A regular criticism of Rockies' CF Dexter Fowler is that for a guy his height and with runners legs and the grace of a loping antelope, he really isn't all that great at stealing bases. Watching him, you see his graceful strides and the 15 feet separating his footfalls en route from 1B to 3B, you'd think that he'd have no trouble getting 1B to 2B before the pitcher even realized that he was on 1B.

In 2011, the Rockies were surprisingly 12th in MLB in stolen bases. I was expecting somewhere closer to 30th, so 12th came as a shock. The team's leading base stealer was Eric Young, Jr at 27, then Carlos Gonzalez, who stole the lofty total of 20 bags over his injury-shortened season. Fowler was 3rd with a grand total of 12 bases. Clearly, the Rockies need a real speed burner on the top of their lineup if they want to make it anywhere in 2012.

So there are realistically 2 options in my mind: Start EYJ in the leadoff, or start Fowler in the leadoff.

In EY's case, we're dealing with a guy who has a subpar bat, but he stole 27 bases in 77 games and was only caught 4 times (and that's not including his 17:1 SB:CS ratio in AAA Colorado Springs). While Young's .247 batting average was decidedly below what we'd like to see, his .342 OBP WAS above average. This move would pretty much pull Fowler out of the lineup though, probably putting EYJ in LF and Carlos Gonzalez in CF. Depending on how guys are hitting, we might even see this as an option in the event that Fowler spends any significant time on the bench or DL.

More realistically, Fowler will be batting leadoff, with a better OBP, SLG, and maybe fewer SBs, but a practical guarantee that he'll be on 3B after a single. No, Fowler won't wreak the same sort of pitcher-distracting havoc that EYJ would, but that's not necessarily going to guarantee anything. The 2008 Rockies were 2nd in the majors in SB (141) thanks in large part to Willy Taveras, and scored 747 runs. The 2011 Rockies stole 118 bases and scored 735 runs. Yeah, those 12 offensive runs could've been the difference in like 4-5 games. Probably not enough to take the Rockies from turrible to the playoffs, but definitely an improvement on situational run scoring situations.

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The Rockies picked up Rafael Betancourt's 2013 option and the parties agreed to add a 2014 option season to his current contract. As Cliff Corcoran of Sports Illustrated points out, and as should be fairly obvious in light of the deals given to other closers this winter, Betancourt comes at a bargain.

The Rockies have four prospects on MiLB's top 100 list, Nolan Arenado, Drew Pomeranz, Wilin Rosario and Chad Bettis.

Rockies sideline reporter Alanna Rizzo has accepted an on-air position with MLBNetwork. No word yet by Root Sports who will be taking over her field reporting or Rockies All Access host duties. My guess is that if it's a telegenic female (and knowing how NewsCorp runs its networks, there's no reason to assume otherwise,) she will be seen as lacking intelligence by many fans, or simply as a useless sex object by others, especially given that her reporting assignments will be vacuous and lightweight by design. Now whether any of the assumptions of fans about this woman will be true or not is another question, but it's going to be a tough job working under that kind of scrutiny either way. I do not envy the woman who fills Rizzo's shoes. At any rate, congratulations goes to Rizzo on her new gig.

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This past week on the Bachelor Baseball Off-Season Speculation, the Rockies' crowd of rotational candidates dropped from 17 to 15 with the trades of Kevin Slowey and Clayton Mortensen. To get a breakdown of the remaining candidates, you would do well to check out my profile on each of the suitors last week. For the record, Slowey's departure makes Alex White my new favorite for spot number 5 in the rotation, though the veteraniness of Jamie Moyer is stronger than most mortal men can endure.

The plan this week was to do a similar profile of the second base candidates, but the Marco Scutaro trade scuttled that debate pretty quickly...or did it just expand the scope of the article to include all the positional bench candidates? Of course it did! I'm so incorrigible. After all, I did say as the off-season began that Colorado's lack of quality depth was a primary reason why 2011 was a terrible experience. Let's see if 2012 is looking any different.

