Moving.

Tap the Rox has moved to MLBlogs. It's now known as The Coors Effect. You can access it here: http://coorseffect.blogspot.com

Rockies 29th?

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/powerranking?season=2006&week=1

Come on, guys. The Rockies are going to be worse than the Royals? Any Rockies fan can tell you just how good Scott Elarton is (and how much he will help the Royals.) Reggie Sanders is closing in on 40. Mark Grudzielanek is over the hill as well, and those two won't have Albert Pujols and Jim Edmonds in the lineup, either.

The Devil Rays, another team that relies heavily on youngsters, are 22nd. Of course, since the Devil Rays play in a ballpark not named Coors Field and their young players are top prospects (who, you know, always pan out) ESPN feels free to rank them higher.

On the other hand, I'd rather be the Rockies than the Devil Rays. The D-Rays are a spot ahead of the Orioles (who aren't very good, either) but they're in the same division as the Blue Jays (8th), Red Sox (6th, though I doubt they're that good) and Yankees (3rd.) The Rockies are in with the Diamondbacks (27th), Padres (20th), Dodgers (14th), and Giants (13th, and a lot worse if Bonds gets hurt again.)

Fuentes, Holliday to represent US in WBC

If there's one thing that will make spring training difficult for the Rockies, it's the first-ever World Baseball Classic. Currently, closer Brian Fuentes and leftfielder Matt Holliday are slated to represent the United States in the World Baseball Classic. Other Rockies who will likely be playing include Jeff Francis (Canada), Byung-Hyun Kim and Sunny Kim (Korea), and perhaps Luis Gonzalez (Venezuela).

I somewhat like the idea of the World Baseball Classic. But the reason this is bad for the Rockies is that it will pull several players, young players at that, out of the Rockies' Spring Training camp as they compete in the WBC. How is Brian Fuentes supposed to get in a preseason groove -- he's expected to be the Rockies' closer this season -- when he'll mainly be working as a LOOGY for the US team? Holliday also doesn't really project as a starting outfielder for the US team, so his playing time will be limited as well.

In other news, pitchers and catchers report today, and the first Rockies spring training game is in a mere twelve days. Awesome.

Fuentes, Holliday to represent US in WBC

If there's one thing that will make spring training difficult for the Rockies, it's the first-ever World Baseball Classic. Currently, closer Brian Fuentes and leftfielder Matt Holliday are slated to represent the United States in the World Baseball Classic. Other Rockies who will likely be playing include Jeff Francis (Canada), Byung-Hyun Kim and Sunny Kim (Korea), and perhaps Luis Gonzalez (Venezuela).

I somewhat like the idea of the World Baseball Classic. But the reason this is bad for the Rockies is that it will pull several players, young players at that, out of the Rockies' Spring Training camp as they compete in the WBC. How is Brian Fuentes supposed to get in a preseason groove -- he's expected to be the Rockies' closer this season -- when he'll mainly be working as a LOOGY for the US team? Holliday also doesn't really project as a starting outfielder for the US team, so his playing time will be limited as well.

In other news, pitchers and catchers report today, and the first Rockies spring training game is in a mere twelve days. Awesome.

Rockies sign Jamey Carroll

Tom's bored and for some reason not asleep at 3 in the morning (despite having a class in five hours; for anybody interested to know, taking philosophy at 8 AM is a really, really bad idea) so here's the latest Rockies news.

The headline is, well, basically what you need to know. The Rockies purchased Jamey Carroll from the Washington Nationals. What Carroll will do for the Rockies is beyond me. He's a .269 career hitter with two homers in 819 at bats, a number that's sure to go up if he plays at all for the Rockies in 2006. That last part is the question, since Carroll is really not that much better than Eddy Garabito, whom the Rockies called up from Triple-A when Aaron Miles (and others) went down to injury. His age (31 on Saturday) also makes him older than every Rockies position player except Todd Helton, and all the pitchers except King, DeJean, Mesa, and Cortes, so he doesn't really fit the "youth movement." I guess you could sell it as insurance policy in case Luis Gonzalez can't adjust to being the regular second baseman, Josh Wilson flat-out sucks, and Omar Quintanilla isn't ready. But how many damn insurance policies do you really need at second base? Apparently, the answer is the same number of fifth-starter insurance policies you need; the depth chart on the Rockies' web site currently lists eight starting pitchers (Jennings, Cook, Francis, BK Kim, Day, Sunny Kim, Fogg, and Esposito.) Still, the Rockies have more pressing needs than signing a guy who basically plays the same role as Josh Wilson.

2006 NL East Predictions

The Braves have won the NL East every year since the 1994 realignment. Yeah, the Expos were leading the division at the time of the 1994 strike, and the Marlins have won two World Series -- one more than the Braves -- despite never winning the division. So what? Everybody is going to pick against the Braves this year, but it's still pretty stupid to pick against a team that's won its division fourteen years in a row.

1. Braves: The Braves probably don't have as much talent as the Mets, but then 2006 won't be the first time in their run that the Braves haven't had the most talented team in the division. Rafael Furcal's departure from Atlanta leaves a hole in the leadoff spot -- who fills that void? Marcus Giles seems the most likely candidate. Edgar Renteria should fill in nicely at short now that he's back in the National League. Andruw Jones probably won't hit 51 homers again, but it's nice to see him finally living up to his massive potential. Chipper Jones has been hurt on and off but is still a solid player. Rookies Jeff Francoeur and Brian McCann played well in 2005. The question is in left field, where Kelly Johnson, Matt Diaz and Ryan Langerhans all have a shot at winning the job. Adam LaRoche could be pushed by talented prospect Jarrod Saltalamacchia if he doesn't perform, but Salty is probably a year away. The pitching staff is solid but not spectacular; Smoltz and Hudson are just fine, Horacio Ramirez is decent, and the Braves can probably find a couple of guys to fill the back end of the rotation. The bullpen looms as the biggest question mark. Still, everybody's been burned by picking against the Braves the past couple of years.

2. Mets: The Mets are more talented than anybody in this division and at worst should win the NL Wild Card. Carlos Delgado was a nice offseason pickup, and Paul LoDuca, though he's overrated, will fill in nicely for Mike Piazza. David Wright, if you haven't noticed, is pretty good. Carlos Beltran needs to bounce back from a weak 2005 and show why the Mets paid him that kind of money to come to New York. The rotation is aging, though Pedro Martinez is still very good. Tom Glavine hasn't been the same since he left Atlanta. Victor Zambrano isn't all that good; Aaron Heilman will finally get a legit shot at making the rotation. Billy Wagner was another nice offseason addition; he'll anchor the bullpen.

3. Phillies: Their window to win the division is probably gone. Jim Thome and Billy Wagner are both out of Philly; Bobby Abreu is still around, and Ryan Howard should be a nice replacement for Thome, but this really isn't a great team. The starting rotation is decent, but isn't anything to write home about. With the Nationals and Marlins in the division, though, the Phillies shouldn't finish any worse than third.

4. Nationals: Frank Robinson is a good manager, but that's about all that the Nationals have going for them. Ryan Zimmerman should be ready to play third base full-time after just half a season in the minors. Other than that, there's not a whole lot to be excited about. Alfonso Soriano is in town but refuses to play the outfield, and the Nationals already have Jose Vidro at second. Livan Hernandez and John Patterson aren't really an anchor for a pennant-winning rotation. Chad Cordero is solid, but may have worn down a bit over the second half.

5. Marlins: Basically, they're the 2006 version of the Rockies, with a couple of proven, young stars (Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis) and a bunch of other youngsters. Frankly, the Marlins won't really know what they've got with most of their young players until after this season, but the result could be 100 losses in 2006. There's a good base of prospects for the Marlins to contend in a couple of years, but the majority of those guys will need to pan out, and the Marlins shouldn't be expecting immediate results.