, Ryan Spilborghs, and Hawpe will likely be gone--and more than one leaving is possible.   Arbitration-Eligible Players Since my previous post two weeks ago, the Rockies have avoided salary arbitration with two of their prospective cases, relievers Randy Flores and Matt Belisle. The Rockies were able to secure the services of these two relievers for less than I had predicted--Flores for $650,000 and Belisle for $850000, raises of 6.25 and 8.33% respectively. Both contracts have incentives based on number of appearances, neither of which I predict will be triggered. With Belisle and Flores in the fold, the Rockies stil have eight potential arbitration cases to negotiate--including that of Garrett Atkins, who is almost certain to be non-tendered. The Rockies may (should) do this before the November 20th deadline for setting the 40 man roster in order to protect another prospect from the Rule 5 draft. Let's face it: Atkins won't engender much interest from teams at his current price point (minimum of $5.64 million). For that reason I'm removing him from the below chart. Bold numbers represent concrete salaries, not just predictions Player Name ML Service Time 2010 Salary Difference from 2009 Huston Street 5 $8,775,000 95.00% Jorge De La Rosa 5.015 $5,600,000 180.00% Clint Barmes 4.122 $4,225,000 160.00% Taylor Buchholz 3.14 $1,055,000 0.00% Matt Belisle 4.02 $850,000 6.25% Randy Flores 5.061 $650,000 8.33% Jason Hammel 2.153 $2,026,560 380.00% Chris Iannetta 3.029 $1,867,500 350.00% Ryan Spilborghs 3.072 $788,500 90.00% Total $25,837,560 141.06% As you can see, this is considerably less than two weeks ago, due mostly to Atkins but also because Belisle and Flores were signed more cheaply than I had anticipated. Another effect of Atkins being removed is that the Rockies' average player salary increase from arbitration is closer to reflecting the league average of 172%. Of the seven arbitration cases that remain, I could really see De La Rosa and maybe Spilborghs getting to actual salary arbitration. De La Rosa in particular could garner a larger salary than I predict here (more in the $6.5 million range). Meanwhile, Barmes and Street seem more likley to take the multi-year contract route and might have lower salaries this year than I'd projected.   Estimated Rockies 2010 ODP  This calculation represents the status quo, if the Rockies neither re-sign any of their free agents nor get rid of any players under team control (besides Atkins, that is) and remain dormant in free agency. The resulting roster would have 22 players on it with Buchholz starting the year on the DL (therefore the salary of three players would need to be added in) and would be paid: Multi-Year Contracts: $48,058,000 Pre-Arbitration Contracts: $2,897,390 Arbitration Contracts: $25,837,560 Total ODP: $76,792,950 In other words, a roster that still has three spots open is about $1.6 million over last year's ODP.   The Betancourt Variable The variables as far as the Rockies are concerned from now until November 20th are their free agents. The most pressing and important of these players to the front office is set-up man Rafael Betancourt, whose $5.4 million club option expires tomorrow. Betancourt has reportedly already turned down a multi-year offer from the Rockies, so it is important for Dan O'Dowd to decide whether he wants the 35 year old Betancourt to be the set-up man next year or not. If the option is declined, Betancourt may still be retained, but the Rockies will have to bid against other teams for his services. I've made my opinion on the issue of bullpen spending pretty clear--I believe that bullpen performance is highly variable, very fungible, and an inefficient use of salary dollars. Obviously many people disagree with me on this, but I'd prefer the Rockies to bring back Jose Contreras as a combo set-up man rotation insurance. As Thomas Harding notes, the Rockies are interested in re-signing Contreras and Joe Beimel, who combined will probably make about the same as Betancourt's club option.   Free Agent Classification Another reason for the Rockies to perhaps let Betancourt go would be his status as a Type A free agent. I wrote about free agency compensation several months ago, but the gist is that the top 20% of players in their positional groups (1B/DH/OF, 2B/SS/3B, C, SP, RP) as calculated by Elias are classified as Type A free agents. The formula for these calculations  is complicated, convoluted, and confidential, rarely making a list that makes much sense.  In return for losing one of these players in free agency, a club receives the signing club's first round pick in the Rule 4 draft as well as a sandwich pick between the first and second rounds. As I discussed in my analysis of the Betancourt trade back in July, the draft picks from a type A free agent are typically worth $5 million to a team. In fact, in that article I recommended that the Rockies decline Betancourt's option and retain the draft picks. Unfortunately, the Rockies would have to offer Betancourt arbitration in order to receive the draft picks in return--and in this lackluster market, the risk is high that Betancourt will accept and get even more than the $5.4 million club option. The same logic applies to Colorado's other free agents. If the Rockies want to take advantage of the Type B status (sandwich pick as compensation) of Jason Marquis, Torrealba, and Beimel they would have to offer arbitration--and there is a relatively high risk that these players would accept. Is the risk worth it? For someone like Betancourt, who probably won't get a commensurate offer on the open market, especially with his type A status, the proposition is too chancy. For Marquis, who is likely to draw strong interest in a weak starting pitching market from his hometown Mets, the risk might be low enough to offer him arbitration. My personal view is that Colorado should offer arbitration to Beimel because his arbitration cost would be around his market cost--relatively low. Marquis could command $10-12 million in arbitration, so the Rockies need to be certain that he would decline before they offer it to him.   Next week the picture for the Betancourt situation should be a little clearer as the option decision will be made and the 40 man roster will be solidified. Until then, don't touch that stove. It's hot. Poll Should the Rockies exercise their $5.4 million club option on Rafael Betancourt? Yes. He was nails last season and provides a solid bridge to Huston Street. No, the Rockies should try to sign him at a lower price over a multi-year deal. No, Betancourt is old and signing him would tie up too much salary to the bullpen.   30 votes | Results Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/987046/rockies-hope-to-agree-betancourt.html Rockies hope to agree with Betancourt Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/985959/thursday-rockpile-no-gold-in-them-thar-gloves-torrealba-hints-he-might-want-to-come-back.html More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP One gold glove winner, the Dodgers Orlando Hudson, breaks up the aspirations of a would be winner, the Rockies Troy Tulowitzki, on May 26. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) Browse more photos » So for the fifth straight season, NL coaches and managers thought that the Rockies didn't really have any defenders who were the best at their craft. I get the feeling that alien anthropologists thousands of years from now will get the impression that all of the Rockies success in 2009 came because of work off the field of play, and we won solely by the shrewd maneuverings of our manager and GM. The big question mark for the Rockies seems to be with Troy Tulowitzki, who had both the fielding and hitting resume one typically associates with Gold Glove winners, but I would suggest that in 2010, should Carlos Gonzalez play a full season like he did for the Rockies since June, we might see two incumbent Phillies knocked off their perches.  Troy Renck also makes note of a post he originally put in the DP's All Things Rockies blog last night that when Yorvit Torrealba declined the Rockies two year offer, his option had not yet been declined. Renck then goes into the odd nuances of what this meant for Torrealba, but the implied upshot seems to be that Yorvit wants to keep that two year contract option open, but it may be off the table from the Rockies end. I'm not blaming either party here, both are trying to play the current collective bargaining system to their maximum benefit which is fine, we'll see how this plays out.  Pilgrims to the Rockies new Spring Training facility at Salt River will enjoy plenty of shade in the grandstands as architects continue to improve our quality of life by design. Wunderbar! As for notes around the division, I guess the most prominent could be that the Giants are looking to re-sign a more svelte Brad Penny, according to Buster Olney. Penny would seemingly replace Randy Johnson in the Giants old, wise, oft injured and dangerous to the opponent pitcher category. He should be a bit of an upgrade in that role, in fact. I probably have to reassess my opinions of how shallow their rotation is should that signing come about. Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/985958/2009-sbn-baseball-awards-most-valuable-players.html by Tom Gannam - AP This is Albert Pujols hitting a grand slam. This is Albert Pujols being an MVP. This is Albert Pujols. View full size photo » Today we unveil our final category: Most Valuable Player. In our Purple Row voting, the winner was unanimous in each league: Joe Mauer in the AL and Albert Pujols in the NL. Unlike the Purple Row voting, SBN Baseball went 10-deep on the ballot.  Join me after the jump for the full results. AL Results: Rk Player Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Pts 1 Joe Mauer Minnesota Twins 24 3 1 - - - - - - - 371 2 Ben Zobrist Tampa Bay Rays - 10 6 2 2 1 - 1 - - 172 3 Mark Teixeira New York Yankees 2 3 2 4 3 2 7 1 - - 158 4 Derek Jeter New York Yankees 1 5 3 4 4 2 1 1 2 1 157 5 Evan Longoria Tampa Bay Rays - 2 4 1 2 3 2 3 2 1 106 6 Zack Greinke Kansas City Royals 2 3 2 1 1 - 2 - - - 92 7 Miguel Cabrera Detroit Tigers - - 3 1 2 4 - 2 - 5 74 8 Kevin Youkilis Boston Red Sox - 2 - - 1 3 1 8 1 - 69 9 Chone Figgins Los Angeles Angels - - - 3 4 1 - 1 3 1 60 10 Jason Bay Boston Red Sox - 1 - 4 2 - - 1 - 2 54 11 Kendry Morales Los Angeles Angels - - 4 - - 1 - - 1 - 39 12 Ichiro Suzuki Seattle Mariners - - 1 - 2 - 1 2 2 3 37 13 Franklin Gutierrez Seattle Mariners - - - 1 1 1 3 - 1 2 34 14 Justin Verlander Detroit Tigers - - - 2 1 1 1 - 1 1 32 15 Felix Hernandez Seattle Mariners - - - 2 - - 1 3 2 - 31 16 Jason Bartlett Tampa Bay Rays - - 1 1 1 - - - - 1 22 17 Alex Rodriguez New York Yankees - - 1 - 1 - 1 - - - 18 18 Roy Halladay Toronto Blue Jays - - - 1 - 1 1 - - - 16 19 Adam Lind Toronto Blue Jays - - - - - 2 - - 1 4 16 20 Dustin Pedroia Boston Red Sox - - - - - - 1 - 4 1 13 21 Bobby Abreu Los Angeles Angels - - - 1 - - - 1 1 - 12 22 Aaron Hill Toronto Blue Jays - - - - - 1 1 1 - - 12 23 Mariano Rivera New York Yankees - - - - 1 - - - 1 1 9 24 Torii Hunter Los Angeles Angels - - 1 - - - - - - - 8 25 Brian Roberts Baltimore Orioles - - - - - - 1 1 - - 7 26 CC Sabathia New York Yankees - - - - - - 1 - 1 - 6 27 Carl Crawford Tampa Bay Rays - - - - - - - 1 1 1 6 28 J.D. Drew Boston Red Sox - - - - - 1 - - - - 5 29 Jon Lester Boston Red Sox - - - - - 1 - - - - 5 30 Jonathan Papelbon Boston Red Sox - - - - - 1 - - - - 5 31 Robinson Cano New York Yankees - - - - - 1 - - - - 5 32 Victor Martinez Boston Red Sox - - - - - 1 - - - - 5 33 Michael Cuddyer Minnesota Twins - - - - - - 1 - - - 4 34 Shin-Soo Choo Cleveland Indians - - - - - - 1 - - - 4 35 Michael Young Texas Rangers - - - - - - - - 1 1 3 36 Jacoby Ellsbury Boston Red Sox - - - - - - - - 1 - 2 37 Jason Kubel Minnesota Twins - - - - - - - - 1 - 2 38 Alex Gonzalez Boston Red Sox - - - - - - - - - 1 1 39 Nick Markakis Baltimore Orioles - - - - - - - - - 1 1 Forty names garnered at least one vote from our AL bloggers. Joe Mauer ran away with the award, though not a unanimous selection. The AL bloggers also agree with Poseidon's Fist and Rockies Magic Number that Ben Zobrist is worthy of being in consideration for inclusion at the very top. NL Results: Rk Player Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Pts 1 Albert Pujols St. Louis Cardinals 31 - - - - - - - - - 434 2 Hanley Ramirez Florida Marlins - 6 8 11 2 1 2 - - - 220 3 Chase Utley Philadelphia Phillies - 7 11 2 3 1 - 1 - 1 192 4 Prince Fielder Milwaukee Brewers - 5 4 4 7 7 1 - - - 186 5 Troy Tulowitzki Colorado Rockies - 4 1 5 2 3 3 4 1 2 134 6 Tim Lincecum San Francisco Giants - 4 1 - 1 2 2 3 1 - 79 7 Ryan Howard Philadelphia Phillies - 4 - 1 4 1 - - 3 1 79 8 Ryan Zimmerman Washington Nationals - - 1 3 3 3 3 1 - 2 79 9 Adrian Gonzalez San Diego Padres - - 1 - 3 3 2 4 3 4 71 10 Pablo Sandoval San Francisco Giants - - - 1 2 2 2 3 4 3 57 11 Matt Kemp Los Angeles Dodgers - - 1 1 1 1 5 3 - 1 56 12 Ryan Braun Milwaukee Brewers - - 2 - - 2 2 1 1 - 39 13 Chris Carpenter St. Louis Cardinals - - - - 2 1 1 - 1 2 25 14 Derrek Lee Chicago Cubs - - - - - 2 1 1 3 2 25 15 Andre Ethier Los Angeles Dodgers - - - - 1 2 2 - - - 24 16 Adam Wainwright St. Louis Cardinals - - - 1 - - 1 1 4 1 23 17 Javier Vazquez Atlanta Braves - - - - - - 2 1 2 1 16 18 Matt Holliday St. Louis Cardinals - - 1 - - - 1 - - - 12 19 Joey Votto Cincinnati Reds - 1 - - - - - - 1 - 11 20 Mark Reynolds Arizona Diamondbacks - - - - - - - 2 1 2 10 21 Todd Helton Colorado Rockies - - - 1 - - - - - - 7 22 Jayson Werth Philadelphia Phillies - - - - - - - 1 1 1 6 23 Adam Dunn Washington Nationals - - - - - - - - 1 3 5 24 Juan Pierre Los Angeles Dodgers - - - - - - 1 - - - 4 25 Justin Upton Arizona Diamondbacks - - - - - - - 1 - 1 4 26 Raul Ibanez Philadelphia Phillies - - - - - - - 1 - 1 4 27 Ubaldo Jimenez Colorado Rockies - - - - - - - 1 - 1 4 28 Brian McCann Atlanta Braves - - - - - - - - 2 - 4 29 Dan Haren Arizona Diamondbacks - - - - - - - - 2 - 4 30 Michael Bourn Houston Astros - - - - - - - 1 - - 3 31 Yadier Molina St. Louis Cardinals - - - - - - - 1 - - 3 32 Nyjer Morgan Washington Nationals - - - - - - - - - 1 1 33 Yunel Escobar Atlanta Braves - - - - - - - - - 1 1 Who didn't expect that to be a unanimous vote? I don't recall my complete ballot but I'm pretty sure I didn't include Todd Helton or Ubaldo Jimenez on it. Our boy Troy finished fifth. Where will he be when the real award comes out next week? Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/980857/inbox-whats-next-for-hawpe-atkins.html Inbox: What's next for Hawpe and Atkins? Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/979008/wednesday-rockpile-more-notes-from-chicago.html Purple Row gives a big shout out to anybody who served in the United States military on Veteran's Day. Your service to the country is vastly appreciated. The notes from Patrick Saunders at the Denver Post this morning indicates that the delays to the expected announcement of contract extensions for Dan O'Dowd and Jim Tracy are due to some fine points in the deals still being worked out, but both still seem like locks to return. Meanwhile, other notes from the column include: O'Dowd also makes note of the distinction between listening to offers for a player like Brad Hawpe and actually trying to move him. Eric Young Jr. is playing several positions in winter ball to become a versatile super utility player for the Rockies next season. With no leverage, it will be difficult to trade Garrett Atkins before the non-tender deadline, but O'Dowd is exploring that possibility. While the club would prefer to sign Clint Barmes and Huston Street to two year deals, they'll go to one year if they have to.  While O'Dowd will be staying, there will be some front office movement. Manager of Baseball Operations Matt Vinnola has jumped ship to join the Texas Rangers organization, where he rejoins Thad Levine and Jon Daniels and becomes that team's Director of Baseball Operations. Vinnola had been in the Rockies organization for 12 years. No word yet on who will replace him for the Rockies, but it's a pretty significant post. The GM Meetings always have more buzz than actual moves going down as GM's get a sense of where everybody else stands and only start laying the groundwork for deals that come later. What does get revealed is a bit of the strategy, so for the NL West thus far we see the following:   Only the Giants are adding payroll, to the $90 million range. Arizona appears to be angling for a small reduction and the other three teams seem to be trying to keep the status quo. San Fran's $90 million limit would make adding a top tier free agent difficult, but they might get better bang for their money by adding two or three second tier guys anyway. The Diamondbacks aren't going to spend on starters, but might on relievers this season and have an interest in the Rockies Rafael Betancourt if we're unable to retain him. Los Angeles is looking to trade for young starters like Detroit's Edwin Jackson.  Adding Jackson to Kershaw and Billingsley would make the Dodgers rotation younger, which they probably need to keep up with Colorado and San Francisco after 2010. I don't see the Tigers going for a George Sherrill for Jackson swap, even if the dollars work out, just because the added marginal value of a young cost controlled starter is so much higher than it is for a reliever and the Tigers know this. Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/977984/rox-infielder-mccoy-claimed-by-jays.html Rox infielder McCoy claimed by Jays Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/977983/2009-sbn-baseball-awards-cy-young.html More photos » by Charlie Riedel - AP Zack Greinke is good, and he deserves to be in the feature photo over Tim Lincecum. Browse more photos » AL results: Rk Player Team 1st 2nd 3rd Pts 1 Zack Greinke Kansas City Royals 28 1 - 143 2 Felix Hernandez Seattle Mariners - 17 6 57 3 Justin Verlander Detroit Tigers - 8 9 33 4 Roy Halladay Toronto Blue Jays 1 2 11 22 5 CC Sabathia New York Yankees - 1 2 5 6 Jon Lester Boston Red Sox - - 1 1 As I calculated last night in one of the comments, the maximum number of ballots a player could have appeared on was 36 (14 teams x 2 ballots=28, 4 non-team-specific blogs x 2=8, 28 + 8=36). However, I don't know the exact number of ballots cast, but maybe it was 29, because if you didn't vote Zack Greinke anywhere on the ballot . . . NL Results: Rk Player Team 1st 2nd 3rd Pts 1 Tim Lincecum San Francisco Giants 18 13 - 129 2 Chris Carpenter St. Louis Cardinals 9 4 7 64 3 Adam Wainwright St. Louis Cardinals 4 4 10 42 4 Javier Vazquez Atlanta Braves - 5 7 22 5 Dan Haren Arizona Diamondbacks - 3 4 13 6 Ubaldo Jimenez Colorado Rockies - 1 1 4 7 Cliff Lee Philadelphia Phillies - - 1 1 8 Jair Jurrjens Atlanta Braves - - 1 1 Purple Row's top four looked just like this one. I gave the second-place vote to Jimenez, and maybe Rox Girl gave the third-place one? Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/977982/gm-meetings-day-3-today-national-holliday.html More photos » by Charlie Riedel - AP 'Joo all es doang somthin' great for all of 'jus Browse more photos » To kick things off, in all seriousness, thank you to all of our Veterans who have served our country and are serving our country, in any and all capacities. What you all have done and are doing requires a strength of body, mind, and character that I could only hope to attain someday. Sincerely, Thank You, and God Bless you.   Moving to the lighter side of things, we have a few rumors already kicking up. Mostly about New York. Great. The Statue of Liberty has been resigned to a 87 year, $1.479B contract that will be shared between the Yankees, Mets, Knicks, Giants, Rangers, and in small (mostly ceremonial) part, Paris FC, with a regional option on the 88th year that will vest if the poor, tired, and huddled masses yearning to breathe free are continued to be given through year 31. Rudy Guliani has agreed to a 7 year sponsorship agreement with New Era and Fox that will ensure that you know he LOVES NEW YORK by means of him excitedly wearing a Yankees cap when spotted at games. And finally, the Mets have offered Albert Pujols 12 years, $314M, until someone gently informed Omar Minaya that Pujols was not, in fact, a free agent.   But seriously, baseball news in the comments. Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/970501/tuesday-rockpile-firin-up-hotplate.html More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP It's okay, Bradley, you do a lot of little things well. Browse more photos » All (Relatively) Quiet on the Colorado Front The Sporting News' choice for Executive of the Year has a lot of pans to juggle in the fire at this year's GM meetings, not that it is unusual.  At least he won't be working out a blockbuster trade this year.  In fact, O'Dowd figures to be far from the limelight as the Rockies, along with most other teams, deal with economics in free-agency market, writes Patrick Saunders. The only probable trade of a prominent Rockie at this point is RF Brad Hawpe.  When trying to raise Bradley's value, perhaps O'Dowd should read Beyond the Boxscore - Hawpe grades out at 2nd best in the major leagues since 2007 at some new-fangled stat called "Little Things" (defined as wRAA dividied by WPA/LI).  Apparently Hawpe does those "little things" well that commentators love to mention, while Brian Roberts and Derek Jeter are terrible.  Hmm... Even though Rockies fans with a vague recollection of who Seth Smith is will be pining for O'Dowd to bring back Matt Holliday, the Rockies don't figure to fish in the big free agent pond.  In fact, in MLBTradeRumor's Top 50 Free Agents, only one current Rockie or projected signee appears - at no. 50.  For what it's worth, I agree with Tim Dierkes that No. 50 will wear purple pinstripes and sign on the dotted line rather soon. Thomas Harding reported yesterday that Jose Contreras and Joe Beimel filed for free agency.  Neither are favorites to return to Colorado, though Contreras is an intriguing wild card. The Elias Free Agent rankings were released yesterday, and Tracy Ringolsby notes that Marquis, Beimel, and Torrealba are Type B Free Agents.  Nothing surprising there.  In light of the list's publication, Fangraphs notes the Elias rankings is Where Darren Oliver = Matt Holliday Happens.  R.J. Anderson uses two former Rockies to illustrate the painfully incongruent draft pick compensation system.  