More photos » by Kathy Willens - ASSOCIATED PRESS

4 months ago: New York Yankees pitcher Chien-Ming Wang delivers in the second inning against the New York Mets in a baseball game at Citi Field in New York, Sunday, June 28, 2009. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

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So last night's deadline to tender contracts to players came and went without the fanfare that was expected by many. The Rockies provided one of the biggest names on the non-tender list with Garrett Atkins, but several other players rumored to be cut loose either reached deals with their teams or were at least tendered offers. 

The Dodgers tendered contracts to all nine of their unsigned players still in team control, proving wrong some of the most dire reads on that team's finances. Actually, on the whole, MLB teams seem to be a bit more healthy economically than many predicted. Other players tendered contracts that were earlier rumored to be on the bubble included Kevin Correia of San Diego, Corey Hart of Milwaukee, Dioner Navarro of Tampa Bay and almost all eligible players from Minnesota and Florida. 

The cases of players that were non-tendered fell into two categories: players that are clearly declining in production and not likely to be worth their arbitration awards like Garrett Atkins or Jack Cust or Ryan Garko, or players coming off of or entering lost seasons due to injury like Chien Ming Wang or Jose Arredondo. Perhaps the most curious case to me is that of John Buck of Kansas City, who doesn't project to be that much worse than Jason Kendall, but would likely be willing to sign for quite a bit less than the $3 million a year that the team is giving Kendall. The Royals spent the difference for roughly a quarter of a win, which given the state of that franchise seems beyond pointless. 

With Buck entering the FA market, it adds one more potential target for the Rockies should Yorvit Torrealba not re-sign with the club. Torrealba returning still seems the most likely outcome, as I haven't seen signs that the interest in him from other teams still looking for catching help outweighs that of the Rockies.

Wang seems to be the non-tender that is getting the most interest from clubs right off the bat, but former Brave Kelly Johnson might be a more interesting player to look at for the Rockies as a utility infielder/complement to Clint Barmes, although his left handed bat doesn't help one of the Rockies primary off season goals. Garko would be almost ideal if he could play third base, but since that's not going to happen, he too seems unlikely to be of interest to the Rockies. Basically that's the situation with almost all of these players, some fatal flaw makes signing them to anything more than a minor league contract with a NRI to spring camp risky.

More photos » by Matt Slocum - AP

The Rockies are too good not to contend, says Jim Tracy.

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As expected, the Rockies did not take any player in the major league phase of the Rule 5 draft this morning. Somewhat unexpected, the Rockies didn't lose any player in it, either. The good news about this is that the team kept its talent. If you want to take a pessimistic look, it also means that the team no longer has the enviable prospect depth it once did.

Really, however, it should be noted that a lot of the players that the Rockies were most likely to lose (even though that didn't prove the case with Aneury Rodriguez or Corey Wimberly) in this draft were dealt in the summer and last Spring for help in the team's 2009 playoff run. These trades netted Jason Hammel, Matt Murton, Joe Beimel and Rafael Betancourt, and all involved prospects who would have needed to be put on the 40 man roster to avoid exposure in the Rule 5 draft. It's moves like these that probably helped Dan O'Dowd get Baseball America's Executive of the Year award.

Alright, other than that, since I'm late and since you crazies have already bloated yesterday's thread to beyond a bursting point, just a links roundup this morning:

Rockies' Tracy: We are too good not to contend - The Denver Post
Jim Tracy, the NLs manager of the year, said today Ubaldo Jimenez would enter spring training at the head of the rotation and that he prefers Todd Helton, Troy Tulowitzki and Brad Hawpe in the heart of the lineup.

Dollars behind the day's deals - The Denver Post
The winter meetings heated up even more Wednesday, with the Brewers landing pitchers Randy Wolf and LaTroy Hawkins.

Rockies-Torrealba talks stuck in impasse - The Denver Post

Tracy: Jimenez ready to be ace - The Denver Post
Rockies manager Jim Tracy doesnt fear expectations. He embraces them. He considers the suggestion that the Rockies U-turn was a fluke a "slap in the face." 

More photos » by Matt York - AP

FILE - In this Sept. 19, 2009 photo, Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Max Scherzer adjusts his cap during the first inning of a baseball game against the Colorado Rockies in Phoenix. If this was his only look while facing us, I would miss him dearly.

