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Five things to watch

By Tracy Ringolsby, Rocky Mountain News

Published February 15, 2008 at 12:30 a.m.

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1 Encore. Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki finished second in the voting for National League Rookie of the Year, so the sophomore jinx shouldn't be a factor. He will have quite a season if he is able to build off a rookie year in which he hit 24 home runs, breaking Ernie Banks' record for an NL rookie shortstop, drove in 99 runs, the most for a rookie shortstop in 50 years, and led major league shortstops in fielding. Oh, yeah, and he developed into a force in the Rockies clubhouse.

2 In the middle. Jayson Nix, the Rockies' top draft pick in 2001 who has yet to appear in a major league game, shows up in spring training as the front-runner in the battle for the second base job. He will be pushed, though. Clint Barmes, the Rockies' Opening Day shortstop in 2005 and 2006, and Omar Quintanilla, who has spent time with the Rockies the past three years, will be his main competition, but Marcus Giles was invited to camp in an attempt to revive his career and Ian Stewart and Jeff Baker have been working out at second this winter.

3 For starters. Aaron Cook, Jeff Francis and Ubaldo Jimenez will be three of the starters. Jason Hirsh is the favorite for the No. 4 slot if he will be aggressive with his fastball. But waiting in case Hirsh fails, as well as competing for the fifth spot, will be left-handers Franklin Morales, who came up from the minors in August and played a key role in the Rockies' postseason rush, and Mark Redman plus right-handers Kip Wells and Josh Towers.

4 Backing up. The starting outfield is set with Matt Holliday in left, Willy Taveras in center and Brad Hawpe in right. Baker and Ryan Spilborghs, both right-handed hitters, would seem to have two other spots. But there is a need for a left-handed hitter to back up Taveras. It could be holdover Cory Sullivan or recent signee Scott Podsednik, a key to the White Sox's 2005 title but an injury disappointment the past two years.

5 Attitude. The Rockies enjoyed the underdog role. They played without pressure last year. Now, fans are going to have expectations. The challenge for the inexperienced Rockies will be to keep that edge they had in 2007 and to maintain that one-game-at-a-time mentality that served them so well last season.

Comments

  • February 18, 2008

    9:02 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    BMat writes:

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