Three of the four positions on the Rockies' coaching staff have been filled, though they'll all be announced at the same time. The bench coach will be:

via webzoom.freewebs.com

The bullpen coach will be:

via www.baseball-reference.com

The third base coach will be:

via www.baseball-almanac.com

The hitting coach, according to the article, has two candidates remaining: Don Baylor and Greg Colbrunn. Former bullpen coach Rick Mathews recently became a special assistant to Marc Gustafson, the Rockies' player development director.

Thomas Harding has a new mailbag up at the Official Site. One of the questions Harding answers is whether the Rockies should look into trading for the Florida Marlins' Dan Uggla. Harding doesn't think too much of it, and says the Rockies believe they have enough depth at the position with Barmes, Baker, Stewart, and possibly Chris Nelson. I'd also throw in Eric Young, Jr. as another part of possible 2009 depth at the position. But until we learn of Garrett Atkins' fate, Ian Stewart is floating around the diamond. Here he's still a possible candidate to play second base in some capacity, and straight  from the mouth of Dan O'Dowd, Ian Stewart is a "very viable" candidate to take over the Matt Holliday-vacated spot in left field.

Arizona Fall League:

The Phoeneix Desert Dogs captured the National Division title back on November 13, so the six Rockies on the roster will play for a chance to win the Arizona Fall League title once the regulate season ends on November 20.

• Shane Lindsay did not take part in the decision on November 11, but he struck out seven batters and allowed three runs in four innings.
• David Patton allowed four runs on four hits in 1/3 IP on November 10.
• Chaz Roe hasn't pitched since November 6.
• Michael McKenry went 3-for-5 with a double, a homer, and three RBI on November 10. The next day, he hit his ninth homer. Then the day after, he went 3-for-5 but did not hit a homer. Atlanta prospect Tyler Flowers, 17 homers for Myrtle Beach (Carolina League) in 2008, took the lead in AFL homers after having a three homer, seven RBI game on November 12.
• Chris Nelson hit a homer on November 11, his fourth. On November 13, he went 4-for-5 with a triple, two homers, and five RBI.
• As Rox Girl posted a few days ago, Eric Young, Jr. missed this past week of AFL action.

Hawaii Winter League:

The Hawaii Winter League concluded yesterday, as the Waikiki Beach Boys took home the championship. Giants' 2008 first round pick Buster Posey smacked a three-run homer in the seventh inning during the 5-1 victory.

The Honolulu Sharks finished second (17-18) behind Waikiki in the two-team divsion.

• Austin Chambliss allowed two runs on two hits and two walks in 1/3 IP on November 11.
• Still don't know what happened to Andy Graham after his October 24 appearance.
• On November 11, Connor Graham struck out eight and walked three in four innings. He allowed no runs.
• Lars Davis had five hits in his last nine at-bats (that's over three games). On November 15, he hit his first homer, a solo shot, in HWL action.
• Darin Holcomb finished the HWL hitting .163/.291/.239.
• Mike Mitchell did nothing of in the final week of HWL play.

"On The Periphery" will look at the news around the majors. We start with yesterday's trade between the New York Yankees and the Chicago White Sox.

The major players involved were:

Nick Swisher

#0 / First Base / New York Yankees

Height: 6-0

Weight: 215

Bats: B

Throws: L

Born: Nov 25, 1980

and

Wilson Betemit

#0 / Short Stop / Chicago White Sox

Height: 6-3

Weight: 230

Bats: B

Throws: R

Born: Nov 02, 1981

Also heading to Chicago were RHPs Jeff Marquez and Jhonny Nunez. RHP Kaneoka Teixeira was sent to New York with Swisher.

Swisher's stay with the White Sox lasted only a year after being traded back in January by the Oakland Athletics. The A's received left-handed pitcher Gio Gonzalez, righty Fautino De Los Santos, and outfielder Ryan Sweeney. Both Gonzalez and Sweeney played for the A's in 2008 (Gonzalez for the last two months and Sweeney spending the entire year with the A's). De Los Santos had Tommy John surgery back in May.

The White Sox, however, could not get a return similar to that. But then, maybe the White Sox don't believe 2008 was an aberration for Swisher. His BA and SLG were career lows and his OBP was the second worst of his career. Still, he knocked 24 balls out of the park. Swisher's a .244 career hitter with this past season included, but if he can get back to the mid-.250s or low-.260s, the Yankees surely get an even better deal.

Swisher offers versatility for the Yankees, as he can play all the outfield positions and first base. But the Yankees likely won't have him penciled in for much, or any, time in center field, where he played 70 games for the White Sox in 2008. Though if the they do want Mark Teixeira, the Yankees could easily push Swisher off first base and into the outfield.

As for the White Sox, Wilson Betemit will compete with Josh Fields for the starting job at third base.

Marquez and the other guys swapped in the deal are nothing to get excited about. They're all likely to reach the potential of an adequate middle reliever.

This looks to be a poor trade on the part of the White Sox. The Yankees received a guy who is in his prime years, has power, and is looking to rebound from a disappointing 2008 campaign. The White Sox took back a piece of the Yankees' detritus and had to throw in a minor league reliever to get the deal done.

South Side Sox says there have been whispers that Swisher wasn't well-liked in the clubhouse. Still. . . .

Somehow I neglected to give out the Purple Row Batter of the Year Award. But first a recap:

Back in September, we voted on the Rockies' reliever of the year. The three candidates were Taylor Buchholz, Brian Fuentes,and Jason Grilli. Taylor Buchholz won the award, garnering 74 of the 151 votes cast.