The way I see it, there are 5 bench spots open (2 or 3 IF, 1 or 2 OF, C) for a crowd of 13 gentlemen (Casey Blake penciled in as a starter), most in the infield. Unlike last week, when I took a longshot to favorite tack, I'm going from lock to lark (briefly). Okay, maybe it will be loosely based on positional group.

He Will Never, Ever Leave This Team (Ever)

Name: Jason Giambi
Codename: Ion Samba Jig
Relationship Status: Thrice Divorced, Still Keeps Showing Up
Street Cred: Biceps larger than your legs, MVP winner, 5 time All-Star, hit 13 HRs in 132 PAs last season
Fatal Flaw: In the same age neighborhood as Jamie Moyer (in his 40s, anyway), has range of a beached whale, the Rockies are not a club with a DH
Verdict: Designated Pinch-Hitter, Clubhouse Presence, Badass

The Only Other Catcher On The 40 Man Roster

Name: Wilin Rosario
Codename: Raisin Row Oil
Relationship Status: Single -- Dude's got 2 options
Street Cred: Catcher of the Future Since 2009, elite power for a catcher, excellent throwing arm
Fatal Flaw: Needs to work on game-calling, plate discipline evokes Miguel Olivo comparisons
Verdict: Rosario is on the roster by default at the moment (as I don't see Pacheco being the full-time back-up there), but it's very possible that Colorado's back-up catcher isn't on the roster yet.

Filling the Void Left by Seth Smith and Ryan Spilborghs

Name: Charlie Blackmon
Codename: Rollback Machine, Melancholic Bark, or Lock Chamberlain
Relationship Status: 3 options
Street Cred: Sweet line-drive swing, can play all three outfield positions well, crush of Fangraphs' Carson Cistulli, great twitter feed
Fatal Flaw: He wasn't particularly effective in his injury shortened 2011 cameo
Verdict: He's got the inside track to a 2012 roster slot because of his defense and speed, but he'll be in a dogfight with the next few gentlemen on this list.

Name: Tyler Colvin
Codename: Lint, Cry, Love
Relationship Status: 2 options
Street Cred: 1st round pedigree, was pretty decent in a part-time role for the Cubs in 2010
Fatal Flaw: His 2011 was almost as bad as Ian Stewart's, he was traded for Ian Stewart
Verdict: Will start the season in AAA, though it's very easy to see him winning the reserve role over the Rollback Machine.

Name: Jamie Hoffmann
Codename: Jiff, Home Manna
Relationship Status: A solitary option
Street Cred: He was picked in the 2003 NHL draft, he's right-handed, he's hit pretty well in the minors
Fatal Flaw: There is a Jamie Hoffmann Sucks Forum, he only has 28 ML PAs to his name as a 27 year-old
Verdict: He'll play the Cole Garner role this season, emerging from AAA only in dire need

Name: Tim Wheeler
Codename: Wire Helmet
Relationship Status: 3 options
Street Cred: Broke out something fierce in 2011 (33 HRs in AA), deemed untouchable in Martin Prado trade talks, good power/speed combo
Fatal Flaw: Platoon splits are a big issue for the lefty, hasn't played above AA, tailed off significantly toward the end of the year
Verdict: He'll be the third member of the AAA outfield, eyeing a mid-season call-up

Name: Eric Young Jr.
Codename: You Cringe
Relationship Status: In a Relationship -- no options left
Street Cred: Truly elite speed, passable OBP for the bottom of the order, can theoretically play both infield and outfield
Fatal Flaw: No power to speak of, a defensive liability anywhere he plays, gets picked off an unusual amount of times
Verdict: End of the line for Mr. Young in Colorado -- love watching him on the basepaths though

After the fold, the infield candidates!

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Throughout the doom and gloom of 2011 (and there was quite a bit of both), there was a consistent example of what 2011 was supposed to be in the form of Troy Tulowitzki.

