Jim Tracy knows that a winning staff needs an ace, but he doesn't think that ace must come in trade. He's already here. Tracy was Felipe Alou's bench coach in Montreal when Pedro Martinez began developing into a dominant pitcher, and he sees a striking similarity between Ubaldo and Pedro:
Manager Tracy loves what he sees of Jimenez - The Denver Post
"If and when he gets to that point, this guy is the dominant face of the staff and the foundation for stability of the entire rotation. His arm, how it works and how loose and free it is, it reminds me of a young Pedro Martinez."
Jimenez returns to site of crossroads | ColoradoRockies.com: News
Thomas Harding points out that Houston was where Ubaldo reached the end of ineffectiveness and started to find consistency last season.
Inside the Colorado Rockies " Easy Inning For Daley
Matt Daley threw one inning of scoreless relief last night in Colorado Springs. In fact, it was practically perfect. Daley struck out all three batters he faced - Brad Nelson, Chris Woodward and Adam Moore - on 15 pitches, 12 strikes.
Inside the Colorado Rockies " Quick Hits
Jack Etkin filled out his customary quick statistic hits after last night's game. The only positives came from Clint Barmes, Yorvit Torrealba and Josh Fogg. Stars of the team right there.
Two Months In: Oakland Athletics | FanGraphs Baseball
Billy Beane traded for Matt Holliday in a surprise move to build up the anemic offense he had grown. It has failed miserably, as the additions of Holliday, Jason Giambi, Nomar Garciaparra and Orlando Cabrera still find the Athletics with MLB's worst offense, with a 5.55% chance of making the playoffs via PECOTA. As RockiesMagicNumber noted in yesterday's Rockpile, Street is quietly pushing himself towards worthy All-Star consideration while Matt Holliday still has yet to show Athletics fans the dramatic bat we got used to.
And oh, by the way, Carlos Gonzalez hit his 10th HR last night. He is now hitting .348/.429/.652, good for 6th in the PCL in average, 7th in HR, and 1st in RBI. Matthew Carruth notes that Oakland is most likely going to have to trade Holliday by the deadline, but that "it just as certainly going to be far less than Billy Beane hoped three months ago." He won't even get back what he traded to us.
Buster Olney: For Matt Holliday and others, free agency looks bleak - ESPN
Buster Olney suggests that Matt Holliday indeed cannot survive outside of Coors Field, as evidenced by past home/road splits and his disappointing year so far. Most interesting to note is Olney's speculation on the contract Holliday may receive as a free agent this offseason:
With a strong season, Holliday might have been in position to get something in the area of six years and $100 million, but right now, he might be looking at something for three years and $30 million to $35 million.
Seems like that contract Dan O'Dowd offered a million years ago 15 months ago doesn't look so bad now.
Doctor pleads guilty to federal steroid charges - ESPN
The doctor reportedly supplied Cardinal Troy Glaus and Diamondback Scott Schoeneweis.