Thomas Harding runs down what the Rockies will look to do at the Winter Meetings this week:

• Find a left-handed reliever: Joe Beimel, Alan Embree, Will Ohman, and Eddie Guardado are names we've heard before, but Trever Miller, Mike Maroth, and Ron Villone are new ones.
  

Well, Trever Miller may be a St. Louis Cardinal at some point. He did reach an agreement in principal with the team, but it hasn't become official yet. Cardinals' GM John Mozeliak doesn't believe Miller's arrival in St. Louis is inevitable. This century, Miller has been a good pitcher for two seasons (2004 with the Blue Jays and 2006 with the Astros) and out of baseball for two seasons (2001-02). According to ERA+, Miller was slightly better than average in some of the other years (102 in 2003, 107 in 2005, 107 in 2008). The less said about 2000 and 2007 the better. Mike Maroth, 21-game loser in 2003, didn't pitch in the majors in 2008. Ron Villone, a Rockie in 2001, is Ron Villone

• Try to find buyers for Willy Taveras, Yorvit Torrealba, and possibly Huston Street.

It seems hard to imagine at this point that someone out there will trade for Torrealba, but we do know at least Kenny Williams is interested in Taveras. Or, at least he was at one point this offseason. If Taveras is traded, look to find the Rockies and Scott Podsednik reach a quick deal for 2009. I'd like to keep Street, but if the right deal comes along it maybe too hard to say no to.

• Decide on Garrett Atkins' future with the Rockies.

The decision appears to be made for Dan O'Dowd, according to Troy Renck. While the Reds and Twins have been the two teams he has discussed trade proposals for Atkins over the last month, O'Dowd hasn't bitten on any trade. Maybe that frontline starter will become available during the Winter Meetings. If it doesn't and Atkins stays with the Rockies, Ian Stewart's role with the team continues to float in the air. A return to the minors isn't happening, so left field or second base. Once way or another, I want to see Ian Stewart in the starting lineup on Opening Day.

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If you're a Rockies season-ticket holder, you can attend their first Fanfest at the end of January.

Brian Fuentes has until this Sunday to accept or decline the Colorado Rockies' offer of arbitration. Fuentes could make $10M on a one-year deal if he accepts and wins his arbitration case, but does anyone seriously believe Fuentes would accept that at this point? Though Dan O'Dowd has said nothing would surprise him with the state of the economy, Fuentes accept arbitration would be a surprise to me. Given the comments Fuentes' agent has made over the last month, Fuentes would need to have a serious change of heart this week to take himself off the free agent market.

Of course, the Rockies will get two picks for Fuentes when he does sign somewhere else. But the Arizona Diamondbacks will receive five draft picks all together after offering arbitration to Type A free agents Juan Cruz and Orlando Hudson and Type B free agent Brandon Lyon. The total would have been seven had they offered Adam Dunn, a Type A free agent, arbitration.

The Los Angeles Dodgers offered arbitration to Type A free agents Manny Ramirez and Derek Lowe and Type B free agent Casey Blake. The Dodgers did not offer arbitration to Type B free agent Joe Beimel, whom the Rockies have interest in. The blog entry incorrectly states Beimel (and a few other Dodger free agents) to be Type A. Thomas Harding also incorrectly writes that Beimel would have cost the signing team a draft pick had he been offered arbitration. So, the Dodgers not offering arbitration to Beimel really doesn't work in favor of the Rockies or any other team since he was never going to cost a draft pick in the first place.

Larry Walker turned 42 yesterday. Texas Rangers fans think about what they would have lost had Walker not vetoed a trade to there in 2004.

There isn't much news on the Colorado Rockies' end for arbitration. Brian Fuentes will receive an offer for arbitration before the deadline at midnight ET, ensuring the Rockies draft pick compensation should Fuentes not accept the offer. Still, Fuentes has scheduled a visit with the New York Mets. I wonder if Citi Field will be a big selling point. Or should I call it, as NYC councilmen from Staten Island want to, Citi/Taxpayer Field?

