Tuesday Morning Rundown: Cockrell moving up; Fogg surgery a success

So, after having performed my civic duty this morning, I feel energized to vote up or down on a number of Rockies issues:

Alan Cockrell for Hitting Coach

Apparently the votes that matter decided against Kid Carter, but let's take a closer look to decide what Cockrell brings to the table:

Pros:

1. Familiarity with most of the Rockies hitters, including Garrett Atkins, Cory Sullivan, Clint Barmes, Chris Iannetta, Brad Hawpe, Jeff Baker, Choo Freeman and Jeff Salazar. Not so much with Matt Holliday and Troy Tulowitzki, who didn't spend much time in the Springs before getting the call, but he seems to have a fairly solid track record with the rest. Particularly Atkins, Baker and Salazar have seemed to be much better hitters than they were before they came to Cockrell.
   
2. This is a big one: can claim some responsibility for Kazuo Matsui's re-emergence. Before he went to Colorado Springs, Kaz was a mess, after he went, he was a masher.
   
3. The Barmes factor. Clint had a huge first half in 2005 after spending a season under Cockrell's tutelage in the Springs, after he came back from his injury and in 2006, Barmes couldn't hit if opponents were pitching basketballs. Could Cockrell re-connect and bring the original Clint back? It's worth finding out.

Cons:

1. Jayson Nix. Alright, maybe there just wasn't much to save there to begin with, but Nix hasn't seemed to click with Cockrell.
   
2. Omar Quintanilla. See above.

After weighing the issue, my final vote is:
Next up, Josh Fogg's anti-bone spur in the elbow initiative:

Pros:

1. Apparently Fogg will be able to resume between  start throwing sessions. In the second half, when he had most of his awful starts, he had to be shut down between them in order to recuperate from the pain. No pain might mean a return to the pre-All Star break Fogg.
   
2. Fogg's last two starts were a serious step back in the right direction, they got me to start re-evaluating my original anti-Fogg stance.
   
3. Bone spurs aren't fun, I think most tax payers and season ticket holders would be glad to get rid of them.

Cons:

1. Why exactly wasn't Fogg shut down sooner? out of loyalty to him, so he could make some sort of bonus? If he was playing with that much pain that it was affecting his starts in the second half, and the results suggest it might have been, I would have preferred to have seen U-ball or Bautista for most of that span. Seriously, next season the team needs to be less kind and quicker with the cut to players who aren't performing up to par.
   
2. Josh Fogg's peripherals weren't ever really spectacular, could this eleven win season have been a mirage?

My final vote might be surprising to some of you because I have had a change of heart on this one after reviewing all the evidence that has come out lately, including the piece  from the Baseball Analysts I linked to last week which shows Fogg to be one of the majors' best at keeping his pitches down. I'm beginning to think that both Fogg and Kim, so long as they're healthy, could step up to at least a typical fourth starter range.
Final Vote:

Trading for the Blue Jays' Vernon Wells

Pros:

1. The Jays' Wells would give us the best center fielder in the division, and he'd be good competition with Carlos Beltran for best in the NL.
   
2. He'd fill a hole the Rockies acknowledge is the off season's biggest priority in the best possible fashion and provide a huge boost to the top of the lineup.
   
3. He's instantly marketable and will generate a lot of offseason ticket sales, plus a strong potential for playoff revenue.

Cons:

1. He'd likely cost us Jeff Francis plus something else almost as painful. Another article in the same paper today said the Jays wanted a deal like the Angels offer of Earvin Santana plus Erick Aybar(#4 BA shortstop prospect) for Miguel Tejada. For the Rockies, they'd ask for Francis plus Tulo (#3 BA shortstop prospect) but we could likely counter with Francis plus Jonathan Herrera (#7 shortstop) and see where they'd go from there.
   
2. His salary of $5.6 million for this season seems to be more than our stingy ownership wants to pay, and the $17 million figure he'll be asking for next season is certainly out of range, meaning he'd be a one season rental if we even get him. Will Fowler be ready by the start of 2008? There's actually a pretty decent shot of that happening, I'd wager, so really outside of figuring out how to replace Franchise, which would be a daunting task in itself, we should seriously explore making a move.

Final Vote: