1.29.2007
Another Sign of the Impending Apocalypse
Jeff Weaver is getting a raise. (If you count incentives.) Not everyone thinks it's such a bad idea.
Meanwhile, Todd Helton could soon be a Red Stocking, which at least in the short-term would make me feel a lot better. Even a Helton in decline is a frightening proposition. Swapping Helton for Mike Lowell, Julian Tavarez and prospects, as one report has it, would not better the Rockies in '07.
But it would free up a lot of Colorado's payroll in the coming years and add more blue-chip prospects to what could already be the strongest farm system in baseball. Which circles us back to the debate stemming from my last two posts: will the Rockies be any better off because they, like the D-Backs, have amassed some of the strongest, deepest young talent in the game? As sayhey rightly noted in the previous post's comments, there are many ways of getting it done. It's unclear that Colorado, playing in oddball conditions at home that turn its sluggers into 90-lb. weaklings on the road, will ever find the right formula.
The team that seems poised to make the best of both worlds -- a strong farm system and big-market bucks to lure free agents -- is, and may the Lord strike me down for typing this, the Dodgers.
THIS JUST IN:
Barry Bonds is in town taking his physical and should sign his contract imminently. The Chronicle reports the financial terms -- $15.8 million base with incentives that could add up to $20 million -- remain the same. But Bonds's entourage will no longer have access to the team clubhouse. With Bonds officially on the team, someone's about to be kicked off the 40-man roster. Any guesses?
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Meanwhile, Todd Helton could soon be a Red Stocking, which at least in the short-term would make me feel a lot better. Even a Helton in decline is a frightening proposition. Swapping Helton for Mike Lowell, Julian Tavarez and prospects, as one report has it, would not better the Rockies in '07.
But it would free up a lot of Colorado's payroll in the coming years and add more blue-chip prospects to what could already be the strongest farm system in baseball. Which circles us back to the debate stemming from my last two posts: will the Rockies be any better off because they, like the D-Backs, have amassed some of the strongest, deepest young talent in the game? As sayhey rightly noted in the previous post's comments, there are many ways of getting it done. It's unclear that Colorado, playing in oddball conditions at home that turn its sluggers into 90-lb. weaklings on the road, will ever find the right formula.
The team that seems poised to make the best of both worlds -- a strong farm system and big-market bucks to lure free agents -- is, and may the Lord strike me down for typing this, the Dodgers.
THIS JUST IN:
Barry Bonds is in town taking his physical and should sign his contract imminently. The Chronicle reports the financial terms -- $15.8 million base with incentives that could add up to $20 million -- remain the same. But Bonds's entourage will no longer have access to the team clubhouse. With Bonds officially on the team, someone's about to be kicked off the 40-man roster. Any guesses?
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