Anyway, the Rockies have a total of six free agents, and only Fuentes will receive an offer for arbitration. Matt Herges, Livan Hernandez, Adam Melhuse, Scott Podsednik, and Glendon Rusch won't recieve arbitration since they don't yield draft picks. However, Podsednik and Rusch remain of interest to the Rockies, as the first link reminds us.

And maybe the most important thing mentioned in the first link is that the Rockies want Ryan Spilborghs to play center field in Mexico so he can prepare for an everyday role in 2009.

via lbcpastor.files.wordpress.com

Happy Thanksgiving!

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With the free agent market (somewhat) active, let's look at how the draft order is shaping up.

First Round

1. Nationals
2. Mariners
3. Padres
4. Pirates
5. Orioles
6. Giants
7. Braves
8. Reds
9. Tigers
10. Nationals (did not sign first-rounder Aaron Crow)
11. Rockies
12. Royals
13. Athletics
14. Rangers
15. Indians
16. Diamondbacks
17. Dodgers
18. Marlins
19. Cardinals
20. Blue Jays
21. Mariners (have yet to sign first-rounder Joshua Fields (being a senior, the Aug. 15 deadline does not apply))
22. Astros
23. Twins
24. White Sox
25. Mets
26. Yankees
27. Brewers
28. Phillies
29. Yankees (did not sign first-rounder Gerrit Cole)
30. Red Sox
31. Rays
32. Cubs
33. Angels

Supplemental First Round

34. Reds (SF signed Jeremy Affeldt, a "B" FA)

The Reds won't actually have the 34th pick come the time of the draft since all the higher-ranked "A" and "B" free agents will move that pick down. Remember, the Rockies will receive compensation for Brian Fuentes when he signs with another team. Well, and after the Rockies offer him arbitration, which should happen before Monday.

If a team with a 16-30 pick signs Fuentes, the Rockies will receive that team's first round pick and a supplemental first-round pick. A team in the bottom half of the standings will not yield their first-round pick, but rather their second round pick. If any team signs multiple "A" free agents, the compensated pick from the signing team will be based on Elias' rankings. So, the higher Elias rating, the better the compensated pick.

David plans on having a 2009 draft article up in a few days. We'll be looking at the draft as part of our offseason coverage.

ESPN's Phil Rogers has an article on Chicago White Sox GM Kenny Williams' interest in trading basically anyone on the roster. Rogers brings up Williams' already-known interest in Willy Taveras, but he also mentions that the Rockies (and the Dodgers) may be interested in Jermaine Dye. Dye has a limited no-trade clause, allowing him to block a trade to 6 teams.

Jermaine Dye

#23 / Right Field / Chicago White Sox

Height: 6-5

Weight: 245

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Jan 28, 1974

Now as Rox Girl brought up tangentially almost two weeks ago, Jermaine Dye was a Rockie for a short time in 2001 before being traded the same day for . . . let's not drudge up bad memories of the past.

First up, Dye's contract status: Dye is due $11.5M in 2009 and has a $12M mutual option for 2010 (with a $1M buyout).

After a severe dropoff from his 2006 season performance in 2007, Jermaine Dye bounced back in 2008. He'll be 35 in 2009.

Now, trading Dye won't be a sell low situation for Williams as it was in the Nick Swisher trade from a couple of weeks ago. However, Dye is an aging veteran who regressed after a strong season in 2006. While he came back strong in 2008, can Dye continue that level of production? And what about his legs? Reading over at South Side Sox, I get the sense that many of the fans over there expect Dye to wind up with a leg injury soon.

Ken Rosenthal has a new report out that the asking price for Dye is a young starting pitcher and more.

Vote in the poll.

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At the end of the last link, Rosenthal writes that the Rockies are inclined to keep Garrett Atkins, "at least for the moment." Or to put it another way, they haven't found the right deal yet.

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The Denver Post adds another name to the lefty reliever list: Brian Shouse.

He was the third best reliever on the Brewers last year with a 0.922 WXRL, behind Salomon Torres (2.930) and Carlos Villanueva (1.497). He'll be 41 at the end of the 2009 season.