After producing a Herculean September in 2010 (15 HRs, 40 RBI) on his way to a 5th place MVP finish, winning some well-deserved hardware (Gold Glove and Silver Slugger), as well as receiving a mammoth 7 year, $134 million extension to his existing contract, Troy Tulowitzki had some gigantic expectations to meet in 2011.

A notorious slow starter, Tulo sprinted out of the gates in 2011, smashing the ball in April to the tune of .298/.385/.617 with 7 HR and 17 RBI (178 sOPS+). In the last month in 2011 that the Rockies were a joy to watch, Tulo shone brightest. And the crazy part was, Tulowitzki had two months in 2011 at the plate that were even better than April.

Like everyone else on the roster, Tulo had a dismal May (.209/.269/.364, 77 sOPS+), but he rebounded with a good June and was voted in as the NL starter at shortstop in the All-Star Game with a .268/.337/.488 line. I firmly believe that he'll be a fixture in that position for at least the next five years.

Tulowitzki's 1st half numbers might have been a little light for an All-Star starter, but he really turned it on in the 2nd half. A great July (.352/.404/.615, 5 HR, 180 sOPS+) was followed by a spectacular August (.356/.438/.673, 8 HR, 197 sOPS+) before his September was abbreviated by a nagging hip injury to only 11 games and 40 PAs. Still, his 2nd half line was certainly a MVP-type performance (.356/.426/.634, 13 HR, 48 RBI in 54 games, 187 sOPS+). If the Rockies get more of that 2nd half Tulo in 2012, they'll be very much on pace to take a winnable NL West.

In all, Tulowitzki's 2011 season line looks pretty similar to his 2010 -- a few more HR (30 to 27), a few less steals (11 to 20), but about the same production (.302/.372/.544 vs.315/.381/.568, 6.3 fWAR vs. 6.5 fWAR) and postseason accolades (8th place MVP vs. 5th, but both seasons garnered Gold Gloves and Silver Sluggers). I can only hope that 2012 brings more of the same.

The conclusion to the 2011 Rockies Player Review series after the jump.

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Dan O'Dowd is in the middle of his 13th offseason as the Rockies' general manager. Thirteen. Soon after Opening Day, thousands of Coloradoans will be graduating from high school. That's not unusual in itself of course, but consider that graduating class was in their first weeks of kindergarten when O'Dowd was hired as the Rockies' second general manager.

In the time it would take to raise a child through the entirety of this country's public school system, Dan O'Dowd has presided over this franchise, enacting a half dozen master plans along the way. I kid you not, he has seen some...stuff. He has been called a dealer, a clown, a genius, a fool, clever, directionless, and executive of the year. Throughout it all, he has been consistently candid. O'Dowd recently sat down with Richard Justice for one such candid interview to convey the course of this unique offseason.

O'Dowd has come to understand that the really good teams are the ones that get four things:

• Star players performing at a high level.
• Surprising performances from at least one or two young players. ("Look at the Diamondbacks last year," O'Dowd said. "They didn't expect Ian Kennedy to put up Cy Young numbers. They didn't know Paul Goldschmidt was going to contribute the way he did. Every good ballclub needs that.")
• Good health.
• Intangibles.

This list could be nitpicked, but by and large, it seems to be reasonable. Unfortunately for general managers, these are not really in direct control of the general manager. We have seen O'Dowd stack the deck on at least three of these in his master plans.

He tried to compliment Todd Helton with Mike Hampton and Denny Neagle to push his chips into bullet one. Money alone does not guarantee stars playing at a high level. The last several years, he has mostly stuck by the young prospects, hoping an Iannetta/Fowler/Stewart/Smith would put up a break out season. No dice. Good health is a roll of the die, unless you bring in injury-riddled old players. Let's pass on this for now.