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There are three ways to make an objective trade analysis: first, use a straight statistical projection for the players involved and accept the face value outcome of the numbers that it comes up with, second, look at it from a win-win viewpoint where the ideal outcome for all parties takes place, or third, look at it from a lose-lose viewpoint where the worst outcome for all parties takes place. Any analysis that veers away from these three is no longer objective and falls into the category of guesswork, even if it proves correct.

As far as the first way of looking at yesterday's big trade, by using the 2010 CHONE projections, the Diamondbacks receive 45 runs of value over replacement, the Tigers, 23, and the Yankees, 4. I'm not a math person, but I'm guessing that in future seasons projections would show the Tigers making up that ground on the Diamondbacks. The Snakes do seem to get the most present value from this trade.

Using a win-win-win analysis, the Tigers probably come out ahead given the promise of Austin Jackson and Max Scherzer (who could be two star players at peak value), which would trump that of Edwin Jackson and Ian Kennedy for the D-backs. This scenario still has the Yankees behind because the ideal peak value of their one player, Curtis Granderson, would not match the peak value of the pairs of players the other two teams received.

Finally, looking at it from a lose-lose-lose scenario, the Tigers come out ahead again, a realistic bust scenario for them still has them receiving some positive bullpen value from two of their three pitchers with a small monetary cost for their trouble. The Diamondbacks bust scenario would be negative to replacement production from Jackson and Kennedy, but positive value in the form of innings or alternatively total loss to injury with a moderate monetary loss. Again, this scenario has the Yankees as trailers, as they would be on the hook for Granderson's remaining salary if he is no longer able to perform at a major league level. 

Now, I'm not going to say that all these analyses that we're seeing that suggest the D-backs screwed up are wrong, but I will say that they're subjective and based on biases the analysts have toward the players involved rather than a strictly objective reading. I will also say that I think the Yankees are getting too much benefit of the doubt here, call it East Coast bias or just the aura of championship team, but I don't see them getting enough benefit from this trade to justify the cost of the players they gave up.

Subjectively from a Rockies oriented view, starting pitching at the back of the rotation was the Diamondbacks biggest weakness going into the off season and the net gain of a starter at the expense of a reliever helps them quite a bit. At the very least, Jackson and Kennedy are going to be able to give them a healthy chunk more innings than Scherzer and Schlereth, which is a large boon. Given that Brandon Webb's recovering shoulder might not be ready for a traditional Webb workload, it might be more important than a lot of people realize. They still have depth issues, and they don't have a lot of money to rebuild their bullpen, but I remain in the camp that the Diamondbacks made themselves better for 2010 yesterday.

I also remain firm in my belief that they are nearing the end of their window of opportunity. Edwin Jackson is a two season acquisition, tops. Webb becomes a free agent after this season. The Diamondbacks only have one pitcher of prominence near the top of their prospect pipeline. The cost of maintaining the core of this team through arbitration will be too large for the market and ownership in two seasons, and the peak of their next core of players is still five or six seasons away. I think Arizona's front office won't admit it, but they do seem to be making moves as though they have to win now.

***

The major Rockies news from yesterday has the team making strides to keep Yorvit Torrealba, but will look at Miguel Olivo or Josh Bard if a deal for Yorvit falls through. Olivo and Bard represent a downgrade from the quality of catchers the team has been rumored to be interested in prior to this, and show how the market for catching is drying up. It could see some additions on Friday, but it looks like the Rockies don't want to take that chance. I'm more of a gambler and inclined to wait it out, but I could see the team's line of view here. 

Olivo and Torrealba also figure prominently in the San Francisco Giants search, but the team is reluctantly reconsidering giving their starting job to top prospect Buster Posey. As Matt Wieters showed in Baltimore last season, there's not always a smooth transition from AAA to the bigs for star catching prospects. The Giants are also facing the prospect of relying on Madison Bumgarner to fill out their rotation before they would prefer him to. Giants fans that have been feeding off the hype of their prospects for so long are excited about this, and eventually these two could be formidable opponents, but short term for 2010, I think this benefits the Rockies and Dodgers.

Bruce Levine says that the Cubs talked to the Rockies about our outfield depth, but it's not clear what came of that discussion. Given statements by Dan O'Dowd and other hints from published reports, I would guess our asking price is high enough to keep the Cubs looking elsewhere to fill their needs first.

