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The lingering Ervin Santana rumors can now be put to rest as the 31-year-old right-hander signed a one-year deal with the Braves (the deal is reportedly worth about $14 million), a far cry from the $100 million plus Santana had reportedly been seeking. This means that the Braves will forfeit their first round pick in the draft.
The Rockies had been linked to Santana over the past few weeks, though it was difficult to find anybody who seriously thought that he'd be making his way to Coors Field on a one year deal. In Santana, the Braves are getting a pitcher who has had several great MLB seasons but also multiple dreadful ones. Either way, he's been able to eat innings in all of them, which is what the Braves really need right now in their injury-ravaged state.
Rockies links
Jhoulys Chacin injury: Rockies P will likely begin season on disabled list - Purple Row
In case you haven't heard already - per Bryan, "Feeling better" does not mean "will avoid the DL," apparently.
2014 Colorado Rockies Consensus Top 38 Prospects - Beyond the Box Score
Chris St. John of Beyond the Boxscore does a great job of showing what the consensus is on several top Rockies prospects. He utilizes several Rockies prospect lists from around the web, including Purple Row's own PuRPs list. As you'll see, there's quite a drop-off between the top ten in the system and everybody else.
Infield may make play as Rockies' finest yet - The Denver Post
More on this in the Rockpile feature later today, but Troy Renck writes about the stellar infield defense that the Rockies have assembled.
Rockies' starting job in center field still up for grabs among four - The Denver Post
Renck reminds us that yes, the Rockies have four players who could conceivably be the starting center fielder. More on this later today.
Nolan Arenado got some help this off-season from Troy Tulowitzki on his hitting. All indications thus far point to it helping a lot.
Center-field competition may take duration of spring | Rockies.com: News
Thomas Harding's daily notes column looks at the center-field competition, Jordan Lyles, Jorge De La Rosa, Jordan Pacheco, and Jhoulys Chacin.
Links from around baseball
Great Expectations, Great Variations
Jonah Keri of Grantland breaks down the different philosophies that MLB teams have when it comes to bringing up their top prospects to the majors. I would say that, of the four categories Keri outlines, the Rockies fit best in Camp 1 (Clear Path).
Ron Washington once paid a $200 fine in pennies - SBNation.com
Washington is a manager who I have a hard time supporting given his curious decision making. The above story makes me want to cut him a little more slack.
Brandon Heipp of the Hardball Times does a deep dive on context-adjusted statistics like OPS+ and ERA+. If you've ever wanted to know about just how OPS+ is calculated, this is the article for you.
Best Shape 2.0: Adding a New Pitch | FanGraphs Baseball
A common Spring Training trope is that a pitcher adds a new pitch to his repertoire. Jason Collette of Fangraphs breaks down the pitchers who have done so this off-season and, most interestingly, has some details about just how those pitchers go about it.