Dealin' Dan Does it Again

As I'm sure that most of those reading today's entry already know, the Rockies did make some moves yesterday, interrupting an otherwise quiet stay at the Winter Meetings. In a move that has been anticipated for a number of weeks now, the Rockies finally acquired Yorvit Torrealba from Seattle to be their backup catcher. At first report, the Rockies' half of the transaction was a player to be named. That player turned out to be Marcos Carvajal. Initially I was not convinced this was a worthwhile transaction. Now I am convinced this was a bad deal for the Rox. I have never been, nor will I ever be, one to routinely and blindly criticize the Rockies' management. However, I also will call it like I see it and criticize when I feel it's warranted. If Dan O'Dowd has demonstrated one area of consistency, it's the willingness to trade young talent for marginal major leaguers. Does anybody remember the Kimera Bartee and Jacob Cruz trades? I agree, we'd like to forget them, but we shouldn't if we want to honestly evaluate DD's ability (or inability) to fill current needs without sacrificing player(s) of significantly higher long-term value. In one sense, the Bartee and Cruz trades were understandable. The Rox were desparate to find a leftfielder in a "win now" environment. But now, in an atmosphere of excercising patience and focusing on building from within, a trade like this is hard to figure out.

I was surprised to read this morning that the Rox had offered arbitration to BK Kim when every indication I had seen was that they would not. The apparent strategy is that Kim will reject arbitration and they will continue to negotiate. The Rockies are hoping they can meet face to face with Kim, who has been in South Korea since the end of the season. By offering arbitration, the Rox have exclusive negotiating rights with Kim until January 8 and will receive compensation if he signs with another team. We've seen this strategy before and sometimes it backfires. A few years ago, the Braves offered Greg Maddux arbitration, assuming he would reject it and they would get a draft pick when he signed with another team. Maddux accepted arbitration and won. As a result, Atlanta had to trade Millwood for below value just to meet their budgeted payroll. Hopefully the Rox can agree on a deal with Kim. The alternative seems to be Zach Day.

As expected, there has been a rather hefty dose of signings and trades since last evening, the most disheartening for Rox fans being that Trevor Hoffman chose to remain with the Padres. An A+ goes to San Diego for retaining the two biggest pieces in their puzzle in Hoffman and Giles. On a positive note, they did trade Mark Loretta, who has always seemed to be a thorn in the Rockies' side.

Remember, you can keep track of all the MLB news, Rockies' news and rumors on the website.

Deals and Rumors of Deals

We are two days into the Winter Meetings and, although plenty of activity is in the works, no new major deals have happened in the last 24 hours or so. You can usually tell the teams that have new GM's that are trying to make a splash and put their stamp on the team right away. The Dodgers, for instance, have been mentioned in a half dozen or so rumors, most notably deals for Abreu and Soriano. The Rockies have continued to be very quiet, brought up only in possible trades sending Miles to Florida and getting Johnny Estrada from the Braves for who knows what in a three-way deal with TB. In my opinion, this would be a good move by the Rox, obviously depending on what we had to give up. Estrada has a good balance of offensive and defensive skills that would suit the Rox well as they attempt to fix their never-ending dilemma at catcher. Like I said a few days ago, stay tuned.

Matt Morris, who was on the Rox' radar screen early on, has seen his price range soar to about $8mm per year with the signing of Byrd by Cleveland for $7.4mm per season.

The likelihood of BK Kim being on the team next year dwindles by the hour. The Rox have a $1mm offer on the table while Kim is seeking around $3mm. The Rox will not offer Kim arbitration, so if a deal isn't agreed to by midnight tonight then Kim will be somewhere else in 2006.

Speaking of arbitration, tomorrow is when we can expect the free-agent signings to really pick up, as teams that do not offer arbitration to their free-agents do not get compensation from a player's new team.

As Tracy Ringolsby reported yesterday in the RMN, the Rox' and Fuentes are close to agreeing on a two-year contract for about $5mm with an option for a third year. Congratulations to Tracy, who was selected 2005 winner of the A.G. Spink Award by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Congratulations is also due the Tulsa Drillers organization, which received the 2005 Bob Freitas Award, awarded each year by Baseball America to one team in each minor league classification to recognize long-term business excellence.