Garrett Atkins mildly interests the Orioles, too mildly for them to give us anything for the likely non-tender candidate.

Careful wording by Dodgers brass has led some to speculate that the team might be facing a budget crunch in 2011 as a result of the McCourts' divorce. Ned Colletti has denied reports that he can only offer free agents one year deals, a rumor that circulated yesterday that would have certainly added to the pile of circumstantial evidence that's been suggesting that the Dodgers are facing some money issues. So far, Colletti's words and the team's actions don't quite add up, but I've said before that as a GM he's shown a propensity for waiting out the market, so this off season really has been consistent with his M.O. and I'm not going to count on a Dodger downfall just yet.

More photos » by David J. Phillip - AP

I have no idea if Robert Perry is related to the Texas governor, I just couldn't decide on a photograph.

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My apologies for being so late today. I'm working out some longer analysis pieces that I'll probably have to break into a couple of installments here as well as working on some player profiles for the Hardball Times. Those aren't the reasons I'm late, though. The reason I'm late is because my brunch date ran way over time from when I thought it would. At any rate, it's not like you're missing much:

Rockies sign Robert Perry - Perry, an outfielder, got as far as Lake Elsinore in the Padres system before being released and catching on with the Windy City franchise of the Frontier League. Perry's minor league stats were rather pedestrian, at best, but it seems he hit pretty well in the indy league. It seems he's likely destined to be only minor league filler, but getting back into affiliated ball does give him that chance at a big league call-up someday.

And other than that.., well.., uhm., former Rockies farmhand Eric Wulf has a hunting show... that's pretty exciting isn't it? 

Okay, the good news is that the Winter Meetings are this week and more actual Rockies related moves should start happening. 

More photos » by Chris O'Meara - AP

3 months ago: Tampa Bay Rays' Greg Zaun follows the flight of his second-inning double off Baltimore Orioles pitcher Jason Berken during a baseball game Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2009, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

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While not the Rays catcher I was talking about yesterday, Jon Paul Morosi and Ken Rosenthal note that the Rockies are interested in Greg Zaun, who actually is available should he decline Tampa Bay's arbitration offer. Besides the Rays desire to re-sign him and the Rockies interest, the post also notes that the Brewers have interest. MLBTradeRumors has been following Zaun and other FA's and notes that the catcher earlier expressed that he planned to make his decision by the end of this week.

Thus far we've seen the Rockies attached to rumors with Yorvit Torrealba, Brian Schneider and now Zaun for a 2010 contract, all three of which are a higher grade than what one would typically associate with a back-up for Chris Iannetta. As a fan of the team, I definitely applaud this direction, I want the highest quality possible for the 25 players that break camp with the team next April, but there's certainly going to be some trick to maintaining egos. Whether it's Iannetta's with the strong backups the team is seeking or Ian Stewart's with the pursuit of a right handed bench bat that can play third, Jim Tracy's going to have to make sure everybody understands and is comfortable with their roles on the team. He did a great job of this during the regular season in 2009, I hope that continues.

Troy Renck has picked up on the Jose Contreras to Japan vibes that have been playing out during the off season thus far, with his son heading there with a foreign exchange program. 

Jack Etkin notes the bounty of left handed pitching prospects the Rockies are enjoying right now. 

Jon Heyman tweets that the reason the Rockies felt confident that Jason Marquis would decline arbitration was due to a falling out he had with the team over not getting a playoff start.

Continue reading this post »

More photos » by Kevin P. Casey - AP

Another Dirtbag could be joining Troy Tulowitzki in 2010.

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As discussed in yesterday's Rockpile, Baseball America has put together their Rockies top 10 prospects, with four 2009 draftees cracking the list, including Tyler Matzek at number one.

The Rockies made the decision to offer arbitration to Jason Marquis and Rafael Betancourt, but not Joe Beimel or Yorvit Torrealba. The team is also expressing interest in bringing Bobby Crosby in as a utility infielder who could play multiple positions and more or less replace Garrett Atkins as a primary corner bat off the bench. Also interest in free agent pitcher Noah Lowry has been expressed.

Time to take a step back and spell out what I'm seeing with these moves:

1. The decision to offer arbitration to Marquis surprised quite a few, but added to the Rockies interest in Justin Duscherer and Lowry, it indicates that Dan O'Dowd might not be entirely comfortable going all in on a Jeff Francis recovery with only unproven internal prospects as insurance, and will be looking for an MLB experienced plan B. In recent seasons, O'Dowd has tried to stack plenty of starting options going into Spring. I don't think the team expects Marquis to accept arbitration, but they don't offer it to him if there's no room for him in their 2010 plans and they didn't feel they could get their money's worth out of him.  
2. Alternatively, and a bit less likely, it might mean that the Rockies have an intriguing trade offer on the table for a current starter, the guess would be Jorge De La Rosa given that his name popped up in last month's GM Meetings, but don't want to pull the trigger on the deal without a better succession plan in place. 
3. Bobby Crosby as Atkins' potential replacement is going to be one of those "trust me" sort of moves that could backfire on O'Dowd, but in that event is unlikely to make us any worse off than we were last year with Garrett's big slump. It could also pay off. As a replacement for Ian Stewart and Todd Helton, and given Jim Tracy's heavy reliance on platoon advantages, Crosby would be batting against LHP's mostly with the Rockies, against which he hit .265/.333/.460 in 2009 while playing the bulk of his games in pitcher friendly venues. Added to his defense and lower cost, I'm actually interested to see where this will go and am pretty comfortable with the decision.
4. As for the Rockies catching front, the decision to not offer Torrealba arbitration while not closing the door to his return is a little trickier to gauge. There are other moves around the league like this that indicate small or mid-market teams feel that the arbitration process is overvaluing catchers, and that they can fill their needs on the open market at better cost efficiency. One intriguing possibility for a replacement for Torrealba is expected to be a victim of this trend, as the Tampa Bay Rays are expected to non-tender Dioner Navarro in a few days. Adding a 26 year old switch hitting bat could be useful. I haven't seen any indication that the Rockies would be interested in Navarro were he to be available, but I'm hoping I do if it does happen.

More photos » by Tony Gutierrez - AP

8 months ago: Colorado Rockies' Christian Colonel rounds the bases after hitting a grand slam off of Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Erik Bedard in the first inning of a spring training baseball game in Peoria, Ariz., Friday, March 27, 2009. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

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The "Rockies" stories this weekend are more on the periphery it seems, although the two below do tie together with a common love of the game thread, as players just can't put the gloves down. One young player now looks what to do to keep his career alive while a pair of relative old timers tear up the amateur circuit...

Onward, Christian Soldier...

Christian Colonel is playing a waiting game this offseason, as the now former Rockies farmhand enters a journeyman phase of his career. Stories like Colonel's are at once heartbreaking to me and somewhat familiar. What do you do if you're decent at and love doing one skill that quite a few people that are better than you get paid pretty good money for, but find yourself deemed just out of that skill range, or not finding a sufficient chance to show that you can be as good? It's not a comfortable position to be in, by any means, and Colonel's doing a good job of putting a brave face on it, but it's got to be tough right now for him.

Bichette still happens...

A Jupiter, Florida based Roy Hobbs team led by former Rockies Dante Bichette and Joe Grahe eliminated a team from Covington, Ky, before being eliminated themselves in the semi-finals to a team from Pensacola. Bichette and Grahe both played pivotal roles for the Rockies in their 1995 wild card season, while Bichette's exploits are well remembered, Rockies fans might forget that swing-man Grahe was called on to enter the rotation when Bill Swift got injured in late May.

In June and July, Grahe made eight starts and the Rockies went 6-2 in those contests, with Grahe thankfully bumping Omar Olivares from the back end of that rotation and providing some needed stability when Swift returned. The Rockies built their NL West lead to five games before Grahe himself got injured. He didn't return until September and wasn't quite as effective as the Rockies division lead dwindled and they barely held on to the playoff spot. Grahe was certainly somewhat lucky during that summer stretch, and he never pitched quite that well again, but his work was instrumental and he should be fondly remembered by Rockies fans for that.

