Jack Etkin at the Rocky Mountain News had a couple of blog entries the last two days that deserve some notice. First up is an update on Franklin Morales from Venezuela. To recap what we had seen in season two of this telenovela:
- Franklin's mechanics went way out of whack over the winter
- Franklin couldn't throw strikes
- Franklin's velocity was down
The blog post has encouraging news on points one and two for the third season, but no word on the velo. Perhaps as encouraging, however is the fact that the Rockies are keeping tabs on Morales at all, taking a much more proactive approach to his offseason with Marty DeMerritt keeping a careful watch. If we're looking at a real upgrade to the rotation next season, spending money on a quality free agent is the best option, but since that seems to be off the table, Morales should still be our second best bet. The post makes it clear that the Rockies aren't counting on this, but would certainly welcome Morales coming into his own this season.
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For EY2, his absence from the AFL this past week was due to a strained hamstring but wasn't serious. Young's defense in center field gets a better review than I've seen elsewhere, I expect he'll be able to improve more going forward. Young's potential spot on the 25 man roster in the event he makes the team out of Spring Training would be the one occupied Scott Podsednik last season, only he'd be more of an offensive substitute than a defensive one. I think going offense out of that slot is probably a wiser use of resources and should give the Rockies more bang for the limited playing time this player is typically given.