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 wi