Colorado Rockies Demand Attention

The Colorado Rockies are a team that will not be denied. They have gone from the laughing stock of the league to a championship contender due to their utilization of an amazing farm system. Yet, no one is talking about the Rockies as contenders.

Although the National League has gotten considerably better this offseason, the Rockies are still the defending National League Champions. They managed to keep all of their all-star caliber players in house and lost only 2B Kaz Matsui. While everyone was talking about the L.A. Dodgers signing Joe Torre or the NY Mets getting their hands on Johan Santana, the Rockies signed the best shortstop in the league (Troy Tulowitski) to a six-year deal and they also managed to avoid arbitration with the real 2007 NL MVP Matt Holliday.

The AL has always been the better league and they look to make their case this year as well. The Red Sox have managed to keep their World Series-winning team in tact and the NY Yankees dropped the dead weight of Roger Clemens and maintain Alex Rodriguez on their roster. All of this aside, not one team in the AL is any better than the Colorado Rockies. There are multiple teams that can challenge the Rockies on paper, but when the first 100 mph pitch is thrown by Ubaldo Jimenez, there is not a team in this league that the Rockies cannot hang with.

It is a long shot to believe that the Colorado Rockies will have a magical run into the playoffs and World Series like last year, but it doesn't seem like anyone is even giving them a chance. The best rivalry in the NL will be between the Rockies and the Diamondbacks. Both are young teams that figure to make some noise this season. The best manager in the NL is, and was last year as well, Clint Hurdle. The man demands the best from everyone in the dugout and is also able to befriend each one at the same time. There is no manager more deserving of a Series championship than Hurdle. Hurdle has been massacred by the media and fans for the last five years for not putting together a champion caliber team, while all along he has been putting together one of the most promising teams ready to contend now and for many years to come.