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!