Rockpile Links, 3/13: Tulo day-to-day, Larry Walker in town

The Rockies split their two spring training games yesterday with continued strong starting pitching.  Brett Anderson started a win against the Reds while Pedro Hernandez pitched well in his start that saw the bullpen give up a loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks.  Wade Miley plunking Troy Tulowitzki in the leg is probably the biggest news of the day and Tulo is now going day-to-day while waiting for the swelling to subside.  Here are your links:

Anderson sizzles and Matzek wobbles - Purplerow

Purplerow has your best recap of the Rockies' early game as neither mlb.com nor the Denver Post thought it was worthwhile to have an article up this morning about the game.  Jay Tymkovich has all of the information to include Anderson's strong outing (Brett said his changeup was horrible so I look forward to when he gets that working) and Tyler Matzek starting the ninth off with four walks to almost give the game away.

Janish homers as Rockies split day's action - MLB.com

Other than a D-back starting pitcher hitting Tulo in the leg, Paul Janish is still going strong in spring training.  Going 2 for 3, he raised his average to .480 while also getting his first extra base hit of the spring as a home run off of a young Arizona reliever.

Walker joins Rox camp as guest instructor - MLB.com

Larry Walker visiting camp was the big news for the Rockies yesterday.  His ten day visit as a guest hitting instructor made both mlb.com and the Denver Post.  While the article linked above focuses on his role in camp, the Post talks more about his hall of fame chances, you can read it here.

Added weight has Brothers feeling strong - MLB.com

It is getting later in spring training, but Thomas Harding uses a standard spring training mini-story to put together his group of mini-stories for the day.  Other items in the article include: Tulo's status, Josh Rutldege's return from ankle issues, and Tyler Matzek's up and down spring.

The value of impact prospects - Fangraphs

Tony Blengino lays down the ground rules for how he will rank the league's farm systems over the next couple of weeks, pointing out the importance of elite prospects.  Good article thread to pay attention to as I expect good comments about the Rockies.

So how many starters does a team need, then? - Fangraphs

With the Braves, who already had a stable of strong pitchers, picking up Ervin Santana, Eno Sarris looks at what a team needs over a full year for starters.  The consensus is somewhere between eight and ten just in case there are multiple injuries at the same time.  The Rockies look to have at least seven with some other interesting possibilities so they may finally have the required depth to not fade as the season wears on.