Hey folks. Some of you all might remember I used to be the lead Rockies blogger over at Most Valuable Network. I ended up leaving MVN last year and haven't really had a chance to do any long form writing in a while. This is the first thing I've done since December - with everybody else sharing their Rocktober memories, I was suitably inspired. I hope you all enjoy it. I certainly enjoyed the hell out of writing it.

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NLCS roster was just released...
http://colorado.rockies.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20071010&content_id=22 60400&vkey=pr_col&fext=.jsp&c_id=col

The Good:
11 pitchers
Willy's back
Seth Smith stays
Mark Redman goes

The Bad:
No Cook - guess he didn't show enough in his rehab start.

The press release also gives the order of the starting rotation... it'll be Francis, Jimenez, Fogg, and Morales.

Hey folks. MVN, the blog network that hosts Up In the Rockies (the blog that rockiesfan06 and I post at) is producing a MLB mock draft, as done by the MVN writers. You can check it out here. http://mvn.com/mlb-draft/

I know there's a ton of interest in the draft among a good many of you, so I thought you folks might want to see this. I'm picking for the Rox with the eighth selection, and my order of preference for who I'd like to grab looks like this:

Ross Detwiler
Max Scherzer
Jason Heyward

I like Michael Main, too, but I think he'd be a reach at our slot.

Anyway, enjoy the link. I'll post here again when the Rox have picked.

So there's an article over at tulsadrillers.com that outlines the expected roster for the Rox AA affiliate. http://tulsadrillers.com/news/drillers/?id=4534

Among other things we learn:
-Rotation will be Morales, Reynolds, Lo, Mattheus, Asahina
-Register moves to bullpen, will close
-Rifkin jumps from short season to AA, will start at first
-Gaetti, Miller, Czarniecki slated to start in OF

The team's roster page has 21 players listed of a possible 24. Since only nine are pitchers, I'd figure the last three guys are probably hurlers, and since Darren Clarke, Adam Bright, Judd Songster, and Jentry Beckstead are as yet unaccounted for, it's probably three of those four.

Still haven't heard anything about Matt Macri, Corey Wimberly, Doug Bernier, Samuel Deduno, Justin Nelson, and Jud Thigpen. I'd have figured on Wimberly, Macri, and Deduno being at AA for sure, especially since they're not on the Modesto roster that was posted here earlier.

Per this morning's Rocky...

"Reliever Justin Speier, out all season after undergoing shoulder surgery Feb. 1, will pitch for the Grand Canyon Rafters in the Arizona Fall League... Tulsa relievers Jim Miller and Josh Newman also will play for Grand Canyon, along with one other Tulsa reliever - Judd Songster, Jentry Beckstead or Jason Burch - and three Tulsa position players - first baseman Joe Koshansky, shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and outfielder Matt Miller."

Rotoworld reporting that the Rox have purchased the contract of Chris Iannetta. The official web site has it too. Danny Ardoin was DFAed.

Sometimes, dreams do come true. I can't wait to see how the kid does.

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Hey, everybody

Normally, I don't like to pimp my own writing, but I thought my latest project over at Up In the Rockies might be of some interest. I'll be poring over Retrosheet, old media guides, and lengthy Lexis/Nexis searches to construct a full history of Dan O'Dowd's tenure as Rockies GM. I know that O'Dowd is a man that has inspired much debate over his reign at the helm of the Rox, and I wanted to take a look back and see just exactly what he has done to bring the Rox from a franchise going nowhere when he took the job in 1999 to one with a promising present and future in 2006.

I hope you'll join in over at UItR and I hope you enjoy the historical look back. Part One was just posted tonight. Feedback is always appreciated.

Part Two

Part Three

-Dan
Up In the Rockies - rockies.mostvaluablenetwork.com

From this morning's 'Rocky':

"KID STUFF: Third baseman Ian Stewart, the Rockies' first-round draft choice in 2003, is among six players the organization will send to the Arizona Fall League.

Closer Jim Miller and catcher Chris Ianetta, both draft choices from a year ago who recently were promoted from Class A Modesto to Class AA Tulsa, also will play for the Peoria Javelinas. Miller was an eighth- round selection out of Louisiana-Monroe. Ianetta was selected in the fourth round out of North Carolina.

The Rockies also are sending right-handed pitchers Ramon Ramirez and Jon Asahina and center fielder Jeff Salazar to the AFL, where Modesto manager Stu Cole will be the bench coach. Ramirez was acquired from the Yankees in the Shawn Chacon trade."

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=mlbgaragiola&prov=st&type=lgns

The Diamondbacks have named Bob Gebhard their interim general manager while they search for a replacement for Joe Garagiola Jr.

Obviously, Gebhard deserves credit for building the only playoff team in Rockies history. You've got to give him credit for realizing that big offense is the way to win in Colorado, as evidenced by all his major free agent signings (Galarraga, Burks, Walker).

Anyway, just wanted to pass this along - thought it was interesting to see Gebhard back in baseball.

Don't know if you all frequent http://www.baseball-reference.com for your historical statistical information, but they've recently started the BR Bullpen, which is sort of like a baseball-only Wikipedia that everybody can edit and add to.

Anyway, I just recently made my first contribution to the Bullpen, writing the history of the 1993 Rockies. It's a fun little side project for me to do and I plan on completing the Rockies history pages.

The link to what I've written is here - http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/1993_Rockies

I'd invite you to check it out and make some additions or revisions to it - it might be interesting when this is all completed to have a written history of the Rox as done by the fans.