Before you do anything else, hit the Disaster Report for their response to my response to some stuff they wrote earlier. Also my fact-checker went over my piece from yesterday and wanted to add that the Rockies don't technically lose draft picks by not offering a departing free agent arbitration, but rather sacrifice the opportunity to gain some. He also suggested I clarify the concept of "service time," so quickly: first, second, and third year players are bargains. Fourth, fifth, and sixth year players' salaries ramp up rather rapidly. Anything after that, if they're any good, is going to cost you.

The Post trails behind me as usual, this time in profiling Brian Fuentes: "I know I am the closer and I am starting to think of myself that way." Dan O'Dowd also confirms that Colorado has no plans to trade the lefty. The next guy up on the shuttle from Colorado Springs is Ryan Shealy, first baseman and temp DH. In the same piece, trade winds are continuing to blow for Preston Wilson and Joe Kennedy and beginning to whirl for Dustan Mohr (really?) and Todd Greene. If Greene goes, one hopes it will be sooner rather than later, as his return from the DL will probably mean AAA for J.D. Closser.

Buster Olney in an ESPN chat (subscription required) writes that "right now, the best starters available are the Colorado pitchers." No fooling! He mentions that Philadelphia might be a good landing place for sinkerballer Jason Jennings and there's a lot of interest in Joe Kennedy because he's left-handed and "tough-minded." Speaking of starters, Byung-Hyun Kim is one for good now, however that ends up working out...Aarons Cook and Miles (third item) will each get a step closer to returning to the big leagues this week...let's hear it from an old favorite of mine from his days in Chicago, current Dodger Hee Seop Choi, who hit six homers in a three-game series against the Twins this weekend.