Colorado Rockies: Monday’s News and Rumors Roundup

Hey, we get it. Trust us. It’s the start of another week … and, even worse, it’s the start of another week without baseball. Luckily, with every day passing, we’re one day closer to the Colorado Rockies opening spring training and enjoying the sunsets behind the scoreboard at Coors Field.

To pass the time and fill the baseball void, we’ve compiled some of the top news and rumors surrounding the Colorado Rockies. Let’s dive in.

Walker Gets Some HOF Love

In this article, we went as far as to say that, when it comes to Larry Walker, the Hall of Fame voters seem to think less of someone playing at altitude than they do someone who took performance-enhancing drugs. Finally, someone else has come out to remind voters that plenty of other Hall of Famers have been played in hitter-friendly environments as well.

Andrew Simon of MLB.com discusses Walker’s case for Cooperstown and ends his article with a great list. As he writes, “Walker’s career home OPS of 1.068 is 110.7 percent of his overall OPS of .965. Here is a quick look at eight Hall of Fame hitters, each of whom also had a home OPS that was at least 108.5 percent of their total.” The list includes Wade Boggs, Ron Santo and Hank Greenberg. It’s a nice reminder that, while Walker did play at altitude during his home days with the Rockies, there are plenty of other parks that provided an advantage to their hitters as well.

Arenado Makes a Good Safety?

It’s playoff time in the NFL and it’s a good time to look back on a Cut4 article that picked a dream team for football out of 2016’s baseball players. Included on the list was Nolan Arenado at the safety position. Why?

“The role of safety can be defined by one word: range,” MLB.com’s Cut4 says in this GIF-filled article. “They need to serve as the last line of defense, to ensure that nothing is going to get past them. Arenado, for example, is everywhere at once — neither foul territory … nor the actual field of play can stop him.”

Speaking of Nolan…

We’re just going to leave this right here. Buster Olney of ESPN.com and a team of evaluators picked Arenado as the third-best third baseman in the leage right now. If you’re an ESPN insider, you can read the article here.

If you want an explanation of why, here’s what Olney offered on Twitter…

Next: The Latest on Carlos Gonzalez and a Possible Contract Extension

Are the Rockies Done for the Offseason?

Everyone seems to be asking if the Rockies are going to be making more moves (like signing a Mark Trumbo or Chris Carter). Rockies beat writer Thomas Harding of MLB.com seems to think Colorado isn’t going to be making any more big splashes. You can see his thoughts here.