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

2 months ago: Colorado Rockies' Yorvit Torrealba celebrates his two-run double in the eighth inning of Game 4 against the Philadelphia Phillies in a National League baseball division series in Denver on Monday, Oct. 12, 2009. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

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As a fan of the Rockies, I have to say that I don't want Yorvit Torrealba to leave the team. As good as I think Chris Iannetta can be, and I certainly believe he should probably be the starter given the information we have, CDI's struggles last season show exactly why you want a quality second catcher like Torrealba around.

There's so much required of the position defensively, that even your good everyday catchers will typically be inconsistent season to season on the offensive side of things. Putting aside the fantasy of having a Joe Mauer type of demigod behind the plate, the next best option would be to have a pair of solid complementing catchers that fall in a tier or two below. That's what the Rockies have had the last two or three seasons with Torrealba and Iannetta, and I've got to say despite either player's individual flaws it's worked out quite well for us. As a fan of the players, however, I want the best opportunity for them, and in Torrealba's case, a really solid one seems to be opening up if these rumors of interest from the Toronto Blue Jays are true.

In Colorado, Torrealba has to compete with Iannetta for playing time. Were he to go to San Francisco, he'd be only a place-holder until Buster Posey was ready. But Toronto, now there's a team that doesn't really have anybody crouching in his way.

Speaking of the Giants, it will be interesting to watch how close to their indicated salary budget cap of around $90 million that Tim Lincecum's 2010 contract will push them to. With a huge raise for Lincecum from 2009's $650,000 salary, as well as bigger than expected first year arbitration bumps for Jonathan Sanchez, Brian Wilson and Ryan Garko, the team could be forced to eat into what they have set aside to fix their offense, thereby downgrading the quality of the players that they can target. This would be the ideal scenario for Rockies and Dodgers fans, whereas Giants fans will probably be rooting for the team to win with low-ball offers.  

In a sidebar question, Colorado Springs Independent columnist Ralph Routon asks why the Rockies shouldn't trade for Roy Halladay. In our seemingly never ending quest to educate the folks that probably should have known this stuff before they got hired: Ralph, the Blue Jays asked the Dodgers for Chad Billingsley, would it be that unreasonable to suspect that they would ask the Rockies for Ubaldo Jimenez? The real question is why on earth any GM in their right mind would give up a player like that for one year of Halladay. Until Toronto becomes more motivated to deal their ace, this is exactly the kind of move you don't want a team like the Rockies to make. Just quit feeding ignorance to fans by hinting it might be a reasonable idea at this point. It's not. 

More photos » by David Duprey - AP

Could Perry Fewell learn from Jim Tracy? Eh, maybe, but I don't know how much good it will do him.

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In the wake of Perry Fewell taking over as Buffalo Bills head coach, George Bretherton's post in the New York Times football blog echoes an article I read earlier this year in questioning why it's easier for baseball teams (like the Rockies did with Jim Tracy) to find success switching coaches midseason than it is for NFL teams. The earlier article (actually, now I think I might be brain-melding two different articles from the Wall Street Journal) talked more about players switching teams at the trade deadline, but the big hypothesis of it being much easier to transfer positive value, be it from a player or a coach, into a baseball team midseason still applies.

To me the answer of why this would be is pretty simple and straightforward, baseball doesn't have a playbook. There are no schemes to memorize, a double play with one team is executed just like it is with any other, or at least should be, how well that or any play in baseball comes off is primarily a matter of the skill of the players executing it.

Brandon Marshall will be lost at first switching to Josh McDaniel, while Troy Tulowitizki doesn't drop a step switching to Jim Tracy, that doesn't necessarily make Tulo a smarter player or Tracy a better coach, it's just a function of the games they play. Football has eleven moving parts that have to be in sync lined up against eleven other coordinated, moving parts, whereas baseball starts off one on one and at the most (let's say a bases loaded line drive to the gap) will have seven or eight players scrambling into their positions to prevent two or three from scoring, but again, it would be a universal play that they've known and practiced since Little League.

I imagine the new football coaches that have the most success are the ones that don't try and have an immediate impact on the playbook, but instead are able to find ways to draw more out of their players that their predecessor missed. Tracy switched Ian Stewart in for Garrett Atkins and used platoon advantages to play Carlos Gonzalez and Seth Smith more, Ryan Spilborghs less. He didn't have the counterproductive ego war with his star shortstop that Clint Hurdle had. He stabilized the bullpen. An interim football coach that's able to identify and solve similar personnel riddles on his team will go a lot further than one that tries and implementing a new system midseason.

