In our losing, it's easy to see all the issues that will make it very difficult for this team to come back into contention in 2008 -such as how we're going to hide the evidence in regards to the disposal of Mark Redman - but it's also easy to lose sight of the promising developments that should help us make another improbable rebound this season, or at the very least compete in 2009, if it comes to that.

Let's start with Chris Iannetta. After last night, Chris -despite starting half the games of those ahead of him- is already the sixth best catcher in the majors in offensive value added according to Baseball Prospectus' VORP stat, and the rate at which he's providing that value is sixth best overall in the NL among players with over 50 AB's. Now, the guy just ahead of him in that latter category is the similarly small sampled Ronny Cedeno, so maybe it would be wise if we held off all of our glee until CDI has doubled his plate appearances, but it's starting to look like last season was the fluke in Chris' career, not the norm.

While we're talking about the rate at which offensive value is added, for the Rockies the top five (20 PA minimum, so Q and Herrera don't qualify yet) look like this:

1. Chris Iannetta .688
2. Scott Podsednik .535
3. Ryan Spilborghs .393
   
4. Matt Holliday .347
5. Clint Barmes .316

Seriously, what does it say when four of our top five offensive performers are -or at least were at the start of the season- bench players? Meanwhile -in keeping with the backwards theme- five of our six most valuable pitchers have come from the bullpen. But I was going to keep this post forward looking, so the good news is that Francis and Jimenez are improving and while Francis has already turned to a plus, Jimenez should swing that way by his next start if he keeps taking steps forward. The linked Tracy Ringolsby article says that Jason Hirsh is throwing bullpen sessions and the hope is he'll be activated by early June. Greg Reynolds is progressing and should be ready for a call-up soon as well.

All we need is to put the bench guys in, rack up some runs and win a few 12 to 10 De La Rosa and Redman starts in May, and we'll be all set. Simple.

Dave Krieger explains why we saw Yorvit Torrealba pinch hit for Scott Podsednik:

Sometimes, National League managers seem to love the double switch so much it becomes an end in itself. With Taveras having run for Iannetta earlier in the inning - a center fielder for a catcher - it was just so symmetrical to hit Torrealba for Podsednik - a catcher for a center fielder - even though Podsednik was hitting 70 points higher than Torrealba.

So much for a symmetrical move working out. A little asymmetry is not going to kill anyone.

The Rockies signed Todd Ritchie to a minor league contract and sent him to extended spring training. He last pitched in the majors during the 2004 season for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. It doesn't hurt to see what Ritchie can do, but really? Ritchie's had one good season and that was in the last century. He was a 15-game winner for the Pirates in 1999 with 3.49 ERA that season, his career low. Nice to see a guy attempt a comeback, but at 36 (37 in November) what can we expect out of him? Yes, I already know the responses to that question.

There's also a bit in the last link on Kip Wells, his surgery, and the surgery his daughter recently had.

If Todd Ritchie isn't the solution to the Rockies' pitching woes, maybe the Dragonslayer is? Or Julian Tavarez? Or Rich Harden? Or Joe Blanton? Or Kevin Millwood? The first two names are the most likely candidates to don Rockies uniforms as the club waits for Morales to show improvement, for Reynolds to be ready in a month, and for Hirsh to return from his injury. As O'Dowd says, he's looking for a guy to make a few starts between now and sometime in June. Morales makes his first Triple-A start Sunday in the meantime.

Okay, so I lied and apparently the fix wasn't as smooth as they made it out to be. Teaches me for being a corporate stooge and just rehashing the company line. At any rate, the good news is that the Rockies actually won the game this afternoon, Aaron Cook assessed our problem and then  took things into his own hands with eight solid to keep the bullpen off the field and two hits of his own to keep the offense rolling. What a guy.

Anyway, Scott Podsednik also looked sharp in relief of Willy Taveras with three hits, and Chris Iannetta hit his first homerun of the season. Matt Holliday doubled to start our two run eighth inning rally, and Ryan Spilborghs finished it with a run scoring single to give the Rockies their final margin.

In separate news, the Jamey Carroll trade was finally finalized, and the player to be named later turns out to be the player to be named right from the get go. Sean Smith comes full circle from being the reported player by Ringolsby to being pulled from the table, to being back on the table and shipped to Colorado.

So, it's the first game that counts against the Padres since last October's tie-breaker when Matt Holliday scored the winning run in the bottom of the 13th inning. Trevor Hoffman remains one of the central characters in that game along with Holliday. Bud Black has this to say about Hoffman:

"The velocity is fine, his arm action is fine. It's just that his location isn't where we're used to seeing it. That is the big thing [...] And he's not totally erratic. He's just off the plate a little bit and some of the walks are a little bit uncharacteristic."

We don't want to see him out on the mound in the ninth since that would mean the Rockies are likely down at that point, but would anyone feel just a bit confident that the guys would be able to comeback while Hoffman's on the mound? I'd want Matt Holliday, recently named NL Player of the Week for last week, at the plate should that happen. All right, so he only has two hits off Hoffman, but the last one he had was the triple in the tie-breaker.

I'd also take my chances with Tulo if the situation arose. It's time for him to snap out of this funk and do it in a big way:

"I am not getting pitched to differently," Tulowitzki said. "I have just gotten away from my approach. I need to use the big part of the field more. It seems like I am constantly grounding out to shortstop. That's not me."

Hopefully his day off on Sunday and yesterday's off day will have helped Tulo get back to his regular approach.

I didn't realize until reading the first question in Thomas Harding's latest mailbag that the Rockies list Scott Podsednik at 6'2", 190 lbs. Not that it's surprising, just quite funny. As Harding points out, this is rampant in college football and gets torn down during the combine and pro days during the NFL Draft season.

This is why you don't want to be a Padres fan. Whether or not it's a true story, it's sad.

All systems go, apparently. The Rockies plans for building depth have remained on track. Josh Towers and Jose Capellan were bad enough this Spring to ensure no outside interest as they cleared waivers and are reporting for Colorado Springs. Cory Sullivan is also ticketed to play with the Sky Sox, as the Rockies decided to make a go with Scott Podsednik off the bench instead to start the season. Sullivan and Ryan Speier -who's right handedness also played a role- were victims of the CBA's option system more than anything else, as both have had strong camps and would have made the Rockies decisions much harder had there been a risk of losing either to other teams. The Denver newspapers are in two camps with Sullivan this morning,

1. Sullivan's an example of ownership's new emphasis on winning over cost cutting

2. Sullivan is a well-liked victim of a brutal cut that will destroy clubhouse chemistry

The game itself, was a bittersweet victory that might not have told us anything, as you have to wonder how much Doug Davis' cancer diagnosis affected his pitching. He's the type of pitcher that needs to have cool-headed deception and a good poker face to be successful, and obviously other things are going to be on his mind right now that might throw him off. Our thoughts and well wishes go out to him and his family for a full and speedy recovery, as we hope to best him on the field many times this year.

The bats were out in full force, yesterday, sans Tulo, who's still showing weakness against finesse lefties. That Brad Hawpe hit his HR off Davis is particularly encouraging, as he's been much more consistent against southpaws this Spring. Let's hope that continues into the regular season when the games actually count.