Catastrophe Averted

Well, the Rockies' worst nightmare almost happened, as Todd Helton had surgery on his right elbow to clear out a "loose body". Fortunately though, there was no damage to ligaments and he should be completely ready by spring training. If items like this are the extent of Rockies' news from this point on then the absence of news will be welcomed.

At this stage in the Rox' "rebuilding process" Helton's greatest value to the Rox is not in his HR and rbi totals. Yes, those elements of his game are important to the Rox' success and competitiveness on the field, but his most significant contribution to the Rockies as a franchise is his example of work ethic to the youngsters, of which some will be with the Rockies for the long-term.

For the second post in a row we are broadening the scope of DITR. Rick, from NFTMM, submitted this two-part entry for the Did You Know? Files: What three numbers have the Broncos retired? and What three players have worn the number “7” for the Broncos? The answers are listed below.

The inagural GFNK entry, along with a rather meandering email conversation, also spurred Rick to send me this:

You got me thinking about David Thompson. We shared season tickets with some folks the last year they were in the ABA and the first year they were in the NBA. Thompson was amazing. On the last day of the season—don’t remember the year—he and George Gervin were neck and neck for the scoring title. Gervin was, like, .02 pts. ahead. Denver played in the afternoon and Thompson poured in 70-some points and it looked like he had won. But Gervin went out that night and scored about the same and kept his thin lead. It was amazing. That was when—Thompson and Dr. J—the game started being played above the rim.

Unrelated to the Rockies or baseball, but great stuff nonetheless. Visit Remember the ABA to get a little glimpse at yesteryear and a truly exciting period in basketball.

The Did You Know? answers: Part 1. 7 (Elway), 18 (Frank Tripucka) and 44 (Floyd Little); Part 2. Elway, Craig Morton and Micky Slaughter.

Until next time, Go Rockies!

Pretty Quiet on the Rockies Front

We are certainly in the quietest period of the baseball off-season. Aside from a couple notable transactions, namely Kris Benson to the Mets and Coco Crisp possibly to the Red Sox, most of the activity is almost irrelevant. The majority of teams have solidified their candidates for all starting positions and now are looking for players to provide competition in Spring Training, most likely for a roster spot as a fifth outfielder, utility infielder, fifth starter and one or two bullpen slots. Most deals from this point forward are minor-league contracts with an invitation to ST. As far as the Rockies are concerned, their discussions with Royce Clayton fall into this category. Looking for a veteran to fill out the infield utility role, the Rox have turned to one of their former shortstops in Clayton. Somehow, Hurdle has projected that his utility infielder will start about 90 games this season. This might be the best offer Clayton gets and could entice him to come back, which would most likely be unfortunate for the Rox. Although Clayton played okay for us in 2004, it was just that, okay. He is now 36 and isn't a better shortstop than he was then. There aren't many 36 year olds that would be a better option than a couple of 24 year-olds in Omar Quintanilla and Josh Wilson. Plus, if either Quintanilla or Wilson falters they can be optioned to give someone else a crack. If Clayton were to make the team out of ST and doesn't meet expectations, then he would have to leave via the Todd Jones route, by paying him to go away.

Given the almost non-existence of Rockies news worth mentioning, I thought I would take the opportunity to somewhat broaden the scope of DITR. Allow me to introduce a couple of new items that will occasionally be offered: the Good-For-Nothing Knowledge Department and the Did You Know Files. Good-For-Nothing Knowledge will serve as the DITR version of Useless Information while Did You Know will be a trivia item of sorts. If you would ever like to submit something for either of these, feel free to email me.

The debut item from the DYK Files: What do Anthony Carter, Gary Zimmerman and Rick Nueheisel have in common? The answer's at the end of the post.

For the inaugural item in the GFNK Dept., with the Broncos' Gary Kubiak's reported hiring by the Houston Texans, each of the four major sports in Denver have a former player who is or has been a head coach/manager. The Nuggets have Larry Brown (ABA and NBA) and Dan Issel (NBA). The Colorado Rockies (MLB) has Eric Wedge and Joe Girardi. The Colorado Rockies (NHL) has Joel Quinneville and the Broncos have Kubiak. Three of the six (Brown, Issel and Quinneville) have coached in Denver.

How impressive was Kobe Bryant's 81 points Sunday? He came within eight points of equaling the output of nine teams over the weekend and outscored one team (Sacramento-78) that had an overtime game.

DYK answer: They all played in the USFL.

Until next time, Go Rockies!

Cook, Burgers and the NWSS

The most significant move by the Rockies in recent days, and a pretty significant one at that, has been to sign Aaron Cook to a two-year contract with an option for a third year. If you happened to be a dedicated reader during the 2005 season you know that Cook was officially named the staff ace here at DITR back in August. While exercising more than their share of penny-pinching over the last few years, the one thing the Rockies have been consistent about is rewarding their young players when performance warrants it. Say what you will about Jason Jennings, but the Rockies locked him up for a few years when it seemed that he could be a very good pitcher over the long term. It also seems to be a strategy of playing the odds to a degree. In other words, the Rockies, by signing JJ and Cook to deals, eliminate the players' arbitration rights. So, by signing a player for, say $2.5M, you hope he will perform adequately for that price, but also know that's the maximum you will have to pay that player. Maybe Cook pitches beyond anyone's dreams this season and, if he were eligible for arbitration after 2006, could ask for $4.0M. They used a similar approach with Helton when it was clear he was going to be a keeper. Time will tell if it is a successful strategy, but as a team with a lot of young talent and a very limited payroll budget it seems as good as any.

