Troy Renck Interview Part 1

Troy Renck is the Rockies/MLB beat reporter for the Denver Post.  You see his name here often with exclusive rumors and info from his columns for that paper.  Troy was kind enough to answer a bunch of my Rockies-related questions for MLBTradeRumors.  Below is the first half of the interview.

Will the Rockies be able to rekindle Todd Helton trade talks with Boston, Baltimore, or another team year?  Do you take Todd at his word that he’d veto any deal at this point? 

Troy: It’s possible they could revisit talks, specifically with Boston. But Helton’s promise not to accept a trade during the season places a statue of limitations on any new talks. My calculated guess is that trade discussions won’t resurface in earnest until the offseason.

How would you grade Dan O’Dowd’s offseason?

Troy: O’Dowd made a terrific, if not unpopular trade by acquiring Willy Taveras, Taylor Buchholz and Jason Hirsh for Jason Jennings. Hirsh is the key. If he realizes his potential, he could become Jennings at a much cheaper price for several years. Taveras helps in center field, though I am not sure he’s a longterm solution. The preference would be to have more power from that position. Getting Rodrigo Lopez provides a potential innings-eater to ease Jennings’ absence. Lopez struggled mightily last year. The Rockies think he can have success again because he’s not coming off an injury and will be paroled from the AL East.

His best under-the-radar move was adding Brian Lawrence, who, if healthy, could give the rotation a jolt in May.