And while Clint Hurdle, at the end of the article, said the Rockies internally discussed Will Ohman, Ohman's agent has yet to receive a call from the Rockies.

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Don Baylor on what he plans to do as hitting coach:

"What I like to preach a lot is the mental part of the game. We have to be more selective," Baylor said. "You don't have more than one sac fly (by mid-April), that says there's not a lot of thinking going on at the plate. That's a lot of freelancing."

Baylor talked of having a game plan, of inflating pitch counts.

But will he be able to reduce the number of strikeouts at the same time?

As has been hinted at for some time, the Rockies do have interest in left-hander Will Ohman, formerly of the Atlanta Braves.

Will Ohman

#13 / Pitcher / Atlanta Braves

Height: 6-2

Weight: 210

Bats: L

Throws: L

Born: Aug 13, 1977

Ohman was the second best reliever on a 90-loss Atlanta Braves team, according to WXRL. His 1.644 WXRL was second only to Jeff Bennett's at 1.761. 2008 was a bounceback season for Ohman, as 2007 saw him post a 4.95 ERA, a 1.596 WHIP, and a -0.7 WXRL.

Brian Fuentes had a 3.619 WXRL last season, third in the NL. Really, there's going to be a drop-off with any lefty brought in. The WXRLs of those lefties also mentioned in the article:

• Joe Beimel - 1.315
• Darren Oliver - 2.122
  
• Dennys Reyes - 0.570
  
• Alan Embree - 0.262
  
• Eddie Guardado - 3.189 (led team)

And there's always Glendon Rusch out there (-0.224 WXRL), whom the Rockies keep at the back of their mind.

With the exceptions of Taylor Buchholz and the recently acquired Huston Street, no other reliever currently on the roster had a WXRL above 0.730 last season (Ryan Speier).

[Russ's Note]: From time to time, it is good to review the rules here at Purple Row. I'm not bringing any of this up because the rules have been violated; since the Matt Holliday trade, new members have signed up for the site, and this seems like a good time for everyone to have a refresher course on the rules. These rules have been re-written, but they capture the essentials from the rules you may or may not have read when you signed up.

There are a few rules here at Purple Row.

First/Golden Rule: Practice civil discourse.

Second Rule: Rox Girl and I (Russ) are each a judge, jury, and executioner combined into one role. We do have other moderators and they have similar authority. While their decisions will be reviewed by the two of us, we will likely side with their decisions. As one former incarnation of these rules stated: "Same as in baseball, you can't argue balls and strikes with the umpires or you could get ejected." We reserve the right to delete comments without notice or comment as to why.

Third Rule: Do be a Rockies fan. That's why we are all here: because we are fans of the Rockies. We all have different views about the Rockies, so just remember the first rule.

Fourth Rule: Fans of opposing teams are welcome. Just remember to follow the rules.

Fifth Rule: Game threads are for discussing the game. Ocassional off-topic comments are acceptable, but they should not go on for long.

Sixth Rule: Religion, sex, and politics are topics best left to other blogs. This is a blog about a sports team. So, those three topics are only acceptable discussion points if they are somehow related to the Rockies or an important baseball issue.

How to use FanPosts:

The only Community Guidelines for posting a FanPost are:

* A FanPost must be a minimum of 300 characters in order to be published.

* A FanPost must in some way belong on PR--in other words, it must relate to the Rockies, or to baseball, or to PR, or to an existing thread or FanPost, etc.

Tips on writing good FanPosts:

Some of the qualities that the most popular FanPosts often have in common are:

* They expand upon the main idea with supporting examples, or statistical data, or a link to a relevant article, or a "thinking question" for others to consider, etc.--something beyond just the main idea itself.

* They explore a topic, idea, or question that has not been explored recently, or at all, on PR.

Keep in mind that if your FanPost contains only one point or idea that is not developed, expanded on, or supported with arguments or data, it is really not a FanPost--it is a comment that should be posted in an existing thread, FanPost, or FanShot.

FanShots:

Here is a link to learn how to use FanShots.