If you missed it yesterday, Rowbot deacs posted a link in the Joel Sherman Fanshot that Torrealba turned down a 2yr/$4.5mil contract, according to Jon Heyman tweeter.  I'm just fine with Paul Phillips being the backup to start the season, and I'm very intrigued to see what Michael McKenry could offer the big club eventually in 2010.   Arizona Fall League, and Dreams Dan O'Dowd wasn't the only Rockie to be honored yesterday.  After going 6-for-11 with 3 HR, 4 RBI, 6 runs and a stolen base last week for the Scottsdale Scorpions of the AFL, Wilin Rosario was named AFL Player of the Week.  It's good to see the kid raking once again after he struggled with the large jump to Modesto to start the summer. Another Rockies prospect has had more of a Greg Smith time in the AFL.  Chaz Roe is dealing with the flu, part of his disappointing showing thus far.  He is a candidate for Rule 5 protection, as he was drafted in 2005, with the Rockies next pick after Troy Tulowitzki. PizzaCutter wrote a How To piece at BtB for anyone who wants to visit all 30 parks in a summer - on a budget. Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/970500/2009-sbn-baseball-awards-rookies-year.html More photos » by Matt York - AP I won SBN's AL Rookie of the Year. Who am I and what do I receive along with the title? (Sadly, the answer is that SBN awards don't come with anything.) Browse more photos » In the next installment for SBN Baseball's end of the year awards, I present to you the AL and NL ballots. First, let me recap who Purple Row chose for its award winners. In the AL, our voting gave first place to two Oakland A's pitchers, Brett Anderson and Andrew Bailey. Gordon Beckham finished third. In the NL, Marlins OF Chris Coghlan took first place in a close competition with Andrew McCutchen. Tommy Hanson finished third. SBN Baseball voting did not follow suit. The AL winner appeared on only one ballot, and the NL appeared above but was not PR's winner. Join me after the jump. The AL results: Rk Player Team 1st 2nd 3rd Pts 1 Elvis Andrus Texas Rangers 6 9 6 63 2 Andrew Bailey Oakland Athletics 11 1 3 61 3 Jeff Niemann Tampa Bay Rays 3 5 3 33 4 Rick Porcello Detroit Tigers 2 7 2 33 5 Brett Anderson Oakland Athletics 5 1 3 31 6 Gordon Beckham Chicago White Sox 1 2 8 19 7 Nolan Reimold Baltimore Orioles 1 - 1 6 8 Matt Wieters Baltimore Orioles - 1 3 6 9 Brad Bergesen Baltimore Orioles - 1 - 3 10 Ricky Romero Toronto Blue Jays - 1 - 3 11 Travis Snider Toronto Blue Jays - 1 - 3 Elvis Andrus appeared on Jaberwocky's ballot, and 21 SBN AL bloggers put him on their ballots. It was a close vote, as Andrew Bailey received as many first place votes as the first-, third-, and fourth-place finishers did combined. Brett Anderson had one less first-place vote than Andrus did, and he finished in fifth place! Here are the NL results: Rk Player Team 1st 2nd 3rd Pts 1 Tommy Hanson Atlanta Braves 9 9 6 78 2 J.A. Happ Philadelphia Phillies 6 9 7 64 3 Andrew McCutchen Pittsburgh Pirates 8 3 5 54 4 Chris Coghlan Florida Marlins 7 5 4 54 5 Dexter Fowler Colorado Rockies - 3 1 10 6 Randy Wells Chicago Cubs - - 6 6 7 Garrett Jones Pittsburgh Pirates 1 - - 5 8 Casey McGehee Milwaukee Brewers - 1 2 5 9 Seth Smith Colorado Rockies - 1 - 3 Purple Row's NL Rookie of the Year tied for third with Purple Row's second-place rookie in the SBN NL voting. Yet it was Purple Row's third-place winner who took home the SBN NL Rookie of the Year hardware (we don't actually have hardware to give away--yet). I account for that Fowler third-place vote as I submitted the same ballot during SBN voting. Did one of the Pirates' bloggers give his first-place vote to Garrett Jones? I'm still trying to find out what a Casey McGehee is, and who gave that vote to Mr. Late Night? Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/970499/gm-meetings-day-2-rockening.html by Lenny Ignelzi - AP I hope you brought your wallet. View full size photo » Get it, it's like The Reckoning or something? yeah I know it's terrible. Turrible if you will. It may have been a better idea to go with like "The Metsening", because when Omar Minaya arrived, it was like a fanfare, all the agents rejoiced, saying "Oh, the benevolent king of absurd contracts and an undying affinity for latin players has come to line our pockets with gold and fine oils!" When suddenly the crowd parted and Scott Boras seemed to glide forward with hands outstretched, saying "I bring to thee Matt Holliday; for thou lackest a powerful bat from the right who canst playeth thine Outer Fields" to which Joe Urbon popped up saying "Hey! My client [Jason Bay] has more years displaying consistent offensive prowess in more run-neutral environments!" Boras replied "Ah, but thou forgettest Holliday's most excellent postseason experiences, he hath carried the Rockies AND the Cardinals to October. Also, thou forgettest 2007, where Jason Bay hath batted .247 and hath only batted above .300 in his career onthe. Clearly, my client beith the supreme LF available, as he hath a career .318 batting average." "Listen, Boras, your sad devotion to that ancient religion has not helped sway savvy GMs that Holliday is better than Bay. Bay's posted similar OPS in worse hitters parks and he-" "Come, Omar, we have much to discuss" as Boras wraps his arm around Omar Minaya's shoulder and slowly walks away while $100 bills litter the ground from Minaya's torn pockets.   Seriously, when Minaya arrived, Heyman cited that he was looking for a power hitter, a starter, and a catcher. Heyman immediately suggested Holliday, Wolf, and Molina. Marquis could also be an option. On the other side of town, it's sounding like the Yankees actually want to keep all their guys like Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui. I have trouble thinking they're not in the running for Holliday or Bay, though. I'm not terribly impressed with Austin Jackson, and it's not as if Matsui and Damon are going to magically get younger and/or healthier. In other news, Texas is interested in reacquiring Milton Bradley, and he had some pretty solid success with them there in 2008. Heyman is saying he has to go SOMEWHERE, as the rumor is that many Cubs stars won't even talk to him. ARE YOU NOTICING THE COMMON THEME, MILTON? Whatever happens there, the Cubs don't have much leverage. Rosenthal and Morosi are telling me (just got off the phone with them) that the Mariners are expected to kick the tires on Bay, at the least. Also there's a lot of demand for Billy Wagner, apparently. Who knew? There are stirrings that the Phillies are pursuing Mark DeRosa to replace Pedro Feliz. So where is Feliz supposed to land? Does anybody care? Maybe the Giants will look at him again if they miss on Adrian Beltre, so they can move Pablo Sandoval over to 1B. After last season, I don't see how the Giants aren't players for some combination of Bay, Holliday, Beltre, etc etc.   I'll keep them coming as long as I'm getting them till about noonish, and then I hope some of the other folks warming themselves around the Hot Stove can pitch in a bit as well! Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/969340/rockies-reportedly-ready-to-take-offers-for-rf-hawpe-sportingnewscom.html The Colorado Rockies appear to be reversing themselves on right fielder Brad Hawpe. The New York Post reports the... Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/968412/rockies-have-internal-options-to-replace-marquis-sportingnewscom.html The Denver Post reports that right-hander Jason Marquis likely will leave the Colorado Rockies as a free agent,... Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/967376/contreras-beimel-file-for-free-agency.html Contreras, Beimel file for free agency Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/966053/rockies-odowd-named-sn-exec-year.html O'Dowd named SN exec of year Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/966052/rockies-preparing-to-part-fan-favorites.html Rockies Preparing to Part with Fan Favorites Joel Sherman has news from the Rockies, with tidbits on Hawpe, Betancourt, Torrealba, Francis, and Atkins. Some news good, some bad, some - it depends on how you look at it. Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/964785/rockies-prospect-rosario-wins-afl-honor.html Rockies prospect Rosario wins AFL honor Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/964784/tracy-tulowitzki-contending-for-hardware.html Tracy, Tulowitzki up for hardware Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/963862/flu-impeding-roes-progress-in-afl.html Flu impeding Roe's progress in AFL Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/963861/gm-meetings-day-1.html More photos » by Pat Sullivan - AP "I am going to give you so many old, overvalued players to work with..." Browse more photos » Today marks the beginning of the GM Meetings taking place in Chicago. While not nearly as exciting as the Winter Meetings, there may be some interesting trades and rumors that start swirling during these. In this article, I'll post the various notifications I receive regarding rumors. This article is mostly a placeholder for ongoing discussion regarding the posted rumors and such. Try and keep commentary threaded under the appropriate rumor (and I know there'll be some spillover due to REPLY FAIL, etc), and I think if we all work together, we can make this happen. And by "this" I mean a well organized series of discussions. Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/963860/nl-west-in-review-3rd-basemen.html by David Zalubowski - AP Atkins could soon be a teammate of the pitcher he just hit a home run off of in this picture: Cole Hamels. Maybe going to a hitter's park away could help his career the Rockies. View full size photo » You want to know where the Rockies lost the division in 2009?  Don't look at Jorge de la Rosa's groin (please don't).  Don't blame Clint Hurdle.  Don't blame Canada. Don't look at the Rockies seemingly annual inability to beat one NL West team. No - your culprit is the hot corner. The Rockies were heavy favorites to outclass the NL West at third base going into the season.  Garrett Atkins was projected to finally rebound while Ian Stewart was expected to exhibit growth.  Either way, Colorado was sitting pretty.  Brendan Scolari's preseason report had the Rockies way out in front at third base, totalling 5.5 WAR, with San Francisco second at just 2.3 WAR.  Los Angeles was in a tie for last at just 2.0 WAR. Part of that is misleading, as his projections gave the Rockies about 300 extra PA, so Colorado's lead over LA should been more in the neighborhood of 2.5 WAR.  Instead, it was Los Angeles that trounced the Rockies by almost 3.5 WAR.  There's a six game swing right there.  Teams Players Avg HR RBI OBP SLG wOBA* WAR 1. San Francisco 4 .313 26 92 .368 .532 .392 6.04 2. Los Angeles 6 .283 20 92 .356 .424 .353 4.95 3. Arizona 4 .247 39 90 .336 .487 .355 3.70 4. San Diego 5 .258 20 100 .314 .420 .331 3.19 5. Colorado 4 .223 22 77 .314 .386 .307 1.56 The third base position was comparatively very stable in 2009 for the division - only the Rockies failed to have  a third baseman accrue 500+ PA.Your graphical plot of the RAR for all five teams, with the positional RAR set at +2.5: You might be surprised who comes out on top of the NL West rankings for third base.  (Hint:  this man is responsible). There were 23 total third basemen, with the top five representing the main starters from each of the five teams.  The complete rankings/stats can be viewed here, along with all the juicy math behind the numbers: Rank Player Team PA Avg HR RBI OBP SLG wOBA* UZR WAR 1 Casey Blake LAD 557 .282 18 78 .365 .471 .362 8.0 4.00 2 Pablo Sandoval SFG 512 .320 20 69 .377 .544 .401 -4.5 3.82 3 Mark Reynolds AZ 554 .246 37 80 .339 .528 .375 -4.3 3.23 4 Kevin Kouzmanoff SDP 571 .238 18 71 .303 .420 .325 7.7 2.62 5 Ian Stewart COL 379 .225 15 41 .327 .420 .320 4.7 1.57 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 19 Chris Burke SDP 3 .000 0 0 .000 .000 .000 - -0.06 20 Josh Wilson SDP 13 .154 0 0 .154 .231 .167 - -0.10 21 Augie Ojeda AZ 63 .182 1 4 .262 .291 .245 -4.1 -0.12 22 Edgar Gonzalez SFG 15 .214 0 1 .267 .429 .284 -1.4 -0.13 23 Blake DeWitt LAD 26 .200 0 2 .192 .280 .234 -0.6 -0.14                   Arizona 2009 in Review Mark Reynolds overcame all of his strikeouts to post the division's best home run and RBI totals, nearly doubling his nearest pursuer in the HR column.  His poor fielding cost his team about half a win, but he is certainly a feared hitter in just his third season in the league.  Augie Ojeda struggled in his 20 games, but Ryan Roberts and Chad Tracy helped the cause in their limited duty. 2010 in Preview Reynolds is firmly planted as the full-time starter for the forseeable future, and the 26-year-old should only be getting better.  He made just $423k last season and is due for a nice raise in arbitration.                   Colorado 2009 in Review All four Rockies who manned third base were actually below replacement value hitting-wise with park factors considered, a very disappointing showing considering the personnel in place.  Ian Stewart failed to hit over two and a quarter, and his patented slugging could only match Kevin Kouzmanoff.  Garrett Atkins' struggles are well documented, and while he was a below average fielder, I still calculate that he was a +0.34 WAR player at third (far from the 5.5 projected), likely due to a difference in park adjustments compared to Fangraphs. 2010 in Preview Garrett Atkins will be gone and Ian Stewart has the job.  As glum as this season was, it should provide Rockies fans with great hope for next season.  Quite frankly, there's nowhere to go but up, and the potential is certainly there to make up that ground on the division.  I believe Stewart can take that necessary step forward, especially with improved hitting against LHP, which he never had a problem with until 2009.   Stewart made $404k last season, which will get a bump for next year.  With Atkins leaving, Dan O'Dowd will probably look for a veteran bench bat who can also play third, perhaps a Mike Lamb.                   Los Angeles 2009 in Review Casey Blake is the surprise winner in the third base rankings led in large part by his 0.8 WAR defensive contribution, which could quite frankly be a fluke.  He hasn't even been had a positive UZR at third base since his first year as a starter in Cleveland six seasons ago.  He was very clearly an asset with the bat, as he provided more value to Los Angeles offensively than anyone not named Manny, Andre or Matt.  Ronnie Belliard had a ridiculous .458 wOBA in his 38 September PA in Dodger blue.   2010 in Preview Seven months ago, the Dodgers thought they might be eventually passing the torch from Blake to Blake (DeWitt), but Casey's emergence and DeWitt's regression makes that seem a little silly now.  Blake is the clear full-time starter for at least next season, as he will be in the second year of his 3-year $17.5million deal.                    