Monday Rockpile: Absences & Opportunities for Rockies

reportedly signed 2008 draft pick Josh Fields, a senior out of Georgia. This means that the Rockies now have the 32nd pick in the 1st round.

if I was Ian Stewart and that was my father-in-law, I’d be like, “Yes sir, whatever you want sir, I’m taking her on a cruise this winter, sir.”

I found this very interesting:

Is Jeff Baker being given an opportunity for a starting position in the 2009 lineup? While not suggesting that he can replace Holliday, Baker proved in about 300 ABs in 2008 to have good right-handed power and would seem to be just what the Rockies need.
— Paul, Longmont

Paul – Baker has never found a niche with Hurdle. His best position is third base, but that’s not open. He’s tried to make himself a second baseman, and made an admirable transition last season. But with Seth Smith in left, Spilborghs in center and Hawpe in right, I don’t know if the Rockies can sacrifice defense in any other positions. Baker’s bat is loud. I have long been curious what he would do with 500 at-bats. I am just not sure that will ever happen here.

What do you think about this? What’s Bake doing there, if this is the case? Where should he be in the future?

There are plenty of other interesting questions in the mailbag. Link

Plenty of questions I am asking myself, and Renck does a decent job of answering some, not so much on others…but I don’t think that’s his fault and more just that I don’t always hardly understand the FO’s philosophy…

When will MLB step in and punish teams like Colorado, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, etc., for not trying to win and for just trying to make money? Colorado went to the World Series just two seasons ago. The next season they made no big moves to improve, and this offseason they let several huge contributors go simply because the team is cheap.
— Josh Williams, Butte, Mont.

Dear Josh Williams,

Your question is so shortsighted, so fairweather, and so generally boneheaded that I’m not sure how to answer it without personal attacks. My vocabulary has been stretched to the point of inability to speak with adjectives that are not centered around obscenities.

You, dear sir, have clearly been living in a cave and have not even attempted to understand any of the further reasoning of the front office in their particular moves short of the word “cheap”.

I will cease to respond to this line of bullheaded questioning as my left eye has begun twitching and I fear I am having an aneurysm.

Yours distastefully,

RMN

I don’t know whether that is a projection on what he thinks will happen, projections based on things he heard, or what HE thinks should happen.

After he was dead on with his odds on the 2B job last spring, I have to honor his projections…

Using the new platelet-rich plasma therapy that Hines Ward used to heal quick enough to play in the Super Bowl. The New York Times has a nice article on the process, which requires a free membership to read. The process seems to use the platelets from a patients own blood injected into an injury. The article indicates that ligaments and other areas that lack blood-flow are enriched by the white blood cells stimulating healing. The process seems to be less invasive than surgery and a cheaper alternative as well. I have no medical background besides my own sports related injuries, but the article was fascinating.