The other moves that were made recently were a collection of minor-league contracts with invitations to spring training that are unlikely to have any impact whatsoever on the roster heading into the regular season. These signings have been documented on a few Rockies' sites, so I won't duplicate others’ efforts.

After coming to the realization that I couldn't sync the calendar on my cell phone with Outlook, I manually entered the Rox' 2006 schedule. I think my wife has finally come to grips with my fanaticism with baseball, because when I told her what I was doing her response was simply "uh-huh".

After a five-year run as a subscriber to Sports Weekly (Baseball Weekly in the good ole’ days) I have decided it’s time to keep my money. About two years ago they decided to add football to the newspaper, thus the name change. Although I was upset that they had the gall to put football in a baseball newspaper, I eventually decided that things change and I can accept change…to a degree. In the last issue they announced that they would soon be adding NASCAR to the paper. Enough’s enough!

Wednesday was the 12th annual trip to the National Western Stock Show, or better known as just the “Stock Show” in these parts. For those not familiar with the Stock Show, my friend Rick, great great-nephew of Candy Cummings, does a more than adequate job of explaining what this event is all about. Tonight in the Junior Livestock Auction the Grand Champion Steer went for $75,000, down from the $110,000 price tag last year, both to Del Frisco’s Steak House. The best thing we saw was probably this.

On Thursday we had snow for the first time in over a month, which means that there should be plenty of snow left for those April games at CF.

Until next time, Go Rockies!

Public Service Announcement

I hadn't checked in several days and should have checked before I posted earlier today, but the updated Lahman database is available at The Baseball Archive. Download it, dig into it and enjoy it. This is truly a jewel among the baseball community. Big thanks goes to The Baseball Archive for their ongoing efforts and dedication to this enormous undertaking.

Getting Close

Only 35 days until Spring Training, according to the website. At this time last year there were far more questions than answers for the Rox. Probably the most significant area of uncertainty last year was the bullpen. After attempts by DD to acquire veteran arms were unsuccessful, the alternate formula was to take the best of a large pool of young, untested pitchers, termed the "spaghetti approach" over at Bad Altitude. The results were unpleasant, with seven blown saves and seven losses by the bullpen in April. A mixture of veterans and youngsters should make April a little easier to watch this season. In my opinion, catcher and centerfield continue to be concerns with Ardoin and Sullivan slated as probable starters, respectively. Hitting is not the most important element of a catcher's game, but you still need to hit some. Otherwise it's almost like having two pitchers in your lineup. As far as Sullivan goes, it all depends on which guy comes to play. The one we saw most of the 2005 season, or the guy who played pretty much everyday towards the end of the season and hit like crazy.

It all makes sense now. The Denver Post is reporting today that Helton injured his back during Spring Training 2005 and played in pain most of the season. This is the first time his injury has been mentioned, that I have seen, and it explains his drop in power and rbi's.

The DP also reports that former Cherry Creek High School star Darnell McDonald, originally drafted by Baltimore, has signed a minor-league contract with Tampa Bay. McDonald also played tailback for the Bruins football team and passed up a scholarship to Texas to play baseball and football to sign with the Orioles. How dominating was Cherry Creek while McDonald played? In his four years on the football team and four years on the baseball team, Cherry Creek won four state football championships and four state baseball championships.

My friend Scot invited me to the Avs game Monday night. I know, Scot is my baseball buddy, but for one night, at least, he was my hockey buddy too. And yes, we did talk about baseball. As we were on the train heading to the game I mentioned that Vernand Morency started at running back for the Houston Texans the last game of the season and that made two Rox draft picks that had started an NFL game. That started us thinking about other players who were drafted by MLB teams that had started an NFL game. Off the top of our heads and without doing much research, here's who we came up with. John Elway(Yankees), Deion Sanders(Royals, Yankees), Bo Jackson(Yankees, Angels, Royals), Brian Jordan(Indians, Cardinals), Michael Vick(Rockies) and Vernand Morency(Rockies). Can you think of any others?

As far as the Avs go, they beat the Blues 6-1, making their cumulative score in games I have been to 14-3. Sounds kind of like a score at Coors Field. The Avs won Wednesday to take their win streak to six games.

I'm waiting for my Ryne Duren autographed baseball to arrive in the mail. If you are wondering who Ryne Duren is and his significance, go to the articles section of the website and read the article about him, or read my History of Baseball In Denver, Part III archived post.

Welcome to new Rox blogger Drew Beinhoff at Baseball With An Altitude.

I have added a new feature to the website called Team News. This is a collection of news and blogs for each MLB team, updated regularly.

Interestingly enough, the biggest MLB news lately hasn't been about who's going or coming, but about who's staying, as both Miguel Tejada and Manny Ramirez have decided they can handle staying where they are, Baltimore and Boston, respectively.

Until next time, Go Rockies!