--RHP Esmil Rogers, who spent last season with high Class A Modesto, was optioned to Class AA Tulsa. Rogers made two Cactus League appearances with the Rockies this spring, allowing five runs in two innings.

--RHP Taylor Buchholz will miss at least the first month of the season after being diagnosed with a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. He's expected to be out four to six weeks and then will need time to build up his arm strength on a rehabilitation assignment.

Buchholz went 6-6 in 63 games last year with a 2.17 ERA, the fourth lowest ever by a Rockies reliever. He held opponents to a .188 average, which was the third lowest among NL relievers. Buchholz was equally effective against right-handed hitters (.188 average in 133 at-bats) and lefties (.198 average in 106 at-bats).

--RF Brad Hawpe had been scheduled to play with Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, an opportunity that ended Feb. 27 when he was spiked while sliding back into second base and suffered a cut on his left pinkie that required four stitches.

The stitches were scheduled to be removed March 7, putting Hawpe on course to take batting practice March 9 and return to action later in the week.

--With LF Manny Ramirez finally returning, the Dodgers look like the team to beat in the NL West. Certainly the Rockies respect Ramirez and what his presence for a full season might mean to the Dodgers, but as RH reliever Huston Street said, the addition of one player, even a great hitter like Ramirez, doesn't guarantee playing in October.

"The Yankees have had a team of Manny Ramirezes for a long time and haven't won," Street said. "Obviously, adding Manny helps, but he's just one guy. Winning takes a team."

--The Rockies renewed the contracts of three players: OF Ryan Spilborghs, OF Carlos Gonzalez and INF Jeff Baker. All our clients of agent Scott Boras, who represents LF Matt Holliday, whom the Rockies traded to the A's in November.

Boras has represented Baker since he came out of Clemson, and he became the agent for the other two players this winter. Renewing the three players has nothing to do with the departure of Holliday, who is eligible for free agency after this season. The Rockies have a very stringent pay scale for pre-arbitration eligible players, and they are consistent with that approach. Boras does not agree with the philosophy and prefers to have his clients not agree to the contract as a matter of principle.

--RHP Ubaldo Jimenez threw well in his second outing and then left camp to play for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic. He needed just 36 pitches to work three scoreless innings March 1 with one hit allowed and one strikeout against the Indians.

"If I had done bad today like I did the first time," said Jimenez, referring to an outing Feb. 25 when he allowed three runs in two innings against the Diamondbacks, "there would be questions like, 'What is wrong with Jimenez?' So it's good to go out like that."

In his debut with the Dominican team, Jimenez faced the Cardinals' regular-season lineup minus Albert Pujols in an exhibition game in Jupiter, Fla. Jimenez threw three scoreless innings, allowing two hits with four strikeouts while throwing 38 pitches, 22 for strikes.

--At the outset of Cactus League play, Seth Smith has been taking advantage of the opportunity to win the starting job in left field. The left-handed hitter went 0-for-11 against lefties last season, but he hit a two-run homer March 3 off Brewers LH reliever Mitch Stetter. Smith was 3-for-10 in his first four exhibition games.

"The guy has hit pretty much wherever he has been," manager Clint Hurdle said. "Mechanically sound, he's short to the ball, he stays in pretty good against left-handed pitching. There's a lot to like about his swing."

--INF Clint Barmes came to spring training a year ago as a utility player and began the season in that role. Before the end of April, he had supplanted Jayson Nix at second base and then moved to shortstop when Troy Tulowitzki was injured. Barmes missed a month with a knee injury but returned to shortstop in late June when he was healthy.

When Tulowitzki returned soon after the All-Star break, Barmes went back to second base. This year, Barmes came to camp the starter at that position.

"It's a different feeling, coming in knowing that I am the guy, that I can play at this level," said Barmes, who hit .290 last year with 11 homers and 44 RBI but just a .301 on-base percentage. "There's no worry anymore."

--CF Ryan Spilborghs returned to camp March 1, two days after his mother, Essie, 57, died in Los Angeles of a lung ailment. Spilborghs had moved his mother to Denver, so she could be treated at National Jewish Medical and Research Center, a noted respiratory hospital.

Spilborghs, who will go to Los Angeles in a few weeks for a memorial service, returned to the lineup March 2 after spending the previous day working out in Tucson with the teammates who didn't travel for a game in the Phoenix area.

"It's been therapeutic to be here," Spilborghs said. "I had a chance to be with my family and all of my mom's sisters and cousins. It's really difficult, but the thing that made it easier was the support from the teammates and friends that my mom got to know. There was a lot of people that gave us a lot of love. That really helps."

--Veteran INF Mark Bellhorn signed a minor league contract with the Rockies. He's working out at Hi Corbett Field and will begin spring training officially when the minor-leaguers hold their first full-squad workout March 15.

Bellhorn, 34, spent 2008 with Class AA Jacksonville, where he hit .242 with seