The Rockies released Jeff Salazar despite him having a good Spring.  Salazar just got caught in a numbers game as the Rockies have a lot of talented outfielders.  He won’t be without a job too long.

The Rockies have added a couple of pitchers to the bullpen equation and they should pitch well as a unit in 2007.  31 year old lefty Brian Fuentes is one of the Rockies’ best kept secrets.  He has been a good closer for the Rockies and he has really nasty stuff.  He was 3-4 with 30 saves, a 3.44 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP in 66 games last season for the Rockies.  Batters only hit .209 against him (lefties .186) and he whiffed 73 batters in 65.1 innings, but, he allowed 8 homers and walked 26 batters.  If Fuentes gives up less homers and cuts down on his walks, he will be one of the best closers in the National League.

34 year old righty LaTroy Hawkins will likely be the Rockies top set up man in 2007.  He was 3-2 with 16 holds, a 4.48 ERA and a 1.46 WHIP in 60 games for the Baltimore Orioles last season.  Batters hit .300 against him (lefties .323) last season but he limited the damage by only walking 15 batters in 60.1 innings.  Look for Hawkins to do a decent job for the Rockies this season.

25 year old righty Ramon Ramirez was stolen from the Yankees in July of 2005 as the Rockies got him for Shawn Chacon.  He really pitched well last season for the Rockies and appears to have a bright future with the ballclub.  He was 4-3 with 10 holds, a 3.46 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP in 61 games for the Rockies in 2006.  Batters only hit .230 against him (righties .194) and he whiffed 61 batters in 67.2 innings which shows you what kind of arm he has.  Look for Ramirez to pitch well again in 2007 for the Rockies.

27 year old lefty Jeremy Affeldt didn’t pitch too well for the Rockies last season but he does have really good stuff so maybe something will click for him in 2007.  He was 8-8 with 5 holds, 1 save, a 6.20 ERA and a 1.61 WHIP in 54 games (9 starts) for the Kansas City Royals and Rockies in 2006.  Affeldt held lefty batters to a .212 batting average last season so the Rockies should consider making him a specialist.  He gave up 13 homers and walked 55 batters in 97.1 innings and that will need to improve if he’s going to continue pitching in the majors.

36 year old lefty Tom Martin is back for another season with the Rockies.  He was 2-0 with 11 holds, a 5.07 ERA and a 1.44 WHIP in 68 games last season.  Batters hit .264 against Martin last season and he walked 25 batters in 60.1 innings and that’s just too many.  Martin is lucky he’s lefthanded or his major league career would have ended a long time ago.  Don’t expect much from him in 2007.

The Rockies also have brought back 36 year old righty Mike DeJean.  He only pitched in 2 games last season due to injury and he won 1 of them and got a hold in the other game.  DeJean has seemed to master Coors Field to some degree so if he’s healthy he will help the Rockies this season.

24 year old righty Manuel Corpas pitched o.k. for the Rockies last season.  He was 1-2 with 7 holds, a 3.62 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP in 35 games for the Rockies last season.  Batters hit .286 against him but he whiffed 27 batters and only walked 8 in 32.1 innings last season.

The Rockies have released relief pitcher Danny Graves.  Graves pitched in 5 games for the Rockies and he was 0-1 with a 13.50 ERA.  He also allowed 13 baserunners in only 4 innings.  The Rockies just had too much depth in the bullpen to keep Graves around when he was pitching so poorly.

Aaron Cook and Jeff Francis stepped up and pitched pretty well for the Rockies who are looking to build their rotation around them for the 2007 season.  28 year old righty Aaron Cook was 9-15 with a 4.23 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP in 32 starts last year.  Cook allowed too many hits as he allowed 242 of them in 212.2 innings last season but he only walked 55 hitters to minimize the damage.  Look for Cook to win more games this season if he stays healthy as he had some bad luck in 2006.  Look for him to win 12-15 games with an ERA of 4.20-4.75 in 2007.

26 year old lefty Jeff Francis had a good year in 2006 as he was 13-11 with a 4.16 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP in 32 starts.  He held batters to a .250 batting average against him and he kept the ball in the park allowing only 18 homers in 199 innings.  Look for Francis to be even better in 2007 as he will likely win 15-17 games with an ERA in the low 4’s.

31 year old righty Rodrigo Lopez was brought in by trade from the Baltimore Orioles.  He was 9-18 with a 5.90 ERA and a 1.55 WHIP in 36 games (29 starts) for the Orioles in 2006.  He allowed 234 hits and 32 homers in 189 innings last season and it’s pretty scary to think of what could happen to him in Coors Field.  Look for Lopez to win 10-12 games with an ERA of 4.75-5.50 in 2007.

25 year old righty Jason Hirsh was acquired in the trade for Jason Jennings with the Astros.  He had a rough time in 9 starts for the Astros as he was 3-4 with a 6.04 ERA and a 1.57 WHIP.  Hirsh was dominant in AAA ball last season as he was 13-2 with a 2.10 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP in 23 starts in 2006.  The Rockies will use Hirsh as their #4 starter in 2007 as long as he shows improvement over what he did with the Astros and there is no reason to think he won’t pitch better with the stuff that he has.  Look for Hirsh to win 12-15 games with an ERA of 3.85-4.65 in 2007.

30 year old Josh Fogg was 11-9 with a 5.49 ERA and a 1.55 WHIP in 31 starts for the Rockies in 2006.  He has won the #5 job in Spring Training for the Rockies but he might not hold it all season as batters hit .300 against him with 24 homers in 172 innings.  Look for Fogg to win 8-10 games with an ERA of 5.25-5.75 in 2007.

28 year old righty Byung-Hyun Kim was 8-12 with a 5.57 ERA and a 1.55 WHIP in 27 starts for the Rockies last season.  Batters hit .295 against Kim with 18 homers in 155 innings last season and those numbers will need to improve if Kim in going to continue to be a starter in the major leagues.  Look for Kim to be trade bait for the Rockies as it appears that he will not make their final roster.

30 year old righty Brian Lawrence has been brought in by the Rockies as a free agent and he will be ready to contribute at some point in May or June.  He missed all of the 2006 season while he re-habbed his injured arm.  He has a 49-61 career record in 5 seasons with the San Diego Padres with a 4.10 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP.  Look for Lawrence to bump either Hirsh or Fogg from the rotation when he’s ready.

25 year old righty Taylor Buchholz will likely start the season in AAA ball.  He was 6-10 with a 5.89 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP in 22 games (19 starts) in 2006 for the Astros.  He has good stuff as evidenced by his .248 batting average against last year, but, he allowed 21 homers in only 113 innings.  If Buchholz can learn to keep the ball down he’ll get a shot to join the Rockies rotation soon.

23 year old righty Ubaldo Jimenez pitched 2 games (1 start) for the Rockies last season and he was 0-0 with a 3.52 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP.  Jimenez was 14-4 with a 3.80 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP in 26 AA+AAA starts last season.  He also whiffed 150 batters in 151.2 innings in the minors.  Look for Jimenez to start the season in AAA but he will get a call at some point in 2007 as long as he pitches well there.

The Rockies have released Lopez despite the fact that he was 6 for 16 with 4 doubles this spring.  But, the Rockies feel that Chris Iannetta is ready to start and Yorvit Torrealba is healthy enough to back him up.