I think to move him they are eating half his salary and in that case in less you get a great prospect in return a deal is likely not fesible.

Otherwise I can not figure COL out.

1.) If I could trade Helton and get value in return, I would do so. But who is going to trade for an aging first baseman with a $18 million contract and a bad back?
2.) I keep Atkins at 3B until Baker or Macri is ready. Are there still questions about Stewart's defense? Plus, even discounting his early struggles due to injury, he hasn't exactly torn up a hitters league.
3.) I wouldn't say Holliday or Hawpe have the OF corners locked up
4.) I wouldn't put much stock in Young as a starter, I might see what he can do in long relief.
5.) Fuentes keeps his job based on the don't mess with success principal. If Tsao works out, you have two good relievers to use as necessary.

Long term strategy? My goal would be to turn the games in softball games. When acquiring players, I would look for players whose weaknesses can be ameliorated by Coors [say Preston Wilson or Mike Cameron], instead of players whose weaknesses aren't affected [say Juan Pierre].

From a player development standpoint, I would be more inclined to overlook strikeout problems and go for more athletic player. My goal would be to start 3 CF's.

From a pitching standpoint, I would try to limit the starters to 180 innings or so. I doubt any specific type of pitcher will be successful long-term at coors - the team would also need several relievers that can pitch long relief. I would experiment [especially at AAA CS] with having pitchers start half the year and relieve half the year to limit total innings.

 

On the macro level, is there a particular strategy that you need to adopt to succeed in Coors Field long-term?

You just can't. It is a sad situation as the people love the team and the park is great, but realistically, your staff just cannot last and keep it going. It takes too much of a toll physically and  they literally have to change their pitching styles home and away.

You cannot move the fences back further as they are already pretty far back. It should be noted that US Cellular Field, Wrigley Field, and Bank One are all higher on the list of park factors in terms of homeruns only this year. The fences being too far back allow so many singles drop in that should be outs since the oufielders have to parol more ground.

In the end, I doubt there will be a succesful franchise there because it just messes with their pitchers way too much. Maybe if they put together the perfect Mile High staff, they have a shot and though they have made the playoffs before, that playoff team was amazing offensively.  

Helton will have to stay as his contract is an enormous Albatross.

Atkins stays and keeps the position warm for Stewart.  And Atkins learns to play LF as he is a much better hitter than Holliday.  Stewart starts next year in AA and comes up for good at the AS break.

Baker, Holliday, Hawpe, Piedra, etc. can all go in trades or maintain back-up roles.

Quintanilla plays 2B next year and Barmes holds down SS until Nelson is ready.  Closser catches with Ianetta coming in '07.

Young will never amount to anything in this environment.  Tsao will pitch in a set up role as Fuentes has found a way to close in the Rocky Mountains.

As for an organizational change in strategy, here's what I would do:

1. move the fences IN and grow the grass HIGH.  Let the HR's fly out like they always do, but take away the singles and gappers as there is too much ground to cover and the IF plays like astro-turf.  330 down the lines, 375 gaps, and 400 in center.  A "Wrigley" cut on the IF grass.
2. invest almost nothing in starting pitching.  When Kevin Ritz and Shawn Estes are about as good as it ever got in Coors, sign lots of guys in similar parts of their career.  Find FA's and non-tender guys to go 5 or 6 with 3-4 ER.
3. build a massive, position player oriented farm system.  Get Helton's or Stewart's at every position to outslug and outscore teams in Coors and away from Coors.  Spend heavily in free agents as I would build a premium position player team.
4. focus on the bullpen--find the guys like Steve Reed and Fuentes who can pitch in Coors.  And then load up on 'em.
5. pray that the rest of the division remains as crappy as it is today.

You can't get rid of Helton without completely alienating the fans.  They know him and he's the only guy they can cheer for (when he's healthy).  So Shealy goes.

Push Stewart.  If Atkins can't hit in Coors, he just can't hit.  Try out Baker at 3B and see how he does - it can't be worse than Atkins.

