So now that Yorvit Torrealba comes back into the fold clarifying the catching situation, the Rockies are left with one major question at second base that needs an answer by next April. In the meantime, according to Tracy Ringolsby, Dan O'Dowd's working on building our starting depth by trying to reel in Steve Trachsel and Mark Redman again. None of these moves, including the Torrealba re-signing as David pointed out last night, make the team any better on the surface, but all three moves would or do take some of the risk of a major decline in the team's performance out of 2008, and there's certainly value in that.
Trachsel and Redman would give the team two more options to insert into the rotation early should any injury occur or if any of our young starters with options falter and need a minor league confidence boost and though we don't like to look at this scenario, they even give the team at least moderately able replacements should we be out of contention and find it in our best interest to trade Aaron Cook next July. The best case scenario is that we don't need them, that Morales, Jimenez and Hirsh perform early and if we do need a replacement starter later in the season that Greg Reynolds or Brandon Hynick are ready, but that's probably only a little more likely a scenario than the flop and trade Cookie one.
Let me say that I think the end result will turn out that either the Rays or Twins win big in yesterday's Young for Garza plus other parts from either side deal, but right now it definitely looks like a win-win for both teams as they dealt from positions of strength to fill gaps. I bring this deal up because I have this odd suspicion that this move is going to precipitate a wild winter that will have a lot of talent shifting via trades. Even though the Rockies likely aren't going to get involved -unless something positive falls into their laps as a third party conduit for other teams- I can't help but think that the end results will have some bearing on how the team should approach the coming season and maybe a couple after that.
For instance, should the Dodgers or D-backs acquire an ace starter without giving up integral parts to their offenses, it will certainly impact our chances next season. I don't know, the rest of the NL seems to be all a jumble of speculation right now, and our team looks to be one of the few with any measure of clarity for 2008. Maybe that's a good thing, but I guess I'm saying I'm having a hard time sensing what the big picture is saying about our chances of repeating right now.