Holding my breath on this one until there is more confirmation but Rosenthal's information is accurate then this is really great for the Rockies.

I think we need to temporarily cancel the PURPS voting as Jason Hirsh (Houston's #1 Prospect) would now be included in the Rockies' Prospect list.  Where I'd assume he'll be battling for a Top 3 spot.

Wow...what a deal.  I love it!

not being tendered, I'm going to petition the vatican for "prophet" status.

On second thought, I have more crow to eat than gloating.  Props to rox girl for debating against me regarding the size of the return for Jennings.  I doubted a major haul, she expected someone to cave, and right now, that looks to be the case.

Excellent deal in every sense of the word.  Ascensio had almost no fit in the bullpen this season, and Hirsh and Buchholz puts two talented players at 3 and 4 in the rotation.  Taveras should be an improvement in center.

I'm trying to study for a late afternoon final, I don't need this added excitement while I try to cram...

So how much additional cash does this give us and where do we spend it?

For not caving in, and overpaying JJ in this crazy pitching market right now. He stuck to his guns, and he knew Houston had to make this deal. Also kudos on the attempt to trade Todd to the Angels (if this is true). I will miss Todd as much as everyone else, and he has meant a lot to this franchise. But, if we can make a similar deal with another team, it will help strengthen the core of this team for years with the money saved on his contract. Dan, if you build it (the team) they (the fans) will come!

as a Twins fan, I really wanted Jennings, but man, Houston just basically traded their Garza (Hirsh), their Scott Baker (Buchholz), and a much better Denard Span (Taveras) for Jennings.  That is a RIDICULOUS price.  Fleece trade of the last couple years (since Kaz/Zambrano), no doubt about it.  Congrats Rox fans.

JJ + Ascencio for Taveras, Hirsh + Buccholz.

So sweet.

Even getting back young players this trade may give us a better starting rotation next year than if we had kept Jennings.

Hirsh may not match Jennings' performance but he very well could come close (and there seems to be a good chance that he will be better in the long-term) and even if Buccholz struggles he has the stuff to likely outperform Josh Fogg.

Between Buccholz, U-ball and Bautista I finally feel confident that we will have one young, talented starting pitcher step up next year and solidify the bottom of the starting rotation.

I'm stunned. I would have been happy with Hirsh + Taveras, but Buccholz too? Definitely props to Dan O'Dowd...this is a great deal.  I look forward to seeing the newer, taller Jason on the mound in a mere four months.

I am scanning Taveras to Florida rumors on the net and I ended up at a RotoTimes site and they already had Taveras' player page changed to a Rockies logo, etc.  Pretty quick (even if the process of making changes is automated it still means that someone hand entered the trade data).

Just a random note, I find it slightly interesting.  

well first of all, let me say that my favorite part of this means no darin erstad.  not that erstad was ever mentioned as more than a vague rumor for the CF problem, but even that sent chills down my spine.  brrrrrrrr.  

beyond that im not sold on this deal in its entirety yet.  hirsh and bucholz are fine.  good, great, hopefully at least one of them can fill in with significant innings next year.  but i dont like taveras much.  the guy gets an extra base hit about once every solar eclipse and doesnt have the OBP you want out of a leadoff guy.  i know his defense is good but im not comfortable with him getting 600 ABs yet.  show me you can do more than single and steal a bag every once in a while.  also, maybe more importantly, i want to see the $$$ we saved put to good use on holliday or atkins asap.  if monfort doesnt want to overpay for pitching right now becasue the market's bad, that's fine, but make sure you put it to use somewhere else.

As I mentioned a few days ago about my opinion on this possible trade, I am happy, if not more happy, about this trade going through. I was hoping DOD wasn't going to pass and take some other offer. I think this is a very good trade on both sides. Jennings, as we know, is a very good #2 or #3 starter. He's very competitive and his numbers last year (despite the losing record based on poor run support) show how much he has improved, trusted his stuff, and become the type of pitcher the Rockies drafted #1. I was surprised to see that Miguel Asencio was included in the deal. That was probably one of the hold-ups was who else to include in the trade. Although Asencio has upside, I wasn't too bummed to see him go. He has a good chance of making their bullpen this year. As for the Rockies, they got their center fielder that they've been searching for this off-season (that is if he isn't turned around and traded to some other team) who has great speed, a really good arm. I think he's an upgrade to both Sullivan, Freeman, Spilborghs, and anyone else they want to throw out there. I'm also excited to see Jason Hirsh pitch as he has really been terrific the past two seasons in the Astros organization. He was basically the Astros version of Jeff Francis in the minor leagues. He's got tremendous upside and hopefully we'll get to see him in the rotation. Buchholz is one who i see as a long reliever for us next year.  With Jennings gone, I see Cookie stepping into the #1 slot followed by Jeffrey Francise, Hirsh, B.K. and then Fogg (or Jimenez, Bautista). Despite losing Jennings - our #1 guy, career wins leader, homegrown, and a heck of competitor - this was the right move because chances were very slim he wouldn't have been a Rockie in 2008. Kudos to DOD!

we got chad moeller and bubba crosby, you get a number 1 pitching prospect.  being a reds fan can suck sometimes.  at least we have the number one pitching prospect in all of baseball.  that's some consolation.

and weakening the asstros is always a wonderful thing.

is taking so much heat in this trade!  Keep in mind the options are Sullivan, Erstad, and Finley...

He's the best option left, and even if the improvement is incremental, we win on that account.  

What's lost in most of this is that Taveras turns 25 this month, the same age of Sullivan when he entered the league!  Take a stroll over to fangraphs.com, and you'll see that Taveras has improved on his BB rate each season in the bigs, and his BB rates in the minors were pretty solid.  His BABIP, though still above league average, took a slight hit, and that number naturally increases at Coors Field.  

All Taveras has to do is continue developing.  If the BB rate continues to go up, he'll be a very useful player.  Just looking at the Bill James Handbook, he's projected to have a better year than both Sullivan and our first target, Dave Roberts.  With the way Coors Field grass slows balls down, Taveras should have little trouble hitting over .300, and an OBP over .350 isn't out of the question.  Did I forget to mention that Coors Field lowers K rates?

It's not like we just got Grady Sizemore, but we might have landed Juan Pierre with more defense and a friendly contract, which could be worth a win or two in the standings.  Is that huge?  No, but this is no step backwards.

Let's not get hung up on his bigger flaws and forget to see that the Rockies landed a pretty useful player here, even if he's slightly better than league average.

WHY does this have to occur right in the middle of finals for me?  Anyways, good trade.  May hurt us in '07 unless Hirsh is ready, like, right now, but this should be great for us.