San Diego 2009 in Review Kevin Kouzmanoff nearly usurped Blake as the division's most valuable fielder at the five spot, which is all that saves him after regressing offensively once again in a San Diego uniform.  Three Padres appear in the bottom five, but their negative contributions are so small that Chase Headley negated them six times over in 113 PA. 2010 in Preview The 28-year-old Kouz is eligible for arbitration and looks to be the starter for next season.  There won't be a free agent replacing the Colorado native due to financial constraints, but if he struggles more, look for Chase Headley to move back to his natural position, opening an outfield spot for an infusion of youth.                   San Francisco 2009 in Review Pablo Sandoval is clearly the best hitting third baseman in the division, or at least he was in 2009.  The 23-year-old Venezuelan struggles with the glove (as you might expect with a novice scout's eye) more than any third baseman in the division, but his hitting production is mind-blowing considering the hurdles he has:  no protection from Molina, age, moving positions, AT&T Park....The only reason he doesn't top this list is the 97 PA he spent manning first base.   2010 in Preview Sandoval made just $402k last season, less than even Eugenio Velez.  He'll get a nice raise and will be starting at third and hitting third Opening Day. Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/963859/dan-odowd-named-sporting-news-executive-year.html via i.a.cnn.net View full size photo » According to The Sporting News' Jeff D'Alessio, Colorado General Manager Dan O'Dowd has won the publication's Executive of the Year award. The man well known in the past around these parts as "Dealin' Dan," "Dan O'Dud," and "Dan O'Clown" was largely viewed as a genius this season, simply for firing Clint Hurdle and replacing him with Jim Tracy. However, O'Dowd should definitely be more recognized for the string of terrific deals he's made over the past year. Lassoing Huston Street and Carlos Gonzalez for Matt Holliday unexpectedly paid immediate dividends, and will continue to do so for years to come. Plus, when the team started to gain momentum toward a possible postseason berth, DOD went out and picked up relievers Joe Beimel and Rafael Betancourt to shore up the team's biggest weakness. In addition to all of that, the Rockies completed what was arguably their most successful draft in team history, and certainly the best of any MLB team this season (based on what we know now). With all of those things combined, the future looks very bright for the Rockies and their fans, and as we all know, O'Dowd will soon be (and rightfully so) rewarded with a contract extension and a likely pay raise. Check out this article for more from D'Alessio, including some great insight by the winner himself (including his admittance of the absurdity of the Chone Figgins/Kimera Bartee deal, and a quote that may make you sad). Congratulations Dan, and GO ROCKIES! Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/962961/monday-rockpile-one-in-which-we-only-discuss-indirectly-rockies-catcher-situation.html There are many elements that go into every important decision. In the first place, you must try to grapple with the facts. What is the actual situation? Secretary of State Dean Rusk to Eric Goldman (January 12, 1964)Quoted in Secret Agencies: U.S. Intelligence in a Hostile World (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996) Baseball's GM Meetings take place today through Wednesday, and Dan O'Dowd knows that this offseason won't be much different from most other years: "I think we are going to have a fairly quiet winter, but we will have to see what's out there to fill our needs," O'Dowd said. "But we will be sensible and balance what's out there with the players we have in our own system." Troy Renck goes over most of the well-tread ground for the Rockies this offseason, but he also mentions several young pitchers who might be ready to help the Rockies in 2010: Samuel Deduno, Esmil Rogers, and Greg Smith. Greg Reynolds also receives a mention, but being "in a better place," in O'Dowd's words, after surgery isn't a ringing endorsement. Saunders: Is 2010 the Rockies' year of Iannetta? - The Denver PostRemember, there's still some rule in place that stops us from directly discussing this----or not. Phillies decline option on third baseman Feliz - MLB - CBSSports.com BaseballWell, now the Phillies can go after Garrett Atkins once he's non-tendered. Victor Zambrano's mother kidnapped in Venezuela - MLB - SI.com"The mother of former major league pitcher Victor Zambrano was kidnapped Sunday, Zambrano's agent Peter Greenberg said late Sunday night by phone." Coming up shortly, SBN's 2009 Managers of the Year Award. Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/962960/2009-sbn-baseball-awards-managers-year.html More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP One of the award winners is in this photo. Take a guess. Browse more photos » For the fourth year in a row, SB Nation Baseball conducted its end-of-the-year awards voting during the last weekend of the season. Each team-specific blog received two ballots and voted for the league awards in which their team participated. The other baseball sites received four ballots, two for each league. A first-place vote awarded five points, second-place three points, and third-place one point. Here's how we've done historically with first place in this award: SBN (AL/NL) Actual (AL/NL) 2006 Jim Leyland/Joe Girardi Jim Leyland/Joe Girardi 2007 Eric Wedge/Bob Melvin Eric Wedge/Bob Melvin 2008 Joe Maddon/Lou Piniella Joe Maddon/Lou Piniella Yeah, we didn't differ from the BBWA over the last three years. Join me after the jump to find out the results for the predictable result to the NL voting. And if you care about the AL, I have those results as well. The winner of the 2009 SBN NL Manager of the Year Award is our very own Jim Tracy, already the recipient of The Sporting News' 2009 NL Manager of the Year Award. Rk Manager Team 1st 2nd 3rd Pts 1 Jim Tracy Colorado Rockies 24 1 2 125 2 Tony LaRussa St. Louis Cardinals 3 7 10 46 3 Fredi Gonzalez Florida Marlins 2 6 5 33 4 Joe Torre Los Angeles Dodgers - 9 2 29 5 Charlie Manuel Philadelphia Phillies - 3 5 14 6 Bruce Bochy San Francisco Giants 1 1 1 9 7 Bobby Cox Atlanta Braves - 1 4 7 8 Bud Black San Diego Padres - 1 1 4 9 John Russell Pittsburgh Pirates - 1 - 3 Jim Tracy received my first-place vote. and I believe Joe Torre and Fredi Gonzalez came in second and third. If our awards are any indication, next week we'll hear that Jim Tracy won the BBWA's award. Here's the results for that other league: Rk Manager Team 1st 2nd 3rd Pts 1 Mike Scioscia Los Angeles Angels 9 8 3 72 2 Ron Gardenhire Minnesota Twins 9 5 1 61 3 Don Wakamatsu Seattle Mariners 6 3 8 47 4 Joe Girardi New York Yankees 2 4 2 24 5 Ron Washington Texas Rangers 1 4 4 21 6 Terry Francona Boston Red Sox 1 1 3 11 7 Jim Leyland Detroit Tigers - 2 4 10 8 Joe Maddon Tampa Bay Rays - 1 1 4 9 Ozzie Guillen Chicago White Sox - - 1 1 10 Trey Hillman Kansas City Royals - - 1 1 Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/956794/sunday-rockpile-fogg-clearing-out-de-la-rosa-looking-for-ollie-perez-money.html More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP Jorge De La Rosa might be on the Rockies trade block this winter. Browse more photos » Josh Fogg will not be a part of the Rockies 2010 team, it seems, as the club has told the veteran right hander it's moving in a different direction. Losing Fogg would open another slot on the 40 man roster. Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal has a couple of Rockies notes in his latest. The big blip being that Jorge De La Rosa, who will become a free agent after the 2010 season, is looking for a similar contract to the one that the Mets gave to Olier Perez last winter. If you're going by the quality of their stuff and their maddening inability to be consistent with it, they actually are pretty similar pitchers, so it's not that surprising. Of course, working against JDLR is the fact that Perez' contract is already deemed a bust, and other clubs will be reluctant to make the same mistake that Omar Minaya did. The upshot, however, is that if JDLR's got his eye on free agent riches, it might behoove the Rockies to consider trading him before then, which according to Rosenthal, is exactly what seems to be happening. He also has a little on the Rafael Betancourt negotiations. Betancourt purportedly turned down a two year extension in the $6.5 to $7 million range. Rosenthal also mentions the well reported likely non-tender of Garrett Atkins, and sees the Phillies as a possible fit for the third baseman. We're keeping an eye on the list of available free agent hitting talent, as the Giants are either going to have to dip into that pool or give up a hefty chunk of their decent looking future in trade. Right now, from a Rockies centered view, it's looking pretty good for us, bad for them. One key bat that was supposed to be available to keep the cost of other talent down, Bobby Abreu, re-upped with the Angels (mentioned in these DP wire notes) for two more seasons, pretty much limiting the Giants to making really big, long and expensive plays on a Jason Bay or Matt Holliday or taking a lot more risk with an older player such as Jermaine Dye, Carlos Delgado or Vlad Guerrero. The Diamondbacks are working out a Chris Snyder for Lyle Overbay trade with the Blue Jays. The Dodgers are looking into extending Joe Torre. Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/949617/saturday-rockpile-options-are-all-guy-really-wants.html More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP Yorvit hopes to be diving face first into a pile of cash this offseason. Browse more photos » Rockies decline options on Torrealba, Embree | All Things RockiesNo surprises here, as both players have filed for free agency. Yorvit Torrealba could return to the Rockies for less money, but there's also a decent chance that he will find more money elsewhere. Meanwhile, Alan Embree could catch on somewhere with a minor league deal, but probably won't command much more than that. But, what do I know? Eleven Option Decisions Made Today: MLB Rumors - MLBTradeRumors.comOption decisions of note that were made yesterday (in addition to the ones mentioned above: The White Sox declined Jermaine Dye's $12MM option, while the Phillies and D-Backs picked up their options on Cliff Lee and Brandon Webb. There are sitll a whole slew of options remaining. Texas Rangers Blog | Sports News | News from Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning NewsEvan Grant takes a close look at the Rockies' offensive numbers with Clint Hurdle as their hitting coach. Report: San Francisco Giants ace Tim Lincecum has deal to settle drug charge - ESPNTim Lincecum will likely pay a $250 fine for possessing a marijuana pipe. Apparently, the charge for possessing the actual marijuana will be dismissed. According to a Clark County prosecutor, the situation with Lincecum doesn't differ from that of any first-time offender for something of this matter. Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/946595/rox-decline-options-on-torrealba-embree.html Rox decline options on Torrealba, Embree Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/942008/friday-rockpile-free-agency-filings-begin-no-surprises-for-rockies.html More photos » by Nam Y. Huh - AP This guy most definitely will be a #1. Can the National League contain him? Browse more photos » Rockies zero in on going the distance - The Denver PostRenck offers three steps for the Rockies to make it to the World Series: Win the west and have home-field advantage, have Ubaldo Jimenez become a #1, and takes pitches and strike out less (especially Carlos Gonzalez, Dexter Fowler, and Chris Iannetta). Rockies sign relievers Flores, Belisle - The Denver PostHere’s the details on the Belisle, Flores contracts | All Things RockiesGod help us if either guy starts to collect on those additional incentives in their contracts. Also, Omar Quintanilla was out-righted to Colorado Springs, while Joel Peralta opted to become a free agent after being out-righted. Reynolds, Johnston in Rising Stars game | ColoradoRockies.com: NewsRelievers Matt Reynolds and Andrew Johnston made the Arizona Fall League's Rising Stars game. Marquis, Giambi top list of Rox free agents | ColoradoRockies.com: NewsLackey, Holliday and 77 others file for free agency - MLB - SI.comHere's an article on the Rockies' FA's, as well as a list of everyone who has filed for free agency so far. Reynolds, Johnston in Rising Stars game | ColoradoRockies.com: NewsRelievers Matt Reynolds and Andrew Johnston made the Arizona Fall League's Rising Stars game. Reports of Teahen trade appear to be premature - KansasCity.comSomeone jumped the gun in reporting the Teahean-to-White Sox deal for Josh Fields and Chris Getz. If this is how the offseason starts, let's hope for more intrigue. The 2009 Yogi Berra AwardSan Francisco's Pablo Sandoval had the most base hits on bad balls. There are several top 10 lists in the article--find Chris Iannetta. Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates http://www.sportsnipe.com/main_sportsnews/939012/just-what-brad-hawpe-worth-exactly.html In the comments of my column last week about the Rockies' contract situations, much of the discussion centered around what the Rockies should do with outfielder Brad Hawpe this offseason. Brad Hawpe #11 / Right Field / Colorado Rockies Height: 6-3 Weight: 205 Bats: L Throws: L Born: Jun 22, 1979 GABRH2B3BHRRBIBBKSBCSAVGOBPSLG 2009 - Brad Hawpe 145 501 82 143 42 3 23 86 79 145 1 3 .285 .384 .519 Dan O'Dowd has said that Hawpe wasn't on the market, inferring that he wouldn't move Hawpe unless it was for a Matt Holliday-type return. Hawpe is due $7.5 million in 2010 with a $10 million team option in 2011 that will be voided if he is traded--meaning that for other teams he'd be a one year rental. Also of note is that Hawpe would likely qualify as a Type A free agent for the team that traded for him, netting that team two first round draft picks as compensation were Hawpe to walk away after the one year. Here's the thing: Hawpe rode a hot streak with the bat in 2009 to the All-Star game but came back down to earth hard in the second half, all the while providing subpar defense. In fact, according to FanGraphs, Hawpe's batting value was virtually canceled out by his fielding last year. Due to this fact, despite Hawpe's offensive production he was worth only 1.3 WAR in 2009--which is actually right in line with his $5.5 million compensation. The Rockies have a good problem with outfield depth, as Hawpe just may be the fourth best outfielder on the Rockies' roster going into 2010, behind Seth Smith, Carlos Gonzalez, and an improving Dexter Fowler. Because the Rockies will have an abundance of potential salary arbitration cases this winter, Hawpe's contract may be a little too unwieldy to remain on the roster--O'Dowd may need Hawpe's money to pay for a player like Rafael Betancourt, Jason Giambi, or the replacement of Garrett Atkins. After the jump, I'll use the Trade Value Calculator, originally developed by Beyond the Boxscore's Sky Kalkman, to determine Hawpe's value to both the Rockies and to a prospective trade partner, as well as a short foray into simple economic theory. Projecting Hawpe in 2010 Adhering strictly to the FanGraphs calculation of WAR, as I outlined a few months back, I was able to come up with a reasonable projection for Brad Hawpe in 2010. First, and most importantly, was the determination of Hawpe's projected 2010 wOBA. I used a combination of Bill James' projections for Hawpe in 2010 (which admittedly are a little optimistic) tempered with my own observations (Hawpe won't get as many PAs as James projects, nor will he play as many games due to the Rockies OF depth). Using a baseline of 575 PA, 136 games played, and 1150 innings, I came up with the following values for Hawpe: For batting, I used wOBA = .384, which is pretty much in line for Hawpe (.383 and .385 in 2008 and 2009), leading to a total of 26 wRAA. Fielding was a little trickier, but I used Hawpe's career FRAA total (-90.8) and divided it by his total innings played on defense, then multiplied it by my projected 1150 innings to get a 2010 FRAA total of -18.6. Replacement ((#PA/600) * 20) and Positional ((GP/162) * -7.5) adjustments were relatively simple, with Hawpe getting 19.2 and -6.3 RAR in those categories. All told, I'm projecting Hawpe to produce a little over 2 WAR in 2010.   Hawpe's Value to Rockies and Others In other words, teams looking to trade for Hawpe as a one year rental that will play a corner outfield position can expect to receive this much net value:  Brad Hawpe           Year Sal (M) WAR Val (M) Net (M) Sal (M) 2010 $7.5 2.0 $9.3 $1.8 $7.5 2011       FA Picks $5.0   Total $7.5 2.0 $14.3 $6.8 Looking at Hawpe from a purely quantitative standpoint, what is represented above should be his perceived value to other teams. However, as has been suggested numerous times, Hawpe would be more valuable to an AL club as a DH.   Projecting Hawpe as a DH would mean using the positional adjustment for a DH (-17.5 RAA) while erasing his negative fielding impact. As a result, Hawpe's new projected WAR would increase to over 3 for 2010: Brad Hawpe           Year Sal (M) WAR Val (M) Net (M) Sal (M) 2010 $7.5 3.0 $13.9 $6.4 $7.5 2011       FA Picks $5.0   Total $7.5 3.0 $18.9 $11.4 As you can see, Hawpe could be a very valuable commodity if he were simply to leave his glove at home and hit full-time in the American League. Of course, with the AL currently being the stronger league, there is no guarantee that Hawpe's projected numbers would come to pass.   Using a similar process, I projected Hawpe to regress slightly in 2011 in his age 32 season to about 1.5 WAR. This season plus his Type A free agent status affords this picture of Hawpe's value to the Rockies over the life of his contract: Brad Hawpe           Year Sal (M) WAR Val (M) Net (M) Sal (M) 2009 $7.5 2.0 $9.3 $1.8 $7.5 2010 $10.0 1.5 $7.0 -$3.0 $10.0 FA Picks $5.0   Total $17.5 3.5 $21.3 $3.8 So what does this mean? It means that Hawpe is much more valuable as a trade asset to other teams than he is to the Rockies. Sure, he'll provide 3.5 WAR over two years to the Rockies, a surplus value of $3.8 million, but Hawpe would be worth three times as much to an AL team as a DH if he voided his 2010 option.   It's the type of tempting market inefficiency that the Rockies need to continually exploit if they want to survive and thrive with their mid-market payroll. Hawpe's market value to other teams is increased due to his status as an All-Star and as a potential veteran leader--a quality that Hawpe purportedly utilizes with the Rockies. I wish that I could put a concrete value on such intangible contributions, but there's no way that those intangibles are worth $3 million. The extra value in addition to the short-term flexibility provided to O'Dowd by freeing up some payroll space is simply too good to pass up. But there's one more reason to make a trade...and that's where the economics come into play.   Opportunity Cost For those of you who have never taken an economics course, an opportunity cost is the value of the next best alternative which, as the result of making a decision, you have foregone the use of. In other words, the opportunity cost is the other stuff that you could be doing with your time or money, and it factors heavily into an economic decision. What this means on a baseball level is if the Rockies were to get rid of Hawpe, they would not replace Hawpe with nobody and lose 2.0 WAR. They would instead gain incrementally increased production from players like Smith, Fowler, Gonzalez, Spilborghs, and Murton--who would benefit from more playing time. How much? Consider this theoretical situation (I say theoretical because I doubt Tracy would play Smith/Fowler/Gonzalez regularly): Smith would likely be the primary beneficiary of Hawpe moving on, gaining about 175 more PA, while Fowler would get another 80 and Gonzalez another 60. Originally, using Bill James' projections (again, these are usually optimistic) Smith, Fowler, and Gonzalez were projected to produce 3.05, 2.46, and 4.09 respectively. With an increase in opportunities and the same rate stats these numbers for Smith, Fowler, and Gonzalez improve to 4.60, 2.89, and 4.55. Incrementally, this is a net improvement in WAR due to Hawpe's absence of 2.45--more value than Hawpe himself would have provided in 2010 and at a $7.5 million cost savings. Makes sense, right? In this case, even if the Rockies were to trade Hawpe for a pile of nothing they would actually be improved due to the opportunity costs being higher than the potential economic gain of having Hawpe stay. Of course, it really isn't as simple as that. The scenario above is something of a best case scenario for Colorado. Should any of the three starters have an injury, having Hawpe as a safety net would be better than a Matt Murton or Ryan Spilborghs to fill in. In addition, Smith seems to be doomed to a platoon situation in the outfield, making it unlikely that he'd actually be that productive in 2010. However, even if the other outfielders are not up to the task of replacing Hawpe's 2 WAR, the payroll flexibility gained by dealing Hawpe (or the pieces received in return) will also likely produce WAR for the Rockies now or in the future, further hedging against the risk of the trade.   Bottom Line While Brad Hawpe's value might have taken a hit after his cold second half of 2009, the lefty has a great deal of value (real and perceived) to other teams (especially in the AL as a DH)--more value than he has to the Rockies over the remainder of his contract due to their depth at the position and the higher relative value of payroll space to them. However, this value is more likely than not to decrease as the 2010 season progresses, so the sooner the Rockies make a move the better.  The Rockies should be actively searching for a trade partner and be willing to accept a package built around a young back-end starter and a B prospect or corner infield depth in exchange for the 30 year old Hawpe. Should no reasonable offers emerge, then the Rockies have a pretty nice Plan B too. Economics demands it! Colorado Rockies - Sport Snipe - Team News - Stats - Updates