Open travel day thread

I'll get the easy one over with.

1. Todd Helton
   
2. Ryan Shealy
   
3. Joe Koshansky

Really, that's about it, especially since Andy Tracy went to Japan last month. A lot of power in those three, though.

So anyway, speaking of Cruise's exes, I saw Penelope Cruz on the Ellen show the other day and she was wearing a pair of those board shorts that are in right now, and I think she's about the only person who can pull that look off. I am not liking that trend, not liking it at all. A friend of ours calls them "man shorts" and I think I have to agree. It looks like I'm going to be wearing a lot of skirts this summer because if those are the alternative, yuck.

1. Aaron Miles
   
2. Luis Gonzalez?
   
3. Matt Macri
   
4. Jayson Nix
   
5. EY Jr.

This one's tricky. I'm probably going to have to change it sometime today. Scrappy prospect KJ Hendricks who I liked is now with the Angels' system, if anybody's wondering. Jayson's struggles while repeating AA are why I dropped him. If Jeff Baker gets action at this position, he'd rise above Macri immediately and Miles and Lugo shortly thereafter.

1. Clint Barmes - could anybody have expected this start?
   
2. Macri
   
3. Chris Nelson
   
4. Jonathan Hererra
   
5. Jeff Dragicevich

Nelson will rise once he's back and in the swing of things. So far Macri has been solid at short defensively in Single A, though, and he has enough power and bat potential to be special for a middle infielder. That was a wise wise move by the Rockies to switch him off third.

1. Ian Stewart
   
2. Garrett Atkins
   
3. Jeff Baker
   
4. Dustin Hahn

Probably no surprises here. Baker's likely moving, leaving Atkins in the slot for a year or two as a Shea Hillenbrand type of player who gets on a lot but won't provide much power besides some doubles. Although, so far this year he hasn't even done that, singling for all seven of his hits. Baker, meanwhile, had five of eight of his go for extra bases.

Did anybody see Wonder Boys? Where Katie played a college student attracted to her professor, Michael Douglas? I thought she was a little too good with that role, it makes sense now.

1. JD Closser
   
2. Todd Greene/ Danny Ardoin
   
3. Chris Ianetta
   
4. Dan Conway
   
5. Rick Guarno
   
6. Neil Wilson

This one's looking a lot weaker this year than it did at the end of last year. Ianetta and Closser are struggling in their new leagues, Wilson was one of the Rockies' farmhands suspended for performance enhancers. The two veterans at number two are alright on offense but not great on the D. Jeff Clement could immediately step in at number one should we draft him.

until after lunch. I'll probably start posting again around 2pm Eastern.

trying to get Val Kilmer to notice him while ignoring his girlfriend? I don't think so, unless she wants a Cruise/Kilmer/Holmes threesome maybe, that could be an interesting angle on her part.

This is where we start to get really deep.

1. Matt Holliday
   
2. Michael Restovich/Dustan Mohr
   
3. Seth Smith
   
4. Jud Thigpen
   
5. Sean Barker
   
6. Ryan Spilborghs

Our corner outfielders are often interchangeable so if I find I have too many here at left, I might move them to right to even things out, but I don't think I'll need to. Thigpen and Barker are both doing very well this year and Smith is doing pretty well himself.

Nope, I think the Jerry Maguire fantasy is probably more apt than the Top Gun fantasy. You know, where you actually succeed in changing the man you're after.

1. Brad Hawpe - Again, a great start!
   
2. Mohr
   
3. Jorge Piedra
   
4. Joe Gaetti
   
5. Matt Miller - see comments below

How we found Miller in the thirteenth round last year is beyond me. 22 years old, he's tearing it up for us in the Sally League in just his second season of pro baseball. Still, Smith and Macri are hitting well in the next league up at the same age so take Miller's stats with a grain of salt. Gaetti continues to have nice power but continues to strikeout too much also, Miller could pass him soon.

1. Cory Sullivan
   
2. Preston Wilson
   
3. Choo Freeman
   
4. Tony Miller
   
5. Jeff Salazar
   
6. Dexter Fowler

I think this is kind of out of order from what it was in BA's Prospect Handbook, I seem to remember Salazar and Fowler rating higher. But Miller looks like he finally is getting how to play baseball and Freeman's had a nice start to his year as well. Sullivan meanwhile has made his presence felt with the big club, yesterday's hitless day notwithstanding. Still, if potential is the watchword, Fowler and Salazar both could take big leaps once they click. I love this group though, all tools, but some serious power tools in there for cf.

