such a lateral move. Hope it’s just the product of a slow offseason…

I can’t see how it happening now. Helton’s contract is bigger, his back worse, and what do the Rockies need Lowell for?

Slow off season in deed.

Considering that this came from neither a Red Sox nor a Rockies source, it sounds like somebody’s just trying to speculate what moves Boston could make to keep up with the Yanks’ spending, and since this was at one point a possibility for them, it was probably one of the first things that came to mind.

If this were to go down, the benefit to the Rockies would be salary relief in 2011, as the team currently has over $54 million on the books for that season for just six players if Francis and Hawpe have their options picked up (Helton, Cook, Corpas and Tulo are the others), and that’s before you figure on some current players under the team’s control like Jimenez, Stewart or Iannetta who could become fairly expensive in arbitration. That doesn’t leave a whole lot of wiggle room for building the rest of the team. Anticipating payroll increases of 5% a season suggests a payroll of $84.5 million that year, so it would leave $30 million to fund 19 players plus some AAA depth, including those arb-eligible guys I just mentioned, that’s just not a very comfortable position to be in, and so I hope a lot of the savings the team’s taking now are with that season in mind, because the Rockies could be very solid at that point if they’re able to keep their core in tact.

With Helton, I think it’s almost guaranteed that if he’s still here that Hawpe’s option isn’t picked up and maybe not Francis’ either unless the Rockies make the playoffs again in the next year or two.

Boston wouldn’t take a chance on a 35 year old coming off back surgery until he proves he’s healthy. And certainly not at that contract. IMO.

And even if it went through, it’d just be a complete salary dump anyhow, and adding ANOTHER 3B to the mix would really muddle things here in Denver.