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!
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!
posted by Todd Nikkel | 10:37 PM
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