Thursday Rockpile: Thomore agrees to terms, Dodgers fire! (sale) may be boon to Rockies

The Rockies have agreed to terms with second round pick Carl Thomore according to a club press release. Thomore likely has the most offensive upside of any Rockies pick in the 2011 draft. Other recent signees are also included in this release.

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Beyond interest in Jamey Carroll, Rockies scouts have also been keeping an eye on Los Angeles Dodgers starter Hiroki Kuroda. Kuroda was recently listed as one of the Dodgers' largest creditors in Frank McCourt's bankruptcy filing. Many of us were hoping that the Rockies would pursue him as a free agent during the offseason, but the pitcher decided to stay in Los Angeles rather than testing the market. Kuroda has been as effective as ever in 2011, with a 3.10 ERA, but the Dodgers have scored three or fewer runs in 11 of his 16 starts, including six starts with just one or no runs scored in support of his efforts.

Not that the Rockies offense has been doing that much better of late. One lesson to learn from Tuesday's game going into Wednesday is that a barely squeaked out one run victory in a low scoring contest at a park where run scoring should come easy probably shouldn't be counted on as a shift in team momentum. For now, the Rockies remain a team unable to take that next step forward after they stopped the bleeding of the May swoon.

The times that have been good for the team provide an indication of what's needed, it's simply one additional on base threat at the top of the lineup. The Rockies got a big spark in April when Jonathan Herrera's uncanny BABIP streak continued and Dexter Fowler was getting aboard despite his frequent K's. When both fell to earth, the team tanked. In June, they got a similar boost from Charlie Blackmon. Carroll's .376 OBP in two seasons with the Dodgers indicates that he might be that spark. Getting both Carroll and Kuroda would provide a two for one infusion for the team and if there was ever a time that trading within one's own division was easy, I would think it would be now.

Among other notes, Jim Tracy says that Seth Smith will be getting more starts against left handed pitching with a start against Buehrle last night and another against Danny Duffy tomorrow. My own opinion is that I'm not expecting much, but that's not to be a disrespect to Smith, as what he's done against right handed pitchers more than makes up for it.

Melvin Mora was released by the Diamondbacks.

Chaz Roe was DFA'ed by the Mariners.

Jaron Shepherd joins former Mississippi State teammate Nick Vickerson in the Rockies organization.