You can't promote a guy that's struggling.  Bigbie stays in CF for lack of another option.

Tsao moves to setup a la Guillermo Mota.

Macro level - if pitching at a high altitude is tiring on your pitchers, employ a 6-man rotation.  This will give the pitchers more time to recover and last throughout the year.  Otherwise, expand your bullpen and plan on your starters going no more than 4/5 innings every time out.  Final straw is to try to convince the owners to retrofit Coors with a pressurized dome.

I agree with So Cal Bob for the most part:  you have to view pitchers as interchangeable and build a truly GREAT offensive team.  Grabbing up the Preston Wilsons and Vinny Castillas of the world is why the Rockies end up going 20-61 on the road every year.

To that end, Jeff Francis is a luxury the Rockies can't afford.  Although he's pitched better at Coors so far than on the road, that's probably an anamoly.  They need to deal him before Coors messes with his head and his trade value goes down.  Francis should yield 1 or 2 high-OBP, good power types.

Other than that, just try to concentrate on pitchers who throw strikes.  Walks are deadly at Coors, moreso than other places.  Get hitters that draw them, and pitchers that avoid them.

Keep Helton and trade Sheely.  He's young cheap and has hit well you may be able to get something good for him.

On Atkins same as Sheely.  He's an ok player who looks better because of the Coors effect.  Trade him to somoeone for a real prospect or some pitching.  Baker had adequately fill the position until Stewart is ready, then flip Baker like you did Atkins.  In fact the Rockies should try to take advantage more often of trading mediocre players who's stats are inflated in Coors.  Most teams are smart enough to figure it out, but there will always be Bowden's out there who won't figure it out.

I'm not sure of a sure fire strategy in Coors, but I think you certainly need some good defensive outfielders.  The 3 centerfielder suggestion is a good one, but not Pierre centerfielders. You need outfielders who cover a lot of groung, but can also take advantage of Coors like a Mike Cameron.  The Rocks need to build around real hitters.  Guys like Helton and Stewart who hit for power and get on base.  Stay away from Vinnie Castilla's who look good in Coors, but kill you on the road.  

Is part of the problem with Rockie's hitters the fact that on a long homestand they get used to breaking balls that don't have much break, then head out on the road where all of a sudden curves and sliders have a lot of bite?  I know Coors is a good hitters park, but some of the home/road splits are just incredible.  Has to be something more here.

As for pitching keep working with the young guys.  I'm not sure a certain style of pitching is whats needed.  I know the Rocks have tried change-up pitchers or sinkerballers.  Maybe just focus on pitchers who throw strikes.  All pitchers are going to give up homers in Coors, but they've got to pound it into their pitchers heads to not give up a lot of walks.  Much better to give up 2 or 3 solo shots than a couple of 3 run homers.  It's a tough situation, but it can be solved.  It's going to maybe take some thinking out of the box though.  

The Rox will have to focus on three key elements to succeed in Coors field.  They will have to continue to develop their own pitching because they aren't going to land any other prime free agent pitchers.  The Rockies will have to focus more on their defense in order to give these young pitchers a chance to hold teams to earned runs they will score.  Finally, the Rox need to find some speed to go along with the defense and to pressure the opposition at Coors field instead waiting to out slug teams as in the past.  Think how the Rox may have looked if they hadn't missed on Chone Figgins or given up Juan Pierre.  The power will be evident but these three areas should allow the Rox the opportunity to win some games.
Todd Helton's trade value may not be as high as the organization thinks due to his contract and his sudden decline in numbers.  This decline will undoubtedly be linked to steroid use without any proof due to the timing involved.  This should open the door for a deal involving Shealy to help bolster their pitching staff.  This deal would most likely be to an American League club to maximize Shealy's bat and minimize his time on the field due to his poor movement.
Atkins can stay at 3B until Ian Stewart moves him out of the lineup.  There is no rush on moving Atkins or pushing Stewart because the process of putting a winning team on the field will take more than the 2006 season.
It doesn't make sense to lock down the corner outfield spots at this point.  Hawpe and Holliday appear to have an inside track but competition from Baker and the countless others that have logged innings over the last two seasons should improve the overall production out of the corner outfield spots.
Bigbie appears to be the winner by default at this point.  He could be involved in a deal with the Red Sox in the offseason due to Epstein's man crush on him that almost landed the Rox Shoppach at the trade deadline.  Barmes may be an option as well once Tulo, Nelson, or even Quintanilla provides the proper defense at SS.
Young will continue to be a wild card.  He may require an extended opportunity for management to make a decision on his future.  This will have to fall in line with a seemingly dismal 2006 that is awaiting the club.
Tsao shouldn't be handed the closers role but should be given the opportunity to set up at the very least.  Fuentes has done a good enough job to retain the role until it is earned by another reliever or at a point in which he is no longer effective.

I'm not so sure I agree with the majority of posts so far - I don't think pumping the offense will do it.  

A Hardball Times article (http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/winning-in-extreme-environments/) discusses playing in extreme environments, and while it's not exactly conclusive, I'm pretty sure moving the fences in isn't an option either.

I like the idea of looking for toolsy outfielders.  I like the idea of pushing Ian Stewart.  I'd keep Helton, if only because I don't think I can get good value for him.  

But I think the Rockies should definitely invest in pitchers.  And I think they should also revise their usage strategy.  

I personally think there is a way to fix pitchers - don't let them pitch in both environments.  

While obviously you can't have a road staff and a home staff, why couldn't you take a guy like Francis who only pitches well in Colorado, give him some extra throwing time in Colorado, and designate him a Colorado only pitcher?

It would be like a different version of the LOOGY - instead of a lefty one out specialist, try to make a specialist who only excels at high altitude.  Also designate a pitcher a road specialist.  

12 or 13 man pitching staffs are ridiculous anyway - why not try to experiment a little?

1 Coors starter, 1 road starter, 4 other starters, 2 lefty relievers, 2 righty relievers, 1 setup man, 1 closer

Of course, all this is next to impossible due to scheduling, but what if someone could work it out on the schedule?  Would it help solve the Coors effect?

1. If you can find a taker for Helton you have to move him. I doubt he's movable though.
2. Atkins was never going to be anything more than a temp anyway. Leave him there and hope he gets hot enough to increase his trade value before Stewart's ready. There's no reason to rush Stewart -- if he's got nothing left to prove next July bring him up, but there's no sense having a set timetable right now.
3. Holliday is also a temp. If Baker can handle LF, great, but he also seems more like trade bait to me provided Stewart pans out (and I think he will).
4. Bigbie is not a CF, especially in Coors. He can be packaged up with one of the 3B if necessary, but he seems like a better LF fit to me. Honestly, a healthy Preston Wilson was almost the prototype for a Rockies CF (assuming you can't find the next Willie Mays somewhere) -- good speed, defense and power, and the holes in his swing are masked by the park. I'd target Chris Young in an old fashioned challenge trade -- Kenny Williams seems inclined to part with him in the right deal, so maybe a Baker for Young swap is doable.
5. Young's just a guy at this point. A Rockies GM can't afford to get too attached to any pitcher -- not Jason Young, not Tsao, not even Francis. I think the ideal staff for the Rox would be five starters, five swingmen and two short relievers. Fuentes and Tsao can fill the last roles well enough. Which one closes only matters if you're trying to boost their trade value.

Before worrying about personnel, I want to see what can be done about the conditions in which the team plays.  Is it possible to add a pressurized dome, where you could play in conditions closer to most teams in the league?  If that is possible, and costs less than $150 million and we can 50% municipal funding, I do it.  If any variables in that equation don't work, I look to move the team to a city like Charlotte, Portland, Memphis, or New Orleans.

After that is settled I would build the team in the following manner:

1. Trade Todd Helton, paying up to 60% of his salary, to the Mets for Mike Cameron, Aaron Heilman, and a low level prospect.  
2. Sign Jacque Jones for 3 years and $19.5 million

These are the only moves involving players from outside the organization.  

I like the idea of three CF's roaming the outfield, but with Cameron in CF and Jones in RF, we'll get by with Matt Holliday in LF.  Improving defense is the long term goal.  College pitchers and athletic high schoolers would be important to the future.  Drafting "toolsy" players that can run, field, and throw is important, but the players also need to have the fundamentals to bunt, hit and run, and play small ball.  

That is the major change I make.  If you get a dome or move the team, you change the gameplan.  I leave the fences where they are and turn Coors into a pitchers park.  

Youngsters like Stewart, Baker, Shealy, Barmes, Hawpe, Closser, Seth Smith, Iannetta, Atkins, etc. get a chance to prove themselves over the next three years.  Any of them that can play above average to great D and can hit .265 get a chance to stay.  Anyone that can't play D gets moved on for pitching prospects, regardless of hitting ability(Unless one of them is the next Miguel Cabrera, Albert Pujols, or David Ortiz).  

Until the conditions are regulated, a six man rotation should be enforced.  Francis, Jennings, Cook, Wright, Day, and Heilman fill the rotation.  I would keep them limited to 5-6 innings per start, and have 4 long men in pen each ready to pitch 3-4 every three days.  Add Tsao and Fuentes as co-closers, giving each of them 2-3 days as closer than an equal amount of rest.  That should keep all the arms fresh for the course of a season.

Once the team is moved or the dome is added, the farm system should be stocked with multiple high level prospects and the return to "normal" baseball begins.  A conventional pitching staff, above average D, situational hitting, and solid team play would be the calling card of this franchise.

I can tell that most of the people responding to this are not Rockies fans.  Rockies fans know that there is a simple reason baseball is not succeeding in Colorado -- talent.

Name one pitcher who was a genuine, ace starting pitcher whose career was destroyed by playing at Coors Field.  Mike Hampton and Denny Neagle were not aces.  In fact, name one true ace starting pitcher who has ever played for the Rockies.  You can't.

How exactly does switching to a six-man rotation help the Rockies?  Giving the starting pitchers an extra day so that they won't be as sharp when they take the mound?  The Rockies really should be run like any other major-league ballclub.  Coors Field can give average hitters good stats; the problem is that the same thing tends to happen to opposing hitters when they come to Coors Field, and the average hitters become just that when they play on the road.  Moving the fences back would serve to wear out the outfielders even more than they already are by forcing them to cover even more ground.

I keep Helton and trade Shealy.  Shealy is going to be a good hitter, but the whole point of trades is to fill holes.  Helton is still a very good major league player who isn't getting pitches to hit because, well, teams would much rather pitch to Garrett Atkins than Todd Helton.  Not to mention, I'm not exactly fond of the idea of running a team out there where the oldest everyday player, Brad Hawpe, will be 26 on opening day 2006, with a little more than a year of major league experience under his belt.

I see what I can get out of Baker before I push Stewart -- remember, he's closer to being major-league ready, and even had a cup of coffee with the big league club in April.  I don't see Stewart being in Colorado before 2007, though he could be a September callup next season.

Holliday and Hawpe do have the corner spots locked down for next season at least.  I give Baker a shot in spring training at third base next season, and see what I can get out of him in a trade if it's clear that Atkins is the guy for next season.

Bigbie will have some trouble covering center field at Coors, but I'm not that high on Salazar.  Realize that the Rockies have other options there -- Cory Sullivan, Tony Miller (who can hit for some power; statheads love him.)

At the very least, I give Jason Young an audition for the #5 starter in 2006.  I'd probably give him a callup this season and see what he can do.  It's not like the Rockies are going anywhere.

If and when Tsao is healthy, I'd move him into the eighth-inning role and keep Fuentes as the closer until Tsao shows me that things should be otherwise.  Fuentes has been good in that role this season, and it's my opinion that you shouldn't mess with a good thing.

The only "gimmick" I can think of, and it's really not a gimmick, would be to move the triple-A and low-A franchises.  The last thing the Rockies need is for their minor-league clubs to be playing in hitter-friendly ballparks, where hitters can develop bad habits that often won't show up in their stats and the pitchers lose confidence due to high ERA's and homer rates.

Don't ever deal Chaz Roe (32nd overall pick '05).
Roe is a 6'6 slender/lanky, long framed 18 year old with a lively FB to go along with a very sharp breaking ball.  He is very mature for his age and could have been drafted as a SS out of high school.  Height and frame allow him a lot of room to fill out physically.  Very poised, athletic.  I've seen him pitch on several occasions at Lafayette HS in Lexington.  FB touched low to mid 90's with armside run.

Patience is the key with Roe.  Sky is the limit.  Hard to project due to age and physical immaturity.

As a baseball fan since birth, and a Rockies fan and season ticket holder since they came into existence, I have been as frustrated as any Rockies fan.  I have followed all of the possible solutions to the various problems.

While alot of the above ideas make general sense, the single biggest problem the Rockies face is not lack of talent or Coors Field.  Yes, they need more talent, and they are growing some.  Yes, Coors Field is unique, but both teams have to play there.  What both teams DON'T have to do, is repeatedly transition from high altitude to sea level and back and forth.  

Every time the Rockies hitters go on the road, it takes them several games to adjust to the sharper breaking pitches and thicker air that doesn't carry as well.  Every time the Rockies pitchers come home to Coors Field, they have to live with the fact that their pitches don't have the same movement as on the road.  They get maybe 1-3 starts to try and adjust.  It often can't be done.  Of course, when you add in the confidence factor that most players perform better when their confidence is high, and the constant changes hammer away at a players confidence, it snowballs. While a player may be able to overcome this occasionally in any given situation, overall it wears you down, and in the long run, the constant adjusting just can't be consistently done.  MANY veteran visiting players have commented that they are glad they don't have to go to Coors but once or twice a year for this very reason.  The transition messes you up.

There have been a couple solutions proposed to address the altitude adjustment problem, but they are controversial and/or expensive.

1. Use a dead ball.  Not popular as it alters the game.  Oddly enough the humidor for the balls was banned despite the fact that it was actually effective and it only made the humidity for storing the balls the same as sea level (not sure what the "altering" part of that was but....)
2. Move in the fences AND raise them up.  Put up Fenway type walls or screens.  Reduce the number of singles and doubles by moving in the walls.  Reduce homers by making all those line drives be singles and doubles.  Unfortunately, this is apparently expensive to make the alterations, and expensive to losing various seats and revenue due to the alterations.
3. Building an entire underground hyperbaric facility like the Astrodome or Metrodome.  The entire facility would be pressurized to be the same as sea level.  The idea would be that before the Rockies go on the road, they can use this facility to adjust to sea level.  Then they don't have to use the regular 3-4 games to adjust.  They can "hit the ground/road running."  Of course the starting pitchers scheduled to pitch at altitude come back a few days early to adjust before they start.  This idea has actually gotten serious consideration by ownership but it will cost about $300 million to build it.  Ownership hasn't decided to bite the bullet on that one yet.

Anyhoo, no one wants them to succeed more than I do.  I like many of the other ideas above, but in reality, until the constant adjustments can be addressed, it doesn't matter how much talent or money the Rockies have, they will always have that adjustment disadvantage that other teams don't.  They may be able to overcome it on occasion, perhaps with enough talent for an entire season, but I don't see how they can do it consistently.

First the specifics:
-I'd trade Helton if I could get fair value for his talent, but I don't think it's happening.  Any deal involving him would basically be us paying him to beat us every year.  So Helton goes, Shealy gets traded for a decent young pitcher.
-Atkins is fine right now.  There's no way we'll be playing games of consequence for 3 years anyway.  I'll let Stewart dictate his own promotional pace; if he rocks at every stop, he gets promoted quickly, if not, then more slowly.  No sense rushing him.
-As with Atkins, Bigbie's fine for now.  I'm not hugely impressed with Salazar.  He figures things out I'll give him a job over Bigbie, but not until then.  
-I'll wait for Young to get on another hot streak and trade him for a live arm or toolsy 16 year old.
-Tsao goes to AA for a bit to get his mechanics and confidence in order(or as much so as can be reasonably expected).  After that, he goes into low-leverage innings until he proves he can handle that, then gradually give him more important situations.  He's still the closer of the not-too-distant future, but as long as Fuentes is doing well there's no sense rushing Tsao back into a high-leverage role.

The big picture:
I'd focus on sucking pretty thoroughly for the next few years.  Seriously, play the low-cost, medium-upside guys on hand, the Atkinses and Hawpes we already have around, don't try to resign anyone, and pile up a bunch of high draft picks.  I'd use all the top ones to draft a slew of good hitters, like Helton, who'll be above-average hitters at sea level as well as at altitude.  Guys who have a lot of range in the outfield(or could be moved there, a la the Uptons) would be preferred, but I'd just make sure to grab a bunch of disciplined hitters who paste everything in the zone(basically I want Sheffield types instead of Adam Dunn types.  My theory is that take-and-rake guys are more thrown out of whack by going from altitude to sea level than line drive hitters).  Stewart, Nelson, and Tulowitzki are a good start, in line with what I'm looking for.
In the mid-later rounds I'd focus primarily on high-upside arms from every level.  It wouldn't be as set in stone as taking hitters in the first round, but the "quality" approach to developing pitchers hasn't worked yet(Young, Francis to date), it's time to try "quantity."  I can also package hitting prospects to bring in young studly arms that are closer to if not in the majors.  
I don't entirely agree with the philosophy advocated by some of just trotting out a bunch of minimum-wage warm bodies to pitch, loading up on offense, and trying to win every game 12-10, but I think it's important to press the advantage given to us by our ballpark instead of trying to work against it.  Defense is a plus, and an outfield of Beltran types would be ideal, but I don't think it's worth it to go after guys like Jaque Jones for the defense.  I want a team that can be above average offensively on the road first and foremost.  On the pitching side, I want quality starters, but it's not worth spending high draft picks or huge free agent contracts to do it.  I'll try to get them through my own development system as I described before.  The bullpen needs to be run on the cheap, and must also be free of specialists.  Everyone has to be able to pitch over an inning at a time, and if possible it'd be nice to have two swingmen around to compensate for short starts, so as to counteract the extra fatigue caused by playing at altitude.  The idea is to only use 3 or fewer total pitchers in any game.
On the general development front, I'd set up my minor league affiliations such that Rookie through AA levels are in neutral or slight pitchers' parks and leagues, with AAA staying in Colo. Springs.  I'd generally promote hitters straight from AA to the majors, while making every pitcher go to AAA first(barring emergency) to get used to pitching at altitude.

For successful pitching, the Rocks need to concentrate on pitchers with great velocity and stay as far away from guys who depend on breaking balls and sinkers as they can get. Power arms all the way with the changeup being the main if not only secondary pitch.

Breaking balls just don't break and sinkers just don't sink in that thin, dry air.  On the other hand, velocity and location should not be affected at all.

I knew when they signed them that Kile and Hampton would be disasters.  They both had great curveballs, a practically useless pitch in Coors.

If they want to do something in the FA market to jump start the team, AJ Burnett, Jarrod Washburn, and Brett Tomko would be good investments.  

You're saying that Hampton and Kile were no good when they signed?  They might not have been true ACES like RJ or Schilling, but they were pretty darn good.

'00 Hampton(NYM): 218.2IP, 151/99 K/BB, 3.14 ERA, 1.30 WHIP (roughly)
'97 Kile (HOU): 255.2IP, 205/94 K/BB, 2.57 ERA, 1.18 WHIP (roughly)

Are you telling me that if you could sign either of those guys, you wouldn't consider them aces or #1 pitchers??

