Thought I might point out Thomas Harding's latest mailbag, where the guru of the official site lets us know that keeping our current three mid-rotation types together might not be in the club's future plans:
To me, what matters is the return these pitchers provide whether by pitching for the team or bringing us back other strong players via trade. I understand the economics of it, that if you can pay Jimenez, Reynolds or Morillo the minimum salary and get the same performance or close to it that you get from paying Aaron Cook $5 million a season obviously you could then spend the savings elsewhere. Still, I want to see that U-ball or Morillo are in fact performing at that level before I cut the strings. Harding also briefly disses Girardi, Quintanilla and Edmonds but gives a mildly optimistic take on Choo Freeman.
The second link is to Batters Box Interactive Magazine where the author takes a look at Todd Helton's Hall of Fame chances. Sentimentality isn't a strong point of the baseball analysis community, they like cold, strong numbers so it shouldn't be surprising that Helton falls short here due to his hitting in Coors for half of his career (the home half). Luckily for us, sentimentality is a strong point for the BBWAA who actually fill out the ballots, so I think Helton's still got a decent shot as long as his declining phase isn't too dramatic. A bounce back monster season next year would be a particularly nice way to emphasize that point, I say.