Rockies need O'Dowd to think bigger

Will Dan O'Dowd think big?

General manager Dan O'Dowd has opportunity sitting in front of him in the midst of a painful season on the field and in the won-loss column. What is going to be his response to the stress?

Will he aggressively try to reshape the club with one big or a series of smaller moves before the trade deadline or sit pat or make a small move and wait for the offseason to reassess and reconfigure the roster, and it's obvious the roster needs change.

O'Dowd, to his credit, is an eternal optimist and trusts his younger talent and some of it might still prove worthy of that trust (Drew Pomeranz, Wilin Rosario as strong starters and Jordan Pacheco and Chris Nelson as dependable backups). Yet, maybe he will also be receptive to exploring more risk, as in trading young major league talent or talented prospects (Nolan Arenado, Edwar Cabrera) for more roster strength.

Soon, this publication will take a look at all possible candidates to be traded and what they might bring back in return depending on how desired a commodity they are on the market.

Guthrie back on display

Pitcher Jeremy Guthrie's demotion to the bullpen was good for the Rockies, good for him. He's allowed 8 runs in his last 18 1/3 innings (3.93 ERA) and is rebuilding trade value. Guthrie starts Sunday and O'Dowd desperately needs him to pitch well, whether it's five, six or seven innings. A strong start of almost any length helps from the righthander provides O'Dowd have some modicum of leverage on the phone when discussing his expectations in trade talk.

Another strong start or two and Guthrie, based on his pre-2012 work and his recent body of performances, could bring much-needed value back to Colorado in a deal that would make the Rockies and their fans happy.

Rockies' Prospects Spotlight

Low-A talents Trevor Story (SS) and Will Swanner (C) have had productive and at times, highly impressive offensive seasons. On Saturday, they both homered again.

Story now has 20 doubles, 5 triples and 13 homers to go with his .266 average and 72 strikeouts in 75 games (the final two categories need work). Lefthanders have owned him though, limiting him to a .182 (14-for-77 with 5 extra-base hits) average. The rest of those numbers, however, are strong for a shortstop.

Swanner hit his 11th round-tripper of the season and is now hitting a robust .337. He, like Story, striking out too much - 58 times in 56 contests but not much else is a wart. He's also hitting both lefthanders and righthanders at a high rate, which reveals how effective his hit tool has been.

Sam Mende (photo by Tony Farlow)

Infielder Sam Mende, fresh off the disabled list and playing for the first time in nearly two weeks, hit his 23rd double of the season. His average is at .307. When healthy, he's a highly-productive hitter.

Outfielder Corey Dickerson has struggled at Tulsa since being called up from High-A Modesto but look now, his average is now at .279 in 23 games. There hasn't been much power there, a continuing theme in 2012 but the 23-year old Mississippian is currently on a .364 tear at the plate in his last 10 games.

For the season, he's now hitting .322 with 30 doubles, 12 homers and 56 RBI.