Morning Links: Rockies News 10/3

Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

The Colorado Rockies are not in the playoffs. Even so, there are teams of interest involved with the NL West winning Los Angeles Dodgers and the Clint Hurdle-led Pittsburgh Pirates in the mix. As those teams play meaningful, chilly October baseball games, the Rockies are left to look ahead to 2014. Here’s the news from the Rockies and around the league this morning:

From Patrick Saunders: Rockies Top 3 items on off-season to-do list and position breakdown (Denver Post)

"Rookie third baseman Nolan Arenado can be expected to develop more power, but he is not ready to be a No. 5 hitter. As it stands now, the only Rockies with consistent pop are Troy Tulowitzki, Carlos Gonzalez, Wilin Rosario and, to a lesser extent, Michael Cuddyer.“Owner Dick Monfort is on the record saying the Rockies will look for a right-handed bat, likely an outfielder. Free agents Josh Willingham, Kendrys Morales and Corey Hart are possibilities.”"

From Matthew Pouliot: Adam Wainwright opens his postseason with nine-K gem (HardBall Talk)

"Demonstrating even better control of his curveball than usual, Wainwright kicked off the Cardinals’ latest postseason run on a strong note Thursday, allowing three hits over seven innings and striking out nine in an 8-1 win over the Pirates. He improved to 3-0 with a 2.27 ERA in 39 2/3 postseason innings. His K/BB ratio is an exceptional 49/6.”"

From Neil Weinberg: The final word on Miguel Cabrera ‘s amazing year (Gammons Daily)

"There’s a lot of disagreement among fans and analysts regarding which American League star deserves the 2013 MVP award. Mike Trout followed his off the charts rookie campaign with another 10 WAR season and Josh Donaldson led the A’s to another surprising AL West crown. Chris Davis even mashed 53 HR just to make things difficult. But those three are likely to fall short of the top honor thanks to the year Miguel Cabrera had in Detroit. He wasn’t the best all-around player in 2013, but it’s nearly impossible to argue he wasn’t the best hitter.”"

From Andrew Fisher: Eyes to the Future: Rockies to Select 8th in 2014 Draft (Purple Row)

"As Rex Brothers faced Nick Buss with the runners on second and third and one out in the ninth inning Sunday, the Rockies had a 48.3% chance of winning.  If the Rockies lost, they would jump into a tie with Philadelphia for the 7th draft slot in 2014.  If they held on and won, they’d fall into a four-way tie for the eighth slot.“Draft position ties are broken by 2012 record, so the Rockies would have won the tie-breaker against any team outside of Houston and the Chicago Cubs.  So it was one draft slot up for grabs yesterday.  The Rockies sent Todd Helton out a winner after two strikeouts from Rex Brothers, so Colorado settled into the #8 slot, the very slot Helton himself was drafted in back in 1995.”"