As for Fewell and the Bills, well, I don't think you can make lemonade if life gives you asparagus. A majority of teams that switch coaches during the season, be they in baseball, football or wherever, simply don't have the talent in the first place, and the coaches firing is just an attempt to buy time for the GM or whoever else is feeling the heat further up the ranks. Bretherton fails to point out that the real reason the Rockies were able to turn around under Tracy is that they weren't in this category. The talent was there, it just needed a better conduit to work through.

**********

This Danish article includes a picture that shows a fairly accurate depiction of the workspace of a Rockies blogger, at least as far as the stacks of books and papers and stuff are concerned, although I don't have the red leather jacket. That woman also has a much better view out her window. What does she have to do with the Rockies themselves? Uhm, I don't know. Here's the money quote: 

Skilsmässor är vanligare i USA än i de flesta andra länder - ett ämne som sysselsätter forskningen. En studie från Denver University, citerad i Business Week, hävdade i våras att antalet skilsmässor är mer sällsynta i städer med ett basebollag i Major League. Efter att Denverlaget Colorado Rockies börjat spela i högsta serien gick antalet skilsmässor ner med 20 procent på tio år.

My Danish is rusty, but I'm pretty sure it says that a study by Denver University shows that 20 percent of Colorado Rockies fans won the Euro Lottery and that everybody just needs to e-mail their SSN and bank account information to me (the Euro Lottery only gives the list of winners to a few select people) so I can see if they match up. 

More photos » by Elaine Thompson - AP

He who laughs last...

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Troy Renck has compiled the overwhelmingly positive reactions from Rockies players toward Jim Tracy and his extension and notes that his three year deal is north of $1 million per season.

The Rockies should be a high quality club over the course of that contract, so Tracy has definitely found himself in a better situation than he did with his last gig in Pittsburgh. I don't think anybody has shown that they can predict managerial performance with any accuracy beyond what we would expect the team itself to do, which is a large reason why I feel that the manager is less important to the regular season than a lot of fans, but I do think at a very basic level that it's important to have a guy that has the trust and confidence of the players. The Rockies did not have that with Clint Hurdle, they do now with Tracy, he's earned it (and the extension) and let's hope he keeps it.

****

While the Rockies full Spring Training schedule for 2010 has yet to be announced, press releases from other teams/venues this week have shed some light on who and where they will be playing. For instance, we know that there will be five games against the Diamondbacks, four in Tucson and one in Hermosillo, Mexico.

We now also know that the team will be finishing its Spring schedule in Albuquerque, where they are set to play two games at Isotopes Park against the Mariners. Albuquerque remains a valuable prize as far as the expansion of the Rockies brand is concerned, but the Dodgers affiliation with the Isotopes, and the added bonus of the Manny Ramirez PED suspension drama that played out there last year, has suggested that the Rockies might be losing some branding ground with Colorado's neighbor to the South. I don't know how far two exhibition games will go in rebuilding our base down there, but they certainly don't hurt.

Part of why the Rockpile this morning is so late was that the Hermosillo and Albuquerque exhibitions got me to thinking of where the Rockies would seem to be a natural fit as favorite or second favorite MLB team, or where the brand has the most promise of expanding. Outside the state of Colorado, Albuquerque has to be first or second on the list depending on how one views Salt Lake City, which seems to have a bit more of an antagonistic element toward Denver and its teams as a result of the spillover of the Jazz/Nuggets and MWC rivalries. Outside those two cities, I would think the entire cattle/energy corridor that roughly follows the I-25 in the US and extends to Calgary/Edmonton in Alberta and down to Chihuahua in Mexico would be where the bulk of Rockies fans get nurtured.

Yeah, that last one is really the reason for most of the delay. I just never really thought about Chihuahua the city before. I think I avoided thinking about it because of the connection with those annoying little wheezy dogs (except for Russ's of course, those that don Rockies gear get immunity from my bias) but I ended up reading a lot about the history and development of the city that really had nothing to do with the Rockies at all. So, uhm, sorry about that. Hey, it's the offseason. But really, somewhat back on track, the sister city of Pueblo should be a natural fit for Rockies fans. I suggest Purple Row organize an advertising expedition to head there at once. Russ, what's our budget for that?