Old School Media:
The Rockies continue to bumble along, having had six successive losing seasons. They have a new center fielder, Willy Taveras, and a rookie shortstop, Troy Tulowitzki, but the same old cast will most likely produce the same old result.
New School Media:
#3: Arizona Diamondbacks, 89-73, first in NL West, 843 RS, 765 RA. Get off my bandwagon. Mine. The young hitting talent, the hard throwers in the bullpen, the deeper rotation with the additions of Randy Johnson and Doug Davis...this is a good baseball team, and it might actually be the best in the National League. I love the upside, especially from the core of Stephen Drew, Chris Young, Carlos Quention and Conor Jackson... it's the offense that will drive them to a division crown.
From Joe Sheehan at Baseball Prospectus after he picked the Rockies #24 in all of baseball last Thursday.
You would think that when they saw that Chass was in agreement with them on the Rockies' place in the standings some of these Internet writers would reconsider us. Well there is at least a half acknowledgement of the serious talent we have going from former BP writer Jonah Keri at ESPN:
67. Fear the Rockies: The Rockies will continue to see the farm system bear fruit, as they finally develop a solid core of offensive talent that's not just a band of Coors-inflated Bichettes. They're not quite ready to contend with Arizona and the division's older clubs. But the Rockies could bank the franchise's second playoff appearance by 2009 -- maybe even '08.
Keri also gave brief nods to Chris Iannetta and Garrett Atkins in the piece.