At least the Rockies haven't made any mistake signings thus far (and trying to trump K.C. on Elmer Dessens would qualify in that category) this offseason and the fact that both Brian Giles and Scott Eyre are likely leaving the division bodes well as far as our chances to compete next season. I'll post more on Giles and the Padres later today, hopefully.
Update [2005-11-17 11:56:5 by Rox Girl]: According to this morning's Post Jose Mesa has been introduced as a potential target. For cheap? I hope so, as I wouldn't spend a lot on him at this point in his career. Looking into the comments, there could be an issue with Clint Hurdle being infatuated with his veteran presence enough to overuse Mesa at first, so watch out for that this Spring should he sign with us.
As the diary to the right indicates, Ryan at Cardinals Diaspora takes a quick look at the pros and cons of Larry Walker's HOF chances, be sure to check it out. While Walker may not quite crack the Cooperstown barrier, I do think the Rockies themselves should give him an honor and retire his number in the next year or two.
I also want to point out a couple of articles by Thomas Harding at the official site of the last couple of days. First, a mailbag of a couple of days ago gives love to Aaron Miles and implies those of us who criticize him haven't seen him play in person and rely solely on stat sheets. Miles does play all out, that's for sure, and I probably feel better than a lot of other Rockies bloggers about keeping him around for a bench job. However, while I am certainly no statistician, the bottom line is that in the one statistic all Rockies fans find useful - the one they see staring at them in the standings every morning- Aaron Miles proved totally insufficient. In the ninety-two games Miles didn't start, the Rockies were 45-47. In the seventy games that he did get the start, the team went 22-48. A little of that is probably fluke coincidence (Miles did get many of his starts early in the season when we had massive pen issues) but you can't dismiss the numbers completely. From July on, the teams' record with Miles as a starting second baseman was still only 12-25. Without Miles, we're only a few games out of the division lead, with him, we're the Royals.
Also noted in the mailbag is the cloud of uncertainty over Jorge Piedra's 2006 position with the team. I'm going to go more into this later, but Piedra, besides probably being relieved he was caught with banned substances early rather than now, should have at least a fairly decent shot of winning the starting spot at two outfield positions. While center is our team's biggest weakness out in the vast prairies of Coors Field, don't forget that Brad Hawpe's struggles coming back in right after injury last season have left that spot far from settled as well.
The second Harding article was just a general notes piece, but it does have some good stuff on Jason Jennings' recovery:
I hope somebody's told JJ that banging his finger against walls probably isn't the best way to test if it's better. :)
Anyway, there's also a winter league rundown which almost makes it sound like Marcos Carvajal got a start (he didn't) and glances over the fact that Clint Barmes isn't doing that great. David Cortes' seven K's in two innings shows that he's giving 110% apparently, and Ryan Spillborghs is also playing hard in Mexico.
The final note is on Jeff Baker, who hasn't switched positions, but is recovering in Virginia. I'm hoping Clint Hurdle goes into Spring with an open mind as far as third base is concerned as well. While Garrett Atkins' rookie season was solid, taking into account all the factors his bat was only middle of the pack as far as NL third basemen go, and there is plenty of room for improvement. Having the competition of an open tryout might push him or Baker to reach that next level before Ian Stewart takes us past it.