Now we get to intangibles, where O'Dowd is really stacking the deck. This roster has its stars capable of playing at a high level already. It has young players capable of breaking out, particularly in the rotation, center field, and maybe even third base. O'Dowd has sacrificed the odds in the health category, the one arguably most up to good fortune, so he can push all his chips into the intangibles category. His line of thinking is now clear: guarantee success with the intangibles bullet, have good odds in the other three categories, and this team could surprise some people.

The biggest changes to the roster were to catcher, third base and right field. The organization clearly believed four years was enough to turn the page on Ian Stewart and Chris Iannetta, and in so doing, sought out veteran bridges to their top two position player prospects, Nolan Arenado and Wilin Rosario. Neither Iannetta nor Stewart would have taken kindly to being pushed aside, but in Casey Blake and Ramon Hernandez, O'Dowd found ideal men for the job. In the case of Hernandez, I dare say the perfect guy:

"I will help any player - catcher, pitcher or even a position player. I think that's great. I want to teach (Rosario) everything I can teach him. I know the guy's going to be the future of this organization, so if he's the guy and he's got all the tools and he's ready to be in the big leagues, then come on, go ahead, I'll be ready to help." - Ramon Hernandez

Will it work? Who knows? O'Dowd himself does not.

"It remains to be seen if we accomplished anything," O'Dowd said. "I've been humbled enough times to know nothing is certain. I thought we'd be good last year, and we stunk. I don't think we're a championship quality team as we sit here today. With young pitchers, you can have incredible inconsistency, or they can take off and run with it. That's the great unknown." - Justice

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Coming off a season which was, by all counts, excellent for a pitcher of his age/level of experience, Jhoulys Chacin inadvertently created expectations that, while realistic, may have been too much to count on happening. As a 22-year-old rookie in 2010, Chacin posted an astronomically high 142 ERA+ in 137.1 innings. He allowed just 7.5 H/9 and 0.7 HR/9 - while pitching at Coors Field half of the time. In addition, he struck out a batter per inning.

The one thing holding Jhoulys back was fastball command, but it was a problem that most people figured would improve in 2011 since he exhibited little issues with it while in the minors. During the first half of the season, there was some improvement there, as through June 15th Chacin was 8-4 with a 2.81 ERA. Although he had already given up more homers by that point than he did in all of 2010, he still was only allowing 6.3 H/9 and was striking out just under a batter an inning. Most importantly, he had reduced his walk rate to around three per nine innings, and was looking every bit like the ace that Ubaldo Jimenez was supposed to be.

However, things started to go downhill for Chacin from that point forward, most notably his fastball command (although the team's dismal offense wasn't helping, either). By the time the season came to an end, Chacin had posted the exact same walk rate (4.0 BB/9) as he did the season before, but struck out far less batters (7.0 K/9) and allowed twice as many home runs (but was still under 1 per nine innings). To make matters worse, he started to suffer from some run-of-the-mill nagging injuries in late-August, forcing him to miss a start and and more-or-less limiting him to a pitch count for the remainder of the year.

With all of that being said, Chacin still had a solid season for the Rockies (pitcher wins be damned). Chacin was once again well above average in terms of ERA+ (124), while shouldering the unexpected load of being the team's ace in the absence of Ubaldo Jimenez (ineffective/traded) and Jorge De La Rosa (injured). Not to mention, I have a feeling that his decrease in strikeouts and increase in hits/homers allowed could be due to the Bob Apodaca and the Rockies' pitch-to-contact approach, which resulted in Chacin's groundball rate increasing from 46% to 56%. Hopefully, the coaching staff will focus less on that this time around, and more on a consistent delivery.

More after the jump...

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So Marco Scutaro, right? Pretty great! Rox Girl gave us a good rundown on the trade and the implications on Sunday, so I'll leave other breakdowns to my contemporaries here on

Those of you who follow me on Twitter saw the Tweetsplosion that came from my phone on Saturday. I was graciously invited to the first day of Rockies Fan Fest, so I made full use of the time there by flailing at like 15 snowballs in the visitor batting cages, buying some Rockies merchandise that isn't normally available (for example: I bought Christian Friedrich's locker nameplate for when he arrives in Denver, I bought a 7 foot tall 2010 Ubaldo Jimenez street sign - the ones that hang off of streetlights and stuff, and I bought Muzia a $1 Tulo baseball cap with a built in mullet), and sitting through 3 different players/coaches panels.

