RSR: Carlos Gonazalez New Contract Edition

A special off season Rock Solid Recap a day after Carlos Gonzalez reportedly agrees to a 7 year/$80 million contract. Includes random thoughts on things other than baseball.

-- I'm blown away by how calmly, smoothly and easily the Rockies have taken a potentially chaotic and disastrous off season and turned it into an overwhelming success. All those questions we feared we'd be asking when spring training rolled around have not only been answered, but answered with a resounding "relax, we know what the **** we're doing".

-- Is Scott Boras getting soft, or is Carlos Gonzalez proving to be another of those rare superstar athletes that can think for himself?

Knowing the answer to that question, how much more do you love and respect CarGo?

And how much quicker do you want to be rid of the Carmelo Anthony headache?

-- Here's CarGo with a Chihuahua on his lap.

-- Sorry Teboners, little Timmy is never going to own the city of Denver the way John Elway did. That has more to do with the prolonged presence of Mr. Tulowitzki and Mr. Gonzalez than it does Tebow's shortcomings as a pure NFL Quarterback, but both are factors to be sure.

-- The next time you see a Monfort in public or at the ballpark, please resist the temptation to take a running leap into their arms, but do shake his or her hand.

-- The Tulowitzki and Gonzalez contracts do not guarantee success or championships. What they do is promise relevance on a national scale - something Colorado has yet to experience in nearly two decades despite a World Series appearance - more appeal to future free agents, and a good foundation to build upon for over half a decade.

That works for me.

-- I'm talking directly to Ian Stewart right now.

How much are you worth?

How good can you be?

I'm dying to find out.

-- That aside, I really enjoy following Stewart, Dexter Fowler and Eric Young Jr. on Twitter. They all seem like really good guys and I hope all three cement themselves as Rockies in 2011 and beyond.

-- There's a girl with fangs on The Bachelor. So the answer is yes, that show can get worse.

-- Things I learned reading Bleacher Report yesterday...

Carlos Gonzalez doesn't have great speed and he isn't all that great a defender.

Apparently he's a rich man's Brad Hawpe.

-- I look at the Denver Nuggets roster and can only identify one player I believe San Antonio Spurs coach Greg Popovich would take on his team. That one guy is Aaron Afflalo. The only problem is San Antonio already has a better version of Affalo in 2nd year guard George Hill.

-- I'm still worried about Jim Tracy's ability to manage a bullpen. And by worried I mean positively frightened.

Why Franklin Morales deserves a chance

Saw the name Franklin Morales a lot on Twitter again yesterday. Not sure why. It shouldn't come as news to anyone that he's getting another opportunity to make the Rockies squad. And quite honestly, he deserves that chance.

Yeah, he was a complete train wreck last season. Got that.

The Rockies were foolish to keep running him out there time after time when it was obvious he didn't have any answers. Got that too. No one could possibly deny it.

That said, why not allow him to come to camp to see if he's figured something out? Why is that such a crime? The release Morales sentiment I often hear from fans drives me crazy. It's nonsense. Nobody seems to remember that this kid saved the Rockies ass in two different playoff seasons.

In 2007: The Rockies went 6-2 in his 8 starts. All of them coming in August and September. I'd say that was pretty important... right or wrong?

In 2009: Morales converted all 7 of his save opportunities. Each of them coming when Huston Street was injured in the month of September. He saved the Rockies ass one more time. No one could possibly deny that either.

To me that earns him at least one more chance. If he struggles and somehow clears waivers, I'd be willing to give him one more chance after that. What the heck does it hurt?

I'm not saying you hand him a roster spot in 2011 or force feed him down our throats. I'm not telling you he's going to be good again in a Rockies uniform. I'm saying he's twenty-freaking-four, he made a major impact at the big league level in the two most successful seasons the Rockies have ever had, and he did so at the age of 21 and 23. Why would you even consider pulling the plug now? That's a kid you give chances to.

Just imagine if the Cleveland Indians had pulled the plug on Cliff Lee after his dreadful 2007 season. That would have lost their opportunity to restock their minor leagues after the 2009. I'm not putting Morales on Lee's level. Please don't twist my words to say that. It's just an example of a situation where a talented guy completely lost it for a whole season but managed to recover it and became an elite player.

It happens.

A thought or two on Tebow

Don't worry, this is still a baseball blog. I just realize 90% of the readers here are Denver Broncos fans and have thoughts on Tim Tebow. 

I also have thoughts on Tim Tebow.

As does Brandon Lloyd, who was quoted as saying...

"I don't want to be a lab rat for a guy learning to play...going across the middle"

That says all you really need to know. There has to be a reason the Broncos aren't willing to run Tebow on the field, and not having the trust of his receivers would be a very valid one. I don't think Lloyd says that unless he's witnessed some serious accuracy issues with Tebow in practice.

"Oh but you have to see what you have in Tebow" you might be saying.

You don't HAVE to. It would be really nice if you could, but if the guy isn't ready, he's not ready.

It's really not as easy as it sounds to throw a young QB into the fire. Tebow has to first learn the basics of running an NFL offense against an NFL defense. Sorry, that's a huge leap from running a gimmick college offense surrounded by elite weapons against overmatched college defenses.

That's why you don't see option QBs succeed in the NFL. That's why Troy Smith is a third stringer on a bad San Francisco team. They have to learn the very basics of running an NFL offense before they can even be considered in a game. To put Tebow in there when he's not prepared just isn't realistic, smart, or even necessary.

And who knows, he may never be prepared to do it. If he doesn't show the accuracy or arm strength necessary to make the receivers or coaches comfortable, he can't play. If he can't read defenses, he can't play. Plain and simple.

I have to believe that's the reason he's not slated to start this week. Maybe I'm giving the coaches too much credit. Maybe they're all complete fools. That's not out of the realm of possibly here. Maybe they'll eventually give in and let him start at home against Houston. And maybe he'll be just fine after all.

Maybe.

Or maybe this Broncos are already admitting they spent a first round pick on a goal-line running back.

PS: The name Brady Quinn should be removed from everyone's mind immediately. He's Brett Favre without the talent. What a waste of a precious roster spot.

Winter Meetings Tuesday Recap

First and foremost I would like to send well wishes to Rockies skipper Jim Tracy. Those were a scary couple of hours early Tuesday morning when word of his collapse at his hotel in Orlando started getting around. I'm very thankful he was able to return home on Tuesday and am hopeful the medical situation is behind him.

My best to his family as well on what had to be an incredibly stressful 12 hours.

-- The Rockies probably overpaid on Ty Wigginton. I have to wonder how many teams would have been willing to go to two years for anything close to that money. Probably not a one, but it does show me the Rockies have identified a guy they like and were aggressive in getting a deal done. That's good. Now we just have to hope their evaluation is sound and Wigginton can handle the assignment.

What's scary is the team apparently didn't do its homework on Melvin Mora last offseason when they believed he was capable of handling a utility role. A lot of people, myself included, saw that problem coming a mile away. Unfortunately we were right, and the Rockies were significantly hampered defensively for an extended period of time.

I think Jim Tracy would be wise to limit Wigginton to 1B and a little bit of 3B. 2B and OF don't seem necessary when you have Jose Lopez giving you plenty of infield flexibility and Eric Young Jr. who can also play 2B and is likely a better outfielder than Wigginton would be a middle infielder. Let EY take those emergency OF innings when needed.

-- Missing on Ronny Paulino robbed us of a potential Paulino-Paulino battery every fifth day. That novelty aside, I don't think the Rockies will regret missing him too much. I know he's a Tracy guy, and it sure is possible the Rockies end up settling for something less, but at this stage I'm not concerned.

-- Michael Young trade rumors dominated Twitter and other media outlets on Tuesday night. My official stance is that potential move would be far fetched, but that's what I would have labeled the Jayson Werth contract right until the moment he signed it. This has been a weird offseason. Teams are being aggressive, creative, and often times stupid, so it's difficult to rule anything out without having enough information.

For now, I'm saying it's unlikely.

Young may fit from a baseball standpoint, but the business side, his age, and his declining skills are all factors weighing heavily against this. The only possible scenario I can see working would involve Colorado flipping Young to a third team, possibly someone like the White Sox, in exchange for a pitcher like Gavin Floyd.

Again, the money would have to make sense, and I don't see it getting to a point where it makes enough sense for Colorado.

But what do I know? Stay tuned and we'll see what Wednesday brings us.

Tulowitzki contract links and thoughts

• Rockies keep Tulowitzki through 2020. (Denver Post)
• Rockies commit to the mullet, but not everyone is impressed. (Big League Stew)
• Tulowitzki's big dollar mistake (Yahoo Sports)
• Rockies jump the gun with Tulo's new deal. (Rob Neyer)
• The official new face of the Colorado Rockies. (Purple Row)
• Can someone please explain the Tulowitzki deal to me? (Hardball Talk)
• Rockies sign all-star shortstop through 2020. (Rockies Review)

Not a whole lot of congratulations coming the Rockies way over the past 24 hours. That's to be expected given the length of the contract and the risks involved in such deals. It's unlikely Tulowitzki will hold his value for the entirety of the contract, I think we all understand that. It would be a total disaster if his skills fell off before his original contract was set to expire. We get that too.

That said, sometimes teams have to take risks to stay competitive and keep the fan base happy. Tulowitzki, when healthy, which is a key, has shown he can be a franchise player. It's also pretty clear he WANTS to be here long-term and the fan base has accepted him wholeheartedly. Those two factors alone make it far less risky from the Rockies standpoint, and if this franchise accomplishes the ultimate goal even one time over the next decade with Tulo leading the way, it'll be brilliant business.

I guess we'll know for sure 10 years from now when we look back at this contract as we've looked back at Todd Helton's. Yes, Todd's contract hampered the team over the past couple of seasons. Maybe it even kept the team from making a move that would put them over the top last season.

But to me it was worthwhile because I don't think this team makes the 2007 World Series without Todd Helton anchoring the greatest single season team defensive effort in MLB history, and contributing his usual clutch hits down the stretch.

It's also safe to assume this team will be structured better over the course of this contract than they were throughout Helton's contract. The Rockies have a different mindset now than they did then, and a better reputation. A winning reputation. An expectation that they will be at or around the playoff hunt come September. That makes doing business a little easier when it comes to adding key pieces.

I'm on record right now saying I like that deal. I don't necessarily love it or consider it a guarantee for future success, but I like that our ownership and front office are not afraid to lock up a guy they love and face the backlash they're receiving today around the league. Believe me, there are some teams that shy away from deals for that reason, so it's nice to know ours will face it head on.