Okay, we're going to play a little conspiracy theory today, so put the following items together and see if you come up with the same thing I came up with:
Item 1: Adam Foster who runs the Project Prospect site I've cited a couple of times has done an interview with Joe Koshansky in Arizona that's now available to read at MiLB.com. He asked Koshansky about moving to the outfield and this was Joe's repsonse:
Be sure to read the rest of the interview, by the way as it's a pretty good pick me up about the future of the Rockies franchise.
Item 2: Russ brought up the vague suggestion by Rosenthal yesterday that Todd Helton could somehow be dealt for Manny Ramirez. "That makes no sense," you say, where would we put Manny? We'd put him on the Texas Rangers, apparently, as part of some sort of convoluted three team deal according to the New York Daily News's Bill Madden. That link also includes a new but crucial tidbit in the Jason Jennings saga:
Madden then goes on to say that the Yankees and Mets aren't involved (yet) in the trade derby for Jennings. This doesn't surprise me as long as Schmidt and Zito are still on the table. If either or both pitchers bolt for SoCal and the Dodgers or Padres, though, I would expect that story to change.
Item 3: Okay, so go back to my earlier post this morning and the Troy Renck article. Keli McGregor seems to indicate he thinks a deal for an extension with JJ is still possible, which flies in the face of what Madden is getting from another source. I think Keli would have better first hand knowledge, but what if the reason for McGregor's optimism is the strong possibility of removing all or part of the Helton contract off the books? Okay, I know this is the same rumor that seems to come up every year about this time (or in the month of July) so I'm not giving it much credence if any yet, but it's always interesting to speculate about.