Thursday Rockpile: And when there's nothing left to talk about, we talk about what matters

Rex Brothers' inexperience has cost him lately. Other notes include details of Alex White's rehab schedule, starting with an inning in Tulsa tonight.

There are several unsigned picks left from the June draft, including first round selection Tyler Anderson. While news has been quiet on the Anderson front, we do have a small update on negotiations of 12th round pick David Shuknecht, who says that he won't wait until the August 15th deadline to decide between playing with the Rockies farm system or with the University of Arizona in 2012. Don't let the round of the selection fool you, Shuknecht's potential is closer to recently signed fifth rounder Dillon Thomas than it is to 13th round pick Kyle Roliard, it's just that uncertainty of his commitment to the Wildcats that let him drop in the draft so far. If he does sign, it will be a fairly solid addition to the farm.

The most interesting Rockies news and rumors of the last 24 hours can be found in the comments to yesterday's game wrap, where first we see whispers of a potential organizational shake-up following the season and a play by play of the conference call that Dick Monfort and Dan O'Dowd had with season ticket and multi-pass holders. If you haven't had a chance to read through them, I would encourage you to. Highlights include:

• The Rockies need a bat, the team knows this, but doesn't see one they like in free agency. 
• O'Dowd acknowledging that the team's scouting and development (it's safe to assume, this is U.S. only he's referring to) hasn't been up to snuff over recent years, making miscalculations about the abilities of several young players. It's not just #1 picks, Rockies drafts from 2005 through 2008 saw terrible results from the top three rounds with the exception of Troy Tulowitzki. It looks like 2009 (Brothers, Tim Wheeler, Nolan Arenado) will be solid, even if Tyler Matzek busts, and 2010's not so bad either (Kyle Parker, Chad Bettis, Josh Rutledge,) so there was a turnaround, but that four season draft drought is killing the Rockies right now. 
• O'Dowd takes responsibility for some of this "falling in love with players" who aren't really contender worthy. With some pretty keen vision he notes the team lacks mental toughness and confidence. I'm surprised nobody else saw that.
• Chris Iannetta lacks the ceiling of Wilin Rosario. While true, this one's a pretty risky card that it's becoming obvious the Rockies intend on playing in the next little while. It's why I liked the idea of doubling up on top of the line catching prospects. Believe it or not, relying solely on Rosario to replace Iannetta has me far more queasy than relying on PTBNL (Pomeranz To Be Named Later) and/or Alex White to replace Ubaldo Jimenez just because I think the chance of a sinkhole is greater. Iannetta should have some trade value during the offseason, though.
• Speaking of trade value, Seth Smith appears to be more vulnerable in the organization's future plans than Dexter Fowler. I agree with this.

Anyway, you can read the rest in the comments to that post and we can continue the discussion in this thread.