I'm pretty high on Thigpen - played against some good college competition, and it seems like all he does is hit the crap out of the ball. I think he's got the makings of a high riser in the system.

I'm also a big Tony Miller fan, and I'd love to see him get a shot with the Rox. I think he could be Juan Pierre with more power and a better arm.

Depth here is always nice for trades. You'd like to get a little more than Byung Hyun Kim for it though.

1. Jeff Francis - who else would be here?
   
2. Joe Kennedy - yeah, I know that technically the Rockies have these two reversed. But really.
   
3. Justin Hampson
   
4. Aaron Marsden
   
5. Zack Parker
   
6. Jake Postlewait

So far, none of these are having stellar seasons by any stretch, Marsden's doing okay and Postlewait and Francis have had a couple of really good starts and a couple of not so good starts. Parker, and Kennedy have really struggled, and Hampson has kind of struggled. Hopefully our southpaws can get it together soon.

Another deep deep strength for the Rockies, but most of it (our best talent at it, in fact)remains in the lower levels leaving us kind of crunched for starters in a pinch (hence the potential Byung Hyun Kim start of a little while ago).

1. Shawn Chacon
   
2. Jason Jennings
   
3. Aaron Cook
   
4. Jamey Wright
   
5. Jason Young
   
6. Mike Esposito
   
7. Ubaldo Jiminez
   
8. Tomas Santiago
   
9. Steven Register
   
10. Samuel Deduno
    
11. Dragon Lo
    
12. Juan Morillo

The three on the bottom are potentially the best of the bunch besides Jiminez. If the bottom six were any closer to being major league ready we could start to deal the top six to fill other needs. As far as the three current active Rockies, I could see flipping their spots on the chart any given day of the week, but Chac' has started the strongest and probably has the best stuff, so he gets number one.

1. Brian Fuentes
   
2. Bobby Seay
   
3. Matt Merricks
   
4. Keith Ramsey
   
5. Josh Newman
   
6. Adam Bright
   
7. Marcos Mendoza
   
8. Chris Steinborn

This is a relatively weak bunch, just because this is literally all we have playing right now. Except for me dropping Mendoza lower than Newman and Bright and putting Steinborn in the bottom, I pretty much followed the system placement. Newman's putting up some really nice numbers so far in his career in a couple of real hitters' leagues (the Pioneer and the California) not bad for a nineteenth round pick.

Again, this isn't on a sheer talent basis, but close.

1. Chin Hui Tsao
   
2. Marcos Carvajal
   
3. Jose Acevedo
   
4. Jay Witasick
   
5. Ryan Speier
   
6. Scott Dohmann
   
7. Byung Hyun Kim
   
8. Alex Serrano
   
9. Zack McClellan
   
10. Cortes/Drew/Chiasson
    
11. Jim Miller
    
12. Young/Bevis/Beckstead/Simpson
    
13. Alberto Arias
    
14. Burch, Kaiser et al at Modesto.
    
15. Scott Beerer
    
16. Chris Buechner & Ryan Mattheus

Beerer might move up but he really needs to pitch against more advanced competition before I make the switch. Kim's performance yesterday was very encouraging. As you can see I kind of grouped together some of the arms at each level as they are more or less the same thing. The pitcher's with their names separated have done the most to distinguish themselves and are probably the main ones to focus on.

I'm a proponent of moving Register to the pen - I just don't think he's ever going to amount to too much as a rotation starter, and the Rox have had some success moving guys from starting to relieving (Justin Huismann broke out in the system after making the switch, for one).

I can't believe you don't have Jim Miller ranked higher. I'd rather have him at the big league level than Kim at this point. Last I'd checked he was throwing well in the minors and I don't think it's too big a stretch to envision him with the Rox to start 2006 if he keeps putting up numbers like he did in 04.

Luis (nee Walkill) Guance? Where do you see him? I found him last year and thought it would be great to root for a guy named Walkill Guance - that's a tremendous baseball name.