Ubaldo Jimenez will get his work in on the minor league fields, while the Rockies take a closer look at Greg Smith. So why is it so important to see Smith in the A game (also the A's game) against a near MLB quality team, versus seeing him against minor leaguers? What additional insight do Rockies brass hope to gain from this exposure to the last major league team Smith played with in 2007? With Tim Redding moving to the bullpen, it seems the team has already made its decision with Smith's position on the depth chart, pushing him out there today against an MLB opponent would seemingly give him a chance to lock up the sixth starter job ahead of Jhoulys Chacin. Chacin really hasn't been given a starting opportunity this Spring, certainly not this late, which is a big sign that the team has him lower on the depth chart right now.
I doubt it's anything more than that, but also keep in mind that this does put Smith a day ahead of Jeff Francis' pitching schedule (Francis is set to start tomorrow) and two ahead of Aaron Cook, who would be the two Rockies starters I'd view as most likely to start on the DL (not that either is very likely at this point) so it wouldn't take much to hold Smith out and slot him into one of their slots.
At any rate, this is just something to think about. GO ROCKIES!