With the Rockies off-season unfortunately already upon us, it's time to look at some of the biggest questions facing the former National League Champions heading into the cold, Colorado winter.
1) Will Dan be dealin or will Dan be dormant?
The Rockies felt more than comfortable to rest on the laurels of their World Series appearance in 2007 and didn't make a major splash in the free agent market in the following off-season. That is, unless you're a close personal friend or relative of Mark Redman or Kip Wells.
Believing the team that took his franchise to the World Series would be good enough to compete in 2008 backfired, and already it appears as if O'Dowd is going to be much more aggressive come winter. Slugging Marlins second baseman Dan Uggla's name has already been thrown around as a person of interest for the Rockies. The Red Sox have shown interest in both Garrett Atkins and Matt Holliday, and the Mets are believed to be the front runners for T Rex Fuentes.
Whether or not O'Dowd can pull the trigger on a deal remains to be seen, but we know the main target for Dealin Dan this off-season is going to be young, talented starting pitchers (Justin Masterson, anyone?)
2) Will the players respond to a slew of new coaches?
I may be wrong here, but I think that every single coach on the Rockies big club last year has either been fired or given a stern talking-to by upper management. In fact, I think the only one who escaped unscathed was that kid in the bullpen who runs the jackets of the pitchers into the dugout and sprints back out to his position.
One of the most notable firings was that of strength and conditioning coach Brad Andress. Adored by most of the Rockies players and regarded throughout the league as the guru of the weight room, his firing came as an unwelcome shock to the clubhouse.
It probably wasn't easy to see guys like third base coach Mike Gallego, bullpen coach Rick Matthews (who has been with the organization since its inception in 1993), bench coach Jamie Quirk, and hitting coach Alan Cockrell join the rest of America in the unemployment line either. Will these guys welcome the new guys Hurdle brings in or will there be a bit of lingering resentment regarding the way these firings were handled by the organization?
That was just a tiny taste of the 31 Flavors of questions we have going into 2009. I'd handle more at the moment, but duty calls, and I must report for work. Until next time, Rockies fans...
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