The three panels I attended were: Pitchers/Catchers, Infielders/Outfielders, and Coaches/Front Office. What they ended up talking about resulted in the panels being more like: Pitchers/Catchers/Who just had kids, The New Clubhouse Culture, and What We're Doing, respectively.

The Pitchers/Catchers was really Pitchers featuring Ramon Hernandez on drums (no other catchers joined for the panel). In attendance were Esmil Rogers, Jhoulys Chacin, Matt Lindstrom, Josh Roenicke, Matt Reynolds, Jorge De La Rosa, Alex White, Tyler Chatwood, and Ramon Hernandez.

Bringing in Hernandez was a very obvious move, as he has experience working with young pitching staffs while being a decent offensive producer. When asked about joining the Rockies, Hernandez said "Every new organization I join, it's the same story: We have a young pitching staff". It would seem we got the right guy.

Hernandez had other commentary on the state of the pitching staff and Coors Field. After being asked about his expectations after playing 2 seasons in Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, Hernandez claimed that Coors was a fair park - provided the pitcher makes his pitch.

Speaking of making his pitch, Hernandez had more interesting points about the relationship between a pitcher and a catcher. Much like any other relationship, it's all about communication. When Hernandez makes a trip out to the mound to talk about how to finish an AB, if his pitcher is completely sure of the pitch he wants to make, Hernandez has his pitchers' back, 100%. Of course, if it works out, the pitcher was the stud. If it doesn't, Hernandez mishandled his pitcher. For shame.

Most of the rest of the pitchers had the same thing to say: I need to improve my fastball command. Jhoulys Chacin wants to hit 200IP. Esmil Rogers wants to stop walking guys and regain some sort of consistency. Alex White spent some time this offseason with Bob Apodaca out in Chapel Hill, and it interestingly wasn't about baseball. More of a personal visit. Speaks highly to how the organization views White. Ultimately, Matt Lindstrom summed it up nicely in saying that the club looks good on paper, but the team needs to get out on the field and play hard, stay loose in the clubhouse, have some fun, but to also leave it all on the field.

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And just like that, all the rest of the Rockies moves this off-season make sense. In adding their final veteran piece on Saturday, Marco Scutaro, the Rockies filled the last hole in their lineup and on their infield and crafted a dynamo of an offense that should easily be the best in the NL West division in 2012. They only gave up a depth starting pitcher acquired a year ago but made redundant by depth starting pitching acquired last week. Heck, even Keith Law couldn't find anything bad to say about this for the Rockies, other than the implied assertion that any idiot could have made this same move.

It seemed pretty obvious when Seth Smith was traded last week for Josh Outman and Guillermo Moscoso that another trade would have to be in the works for the Rockies to better allocate talent on hand to areas of need, and after the Monforts wisely signed off on adding Scutaro's salary to the payroll, we see the culmination of the team's winter re-loading efforts. Pitching is a currency in baseball, it always has been, and the Rockies used their savings in this arms money to buy themselves a quality starting 2B. Says the GM:

"We know we are not a perfect club, but we have room to do some more things as the season goes and we will see how this shakes itself out."

Dan O'Dowd would have liked one better veteran starting pitcher in all these moves, I think most Rockies fans would agree with that as well, but when that pitcher wasn't available at the price in either salary or prospects the GM was looking for, he improvised on the original plan and came up with the best possible alternative solution. Load the lineup, build rotational depth in young quantity, while you lack in veteran impact quality, and keep all the prospects on the farm in tact.

What makes me particularly giddy over the past few hours since learning of the trade is looking at the following:

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