I'm pretty sure we won't be seeing Clemens, Oswalt, Pedro or RJ (in their prime) pitching 1/2 their starts in Coors, but if they did something tells me they'd turn out the way Kile and Hampton did.  Neagle was just a terrible signing all-around.  He's a #4 in his prime, at best.  They were overpaying just to get pitchers there.

But the most inaccurate statement was saying "Washburn and Tomko would be good investments."  I'm sorry, but a guy with a 4.67 ERA/1.4 WHIP and GB/FB ratio of 1/1, that has been demoted to the bullpen and sports a 5.38 road ERA (Tomko) doesn't sound like a good investment.  

Washburn has been on the DL more than the mound the past 3 years, is a flyball pitcher (career 0.73 GB/FB) and throws fewer K's than Gil Meche, Scott Elarton and Jason Jennings.  (Sorry DrB, but I had to refute those suggestions.)

TCS was on the right track by saying that they haven't had the best talent, but they did sign 2 of the better pitchers in baseball (at the time) and neither one of them could really do anything at Coors.  Surething HOF'ers are once in a rare, but when you get a chance to sign some of the best and they don't work out, you have to look at other solutions.

6-man rotations to allow guys adequate time to recover and save their energy for the whole season, and adding a dome are about the only places left to turn for their pitchers.  You could turn to guys that might not give up a ton of flyballs (Webb, Westbrook, Hudson, Halladay, Lowe, Mulder), but then you go back to relying on sinkerball pitchers, and we know how well that turned out for Hampton.

The interesting thing missing here is the fact that the Rockies have won before. The 1995-1997 teams were excellent teams. So with that in mind, then we already know the kind of team that will be successful in the future.

A. Reincarnate a new version of the Blake Street bombers. These hitters should not only be bashers, but they must steal a base or two, also.

B. Have a serviceable starting rotation that is developed from the farm system. Nothing spectacular needed. Size is important, though... big kids that can handle the wear and tear of 81 games at Coors.

C. Kick "A" bullpen. The most important element for success in Coors is a good, deep bullpen. Sign as many guys as you can.. righty, lefty, don't matter.

The idea of a pressurized dome is whacky and fun but anyone who has lived in Colorado and seen games in Coors would never allow such a prank. The views and the weather in Denver in the summertime are incredible.

The hyperbolic chamber idea is already in place for Olympic high altitude training in Colorado springs. It's a solid idea that should be explored more.

Player moves (I'm hesitant to trade players with our current GM in place and my following views reflect that)...

1. Todd Helton should stay but current ownership will probably push for a trade at some point. Keep Shealy around. Too bad for him but the Rox have control over him for a few years more. He'll just have to play AAA baseball for a while.

If you did move Shealy for prospects and some big spending eastern team wanted Helton bad enough to take on the contract, then you could move Garrett Atkins over to first, which solves that 3rd base logjam.

2. Atkins is a nice player with a good swing to all parts of the park. He is lacking power but that may come with time. Does he fit the "Bomber" need as mentioned above? No.

Jeff Baker is a Major League player in waiting. However, he may just have to play in AAA another year like Shealy. Again, too bad for him.

---Maybe O'Dowd could package Baker and Shealy for something, but again I don't trust O'Dowd to get a good return.

3. Matt Holliday and Brad Hawpe are the corner outfielders for the next ten years. And yes, they both fit the Bomber image mentioned above. Brad Hawpe is a future All-Star. The man just needs major league at bats. Holliday is a stud. Let him play, he may be a step below Hawpe when its all said and done, but he'll be a star here in Denver soon enough.
4. Centerfield is a toughie. Probably a spot where a big bat free agent could be signed when the team is looking like its ready to contend (in 2008?). Until then, any of the players and scenarios mentioned in this forum is fine.
5. Jason Young isn't worth the space to chat about. Just another AAA arm. Give him a token shot in spring next year, I guess.
6. Tsao is too injury prone to count on. Stick him the bullpen where lots of bodies are needed. Fuentes looks like a keeper. Why mess with it?