In a widely circulated AP piece by Arnie Stapleton, Todd Helton expresses relief that the Rockies enter 2012 with no expectations. This disappoints me. I want my team to be able to carry the expectation to do well and do well. Having said that, however, I can certainly live with just the "do well" part getting taken care of.
Russ Oates provides a recap of the new faces to come to the Rockies during the off season, just in case any of you weren't keeping track or got lost during all the shuffling.
Alex White hopes to prove that people came away with a false impression of what he's capable of in his abysmal short stint with the Rockies last summer. As Dan O'Dowd states, the "hardest thing for any of us is 'forget what you saw.' But we must forget what we saw..." Something tells me that he might not be wanting to refer only to White in that regard as far as 2011 is concerned. White's not currently projected to be in the Rockies rotation to start the season according to many pundits close to the team, but I'm still not sure I get why Guillermo Moscoso would be considered to have the inside track right now given statements from the front office regarding the open competition for rotation slots. It seems it may be a case of the FO saying one thing in public but with members of a team expressing a likely scenario off the record.
New Rockies Jeremy Guthrie and Casey Blake did some fan outreach, Blake in a chat with the Des Moines Register (via the Denver Post), and Guthrie in a mailbag with the Post.
In the ever interesting arena of baseball real estate, an unnamed former Rockies player has put his $3.99 million Castle Rock home on the market. Broker Jason Bates (yes Bates the former Rockie is this other former Rockies' real estate broker) says the former player valued his privacy, so he bought a total of 73 acres worth of property in the gated subdivision. The virtual tour shows the full-sized baseball diamond in the backyard, and what looks to be a bullpen/batting cage inside as well as a pretty substantial home weight room. I'm thinking that SBNation should pick up the tab on this place for the new Purple Row headquarters. It will help me improve the new cutter I've been working on and keep me in the best shape of my life.