If Charlie Blackmon is dealt, the Rockies could platoon their way to offensive success

We're in a bit of a holding pattern right now as we wait for more news to develop on the Charlie Blackmon front. Over the weekend, reports surfaced that the Rockies were looking to trade Blackmon for pitching help while simultaneously targeting Colby Rasmus for center field to platoon with Drew Stubbs in the event of a Blackmon move.

If the Rockies can pull this off, it makes some serious sense as Rasmus is a very solid hitter against righties, struggles most against heavy breaking pitches (something Coors takes away), and walks quite a bit which tends to be the only stat that travels consistently on the road for the Rockies offensively. None of this can happen though unless the Rockies are able to sell high on Blackmon.

The lack of new news here in the last 36 hours could mean any number of things. The Rockies may not be getting offers they want for Blackmon, the Rockies may be thinking about pairing another piece with Blackmon (maybe even a prospect) to sweeten the pitching offer they could see in return, the deal could be dead, or they could be waiting on other teams if they have multiple offers. It's hard to speculate one way or the other at this point as they're all reasonable explanations.

One quick thought if the Rockies do move Blackmon and land Rasmus though: They have the potential to have the best lineup in franchise history if they play the platoon game in both center field and at first base. Consider the following:

Justin Morneau's career OPS vs. right handed pitchers = .896

Wilin Rosario's career OPS vs. left handed pitching = 1.002

Colby Rasmus' career OPS vs. right handed pitching = .790

Drew Stubbs' career OPS vs. left handed pitching = .823

If you add this type of offensive production to those two positions and combine it with a lineup that already includes Troy Tulowitzki, Carlos Gonzalez, a blossoming Nolan Arenado, and Corey Dickerson, then you have a nightmare for opposing pitchers when they come into Coors Field. There would be a bit of a breather at the bottom of the lineup and there's not a consistently obvious lead off hitter in this group, but the combination of six names the Rockies could run out there on a daily basis would terrorize most opposing starters in Denver.

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In a bit of a surprise, the Nationals have landed Max Scherzer with a seven year deal believed to be worth more than $180 million. Now the speculation begins as to what the Nationals are going to do next. They can either trade one of their other excellent starters in Jordan Zimmermann or even Stephen Strasburg as suggested by Ken Rosenthal here, or they could go for broke and keep what would be the scariest five man rotation baseball has seen in recent memory. The Nationals were likely the most complete team in the sport last season, but got picked off in the always fluky best of five LDS round. If they keep this rotation together, they're hands down the best team now. However, as we've seen quite a bit recently, having the best team doesn't always translate well to post season success. Once you get there, it's better to be lucky than good.

The new Wrigley Field bleachers won't be ready in time for opening day next season as the construction project is behind its ideal schedule. This means the park will have an odd look to it for the first five series of the season against the Cardinals, Padres, Reds, Pirates, and Brewers. I would say Cub fans are disappointed, but they're probably used to waiting a long time for things by now.

For the second offseason in a row, Dexter Fowler has been traded. This time from the Astros to the Cubs for Dan Straily and Luis Valbuena.