Tonight's starting pitching match-up is a flashback to the Rockies 1996 draft. Westbrook was taken as a high school pitcher by Colorado in the first round (he was eventually traded as the centerpiece of our ill-fated Mike Lansing acquisition) and then in the third, the team drafted Shawn Chacon, who years later was traded to the Yankees for Eduardo Sierra and Ramon Ramirez, and Ramirez was subsequently traded to the Royals for Jorge De La Rosa.
The Chacon pick is currently the second oldest draft pick still providing present day value to the Rockies (Todd Helton was picked the year before) while the Westbrook tree withered away years ago in trades for career minor leaguers and scrubs. This winter the value from the Chacon line will either continue or go to seed, we can only hope a compensation pick for JDLR gives us value 15 years down the road.
GO ROCKIES!