A week later, Aaron Cook took home Purple Row's Starter of the Year Award. He was a shining light in an otherwise abysmal pit of despair.

In the middle of October, Ian Stewart won the non-existent hardware for Purple Row's Rookie of the Year Award.

At the end of October, we had a close vote for the game of the year. Of the 98 votes cast, 54 of them went to the July 4 comeback win against the Marlins.

Now we turn to the Batter of the Year Award. The winner is:

via i2.cdn.turner.com

Join me after the jump as we look at Matt Holliday's 2008 season.

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Because this has moved David's examination of the trade down a bit, click here to go there and continue the discussion.

via mlb.mlb.com

His slide on 1 October 2007 will forever be the most cherished memory Rockies fans have of Matt Holliday. As Dave Krieger puts it (in his piece on why Holliday was traded):

He became an indelible part of our collective memory late on the night of Oct. 1, 2007, bloodying his chin while sliding across home plate (or not) to put the Rockies into the postseason.

Now Rockies fans won't be lucky enough to watch Matt Holliday take left field in Coors Field. But to Mark Kiszla (predictably):

Slugger Matt Holliday was the lucky one.

He took his bat and got out of town.

With a .319 career average, Holliday has departed in a trade to Oakland. He waved goodbye with customary quiet grace, despite being trashed by ownership in his final weeks as a member of the Rockies.

For a franchise that prides itself on high character and a low payroll, the Rockies again proved in this deal it is far easier to be cheap than classy.

Matt Holliday had this to say:

"I can't tell you how much I appreciated how me and my family were treated in Denver by the fan and the people behind the scenes in the organization. They were so important. And that's the saddest thing."

Garrett Atkins is sad to see his friend go, but thinks this might be a positive for his chances to stay with the Rockies:

"I don't know if it means I am next," Atkins said. "I think they might want to keep me more now. At least that is what I am hoping."

And today is Veterans Day, or Remembrance Day and Armistice Day elsewhere. Take a moment to thank all those who have served.

It wasn't a good last week for many of the Rockies' prospects playing fall baseball.

Arizona Fall League

• On November 5, Shane Lindsay started his second game in the AFL and took the loss. He allowed one run on four hits and two walks in three innings. He also struck out three.
• David Patton pitched in that November 5 contest and allowed two runs on four hits and a walk in one inning.
• Chaz Roe showed some better stuff in his November 6 start. He struck out seven batters in four innings and allowed no runs on one hit. He did, however, walk three.
• Michael McKenry has seven home runs, good for a three-way tie for first in the AFL.
• Chris Nelson hasn't done much to stand out over the last week.
• Eric Young, Jr. has 18 stolen bases and collected six hits in his next four games, before going hitless on November 7.

Hawaii Winter League

• On Novemer 5, Austin Chambliss pitched a scoreless 1 1/3 innings. He then allowed a run in two-thirds of an inning on November 8.
• Anyone know what happened to Andy Graham? He hasn't pitched since October 24.
  
• Connor Graham's been regressing. On November 4, he allowed seven runs on two hits and six walks in 2 2/3 innings.
• Hits have been few and far between for Lars Davis in his limited playing time. He has nine hits in 54 at-bats.
• Darin Holcomb went 3-for-4 with an RBI last night.
• Mike Mitchell has struck out at least once in his last nine games.

It appears as though the Cardinals are out of the Matt Holliday sweepstakes . . . for now. The Cardinals' GM, John Mozeliak, is sure on that:

Mozeliak insisted Sunday that discussions involving Colorado Rockies left fielder Matt Holliday have ceased and that "nothing is imminent. That one’s not happening — at all."

Mozeliak goes on to say that the talks were definitely serious in nature but that some of the news swirling around those discussions were "misleading."  Mozeliak doesn't specify what was misleading, but it may have been the players involved in the deal. At the very least, Mozeliak thought Matt Holliday≠Ryan Ludwick + Skip Schumaker + Mitchell Boggs. As we've witnessed over the last few days, there are quite a number of opinions on that

Dan O'Dowd says "things are fluid" on the Matt Holliday Front. The battle tactics of the Matt Holliday Front are give and take now.

Here's a list of the Rockies' minor league free agents. You can find every team's minor league free agents here.

Colorado Rockies (18)
RHP: Darren Clarke (AA), Simon Ferrer (Hi A), Josh Hall (AA), Zach McClellan (AA), Tomas Santiago (AA), Sean Smith (AAA), Edward Valdez (AAA), Oscar Villarreal (AAA)
C: Humberto Cota (AAA), Brian Esposito (AA), Nelson Robledo (Hi A)
2B: Gary Cates (AA), Mike McCoy (AAA)
3B: Tony Blanco (AA)
SS: Doug Bernier (AAA)
OF: Sean Barker (AAA), Tom Collaro (AA), Lino Garcia (Hi A)

Given that these guys have reached free agency as minor leaguers, losing any of them isn't too much of a big deal. We'll have nothing to show for trading away Jamey Carroll if Sean Smith takes a walk somewhere else. Knuckleballer Simon Ferrer seemed to hit a wall this season in Modesto; if the Rockies don't bring him back, he'll catch on somewhere.

The last of these awards. You'll have to click through to find out the results as the tables are long. My top three are how they came out in the final results, and I gave Holliday one of the sixth place votes.

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