Colorado signed Jose Jimenez to a one-year, $3.6M contract this week, so they will avoid all arbitration hearings this season. Jimenez isn't the most skilled closer in baseball, but he handles his role in Colorado quite well and is particularly well suited to the job. The 29-year-old has held a G-F over 3 for two years now, which allows him to avoid some of the pitfalls of his home park. He also allows very few walks, reducing the number of runners on base when he does slip up. Jimenez will receive an additional $50,000 if he finishes 65 games.

The Rockies have discussed trading Jimenez, but without a similarly skilled replacement I think they'd be making a mistake. He fills an important role for the team and substituting a pitcher with solid overall skills won't necessarily work, as they need a pitcher with specific skills. Consequently, it is much more difficult for the Rockies than for other clubs to cut costs in this area without hurting the team.

Colorado's more recent minor league signings include, RHP Rich Garces, LHP Darren Oliver, OF-R Luis Saturria, and OF-L Mark Sweeney. Garces' control has been suspect his entire career and last season his strikeout rate fell, making him unworthy of a bullpen spot. However, the 31-year-old was troubled by a hamstring injury and could rebound this season if he remains healthy. Nevertheless, unless he has a hot spring, I expect him to head to AAA to start the season and make an appearance when the Rockies need a reliever sometime during the year if his skills return.

Darren Oliver is a bad pitcher and should never have accumulated so many major league innings. However, he happens to be left-handed so teams continue to use him. The Rockies should have sufficient alternatives to keep him in the minors for most of this season, hopefully triggering his eventual exit from the major league scene. However, I wouldn't be at all surprised if he made a spot start at some point during the season.

Luis Saturria has shown moderate power and minimal speed skills in the past, but he lacks the plate discipline to deserve even a AAAA position. Unfortunately, he'll likely have difficulty finding AAA playing time in the Rockies' organization in 2003, so the 27-year-old won't even have a good chance of improving for the 2004 season.

Mark Sweeney's streak of picking teams who'll give him at-bats as a lefty pinch-hitter may have ended this season, as I don't see the Rockies having a roster spot available for that purpose. The 33-year-old's plate discipline is also failing, reducing his already limited usefulness to next to nothing. I'll be somewhat surprised if he spends anytime on a major league roster in 2003.

The Rockies claimed RHP Elio Serrano off waivers from Philadelphia last week. Last season at AAA Scranton-Wilkes Barre, the 24-year-old reliever compiled a 45:17 K:BB with 64 H and 6 HR allowed in 71 IP for a 2.92 ERA. Serrano obviously isn't bowling batters over, however he does appear to have solid control and could be useful as a middle reliever. Colorado is always in need of bullpen fodder, so he gives them a decent arm they can call up for a few innings during the year. If he's a ground ball pitcher, they might even have a regular reliever.

Philadelphia waived Serrano to make room for Todd Pratt on their roster. Despite Serrano's unspectacular upside, the move was thoughtlessly wasteful, as there was no need to immediately add Pratt to the roster and had they waited until the flurry of moves around Opening Day, Serrano likely would have passed through waivers unclaimed.

In early January, Colorado claimed CR/OF-R Kevin Eberwein off waivers from San Diego. The Padres drafted Eberwein out of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas with their fifth round pick of the 1998 draft. Last year at AAA Portland, he only hit .209 with a .285 OBP and .375 SLG on 67 H, 17 2B, and 12 HR with a 32:101 BB:K and 0/1 SB%, though those numbers were affected by a wrist injury. He's been bothered by injuries throughout his minor league career but mostly of the broken bone variety, so he should be able to shake the problem. I don't see him breaking into the majors with the Rockies in 2003 given their other options at his positions, however he really needs to spend the season at AAA working on his plate discipline and attempting to remain healthy anyway. He appears to have real power potential and a decent walk rate, so in a year or two he could be quite valuable to Colorado.

San Diego waived Eberwein to make room on the roster for Gary Bennett, who they signed to a one-year major league deal. Bennett has been almost guaranteed a roster spot when the Padres break camp, so Wiki Gonzalez and Mike Rivera are nominally competing for the other catcher's slot. As Gonzalez is the clear favorite to make the team, some observers have wondered why the Padres traded for Rivera. However while I think Rivera has considerable upside, provided he has an option left I think another season in AAA might be good for him and allow him to produce at a much higher level when the Padres have a job for him. Unfortunately, I don't think San Diego will be overly pleased with the production of Bennett, as the 30-year-old offers little offensively outside Colorado.

Update: Yesterday, I discussed the Reds signing of Jose Rosado. However, Cincinnati has since voided Rosado's contract as he failed his physical, so he is once again a free agent and may have difficulty signing with a major league affiliate.