Now I'm confused regarding the bench. Are both Giambi and Mora going to be on the active roster? I think both contracts are guaranteed. I wonder if they're planning on trading an OF. They signed Ryan Spilborghs to a 2 yr deal, so I assumed they were keeping him.

They have 5 guys signed for what's likely to be a 5-man bench:

-2 OF's that don't start on a given day (Spilborghs and Smith/Fowler)
-Olivo
-Giambi
-Mora

That would leave Eric Young Jr at AAA, with no spare middle infielder on the active roster. If they trade an OF, EY2 could be the backup 2nd baseman and 5th OF. If Tulo needs a day off, Barmes would slide over to short and EY2 would play 2nd.

I'd rather have those 5 OF's and try EY2 rather than have both Giambi and Mora on the bench.

If ever there was a guy who could make Mike Hampton's much-derided "it's the school system" excuse for signing with the Rockies work, it's Mora.

Maybe they're going to trade Smith (or Hawpe). Giambi fills the pinch hitter role and they have enough outfielders that hit RH pitching.

Hawpe, Gonzalez and Smith hit righties. Spilborghs and Fowler (so far) aren't that good against them.

It would be ok to trade an OF if they could get something useful in return, but it seems strange to wait until this late in the offseason to do it.

First of all, Mora is exactly the kind of guy they should have been looking for: a right handed hitter who plays third and can fill in at first. Nicely done.

The odd man out seems to be Giambi. He can't play any position other than first, where he's already redundant with Todd Helton. If you're going to have a five-man bench, you can't really afford to have someone with no defensive value. But hey, they might surprise us and carry only 11 pitchers.

Even if they trade an outfielder - and I'd be happy with them dealing Brad Hawpe and going with a Smith/Spilborghs platoon in right - that leaves only one guy on the bench who can play in the outfield. Mora hasn't played the outfield since 2003.

I'd pay $8 to watch Giambi in the outfield at Coors Field.

Super utility guy Melvin Mora has played 1 inning at ss in 2008, 3 innings at 2b in 2006 and 1 inning at ss in 2004. He has played only 3b since 2003. If he is going to play all over the place in 2010 for the Rockies, it will be fun to watch.

Yep, Mora as super utility guy sounds nearly as much fun as Tatis the 2B. :-)

Maybe the Rockies are going with a 6 men bench? I mean it can't be that long since a team went through the season with only 11 pitchers can it?

#8, Walt the obvious choice is to have Giambi as the backup second-baseman. I like his chances of being just a tad below average there (since we know there's a good chance of Tatis being average at second and Giambi isn't much worse than Tatis)