As I mentioned earlier, tomorrow should have plenty to talk about so the blogs will be hopping. Even if the Rox aren't involved, this is always a fun time of the year.

Veteran Relief in High Demand

One thing that has been clear already this free-agent season is that veteran relief pitchers are in the highest of demand. Two more, Tom Gordon and Tim Worrell, both 38, recently signed contracts. Gordon by the Phillies and Worell by the Giants. Gordon's contract is reportedly for three years and $18 million while the Giants seemingly got Worrell for a bargain at two years and $4 million. Note: rumored reports say that the signing of Worrell will drop the average age for the Giants "by at least a year". The state of the market is making the Rox' target at acquiring veteran bullpen help a more costly proposition. Apparently Clint Hurdle has personally joined the effort in wooing Jose Mesa to be the Rox' setup man. This possible acquisition has drawn an overall favorable response from most in the Rox' blogosphere, at least compared to the thought of bringing back the likes of Pedro Astacio and Shawn Estes. Meanwhile, the Rox' pursuit of a catcher continues to be worth keeping an eye on, taking more turns than the average day-time soap opera.

The RMN had a great article last week about Jorge Piedra and his infant daughter. If you missed it, it's definitely a worthwhile read.

The latest edition of Baseball Weekly listed Joe Kennedy as possible trade bait for the Rox. Huh? I guess we all makes mistakes. Since the end of the postseason, Baseball Weekly has ranked players by position. This week they ranked third basemen. I perused the list, looking for Garrett Atkins, and he was ranked at 13. I wasn't surprised by this, but what did surprise me were their comments:

This kid surprised the Rockies by playing decent defense. He also wound up with 89 RBI, the fifth-most by a NL rookie since 1980. He could actually force minor league sensation Ian Stewart to the outfield in two years.

Now, we've heard over and over again how Atkins was simply a stop-gap until Stewart was ready for the majors and how Stewart would eventually force both Atkins and Jeff Baker to find a new position with the Rox, but this is the first time I've heard it the other way around. Interesting.

Heatin' Up

While the temperature in Denver is dropping below freezing, the Hot Stove league in baseball is really heating up. The most notable players have been the NY Mets and the Chicago White Sox, with the Mets landing Carlos Delgado from the Marlins and signing Billy Wagner from the Phillies and the ChiSox obtaining Jim Thome from Philadelphia and re-signing their own free agent Paul Konerko. The Rockies plans for participating in the free agent activity seems to resemble the weather forecast for Denver...cold. The opinion of most seems to be that this isn't a bad thing. Tracy mentioned in the RMN a couple of weeks ago that there appears to be a cycle within baseball where teams get themselves into bad contracts, spend a couple of years trying their best to get out of those contracts, and then a couple of years later forget the lessons they learned and get themselves into a whole new set of bad contracts. One thing you have to give the Rockies credit for is the fact that they have not forgotten about the dilemma that the Hampton and Neagle signings got them in. Now that they are out from under those contracts, they shouldn't have license to make the same mistake all over again. It seems to me that may be what some teams are doing, such as Toronto and B.J. Ryan. The most important thing the Rox have been doing lately is talking to Fuentes about a long-term deal. Once you know you have a reliable closer, you'd better do what you can to keep him. San Diego obviously has known this for quite some time. Speaking of San Diego, reports are that they have agreed to terms with Brian Giles. For the Rockies sake I was hoping he would be leaving the NL West.

Lately I've been spending more time on the website than the blog. I have a few new features that I am rather excited about. First, if there's ever a day you are wondering "how long until Spring Training?" or " how long until Opening Day?", go to my website and you can find out. Second, I have added a feature I call Around the Horn, which is a collection of baseball news from various sources. Lastly, the feature News on the Rox is a similar collection of news, but just about the Rox and includes blogs as well as news sources. With these features there's no need to check the various sites and blogs for the latest postings. You can get all the news and blogs in one place. I think it's cool, I hope you do too. I also have a new poll up on the site, so visit and vote. As always, I welcome comments and suggestions.