In yesterday's game, Aaron Cook aggravated a toe injury that has bothered him a bit as of late, but he says that he will make his next start, which is scheduled for Tuesday against the Pirates. Cook says it wasn't necessarily the toe that brought him out of the game as much as it was the fear of hurting his arm by trying to compensate for not being able to push off as well as he is accustomed to. The same article mentions the promotion of Mike Timlin to Triple-A Colorado Springs, as he'll provide depth there and will be considered for the big league club in the event of an injury or meltdown.
The Denver Post also has a preview article for the Rockies' upcoming series vs. the Cubs. I'm sure there will be 20,000+ annoying Cubs "fans" there making things miserable for everyone else. For that reason (and because of other obvious ones), I really hope the Rockies treat the Cubs like they treated the Yankees in '07.
Thomas Harding's latest MLB.com piece discusses Ian Stewart's optimism after a good weekend in Cincinnati. Stew says he's feeling more comfortable at the plate, and wants to try to get his average up, but he'll have a hard time doing so if he isn't able to capitalize on mistakes, such as one that Brad Lidge left over the plate on an 0-1 count in yesterdays game. Jim Tracy on Ian working toward becoming a complete hitter (which in this case, involves not hitting mistake pitches):
You've got to be ready to fire, and you have to square it up and get it in play.
Ian has shown the ability to do this, but needs to do it more often, instead of missing/fouling the ball off.
The Rockies are 8th in Fox Sports' latest power rankings. I know how most people feel about such rankings, so I wasn't even going to post this but I thought this comment by the author was amusing:
Dodgers improved a tad. Giants improved a bit. Rockies stayed about the same. Their death knell?
I guess going out and picking up two relievers who have been very good over the past couple of years to shore up the team's most glaring issue at the deadline doesn't classify as an improvement. Cool...
Finally, FanGraphs' Marc Hulet has been posting a multi-part series ranking the prospects that were dealt before the trade deadline. Connor Graham, who the Rockies sent to Cleveland in exchange for Rafael Betancourt, is 16th on the list. Not bad, considering there weren't really any high-impact prospects dealt this year anyway (aside from maybe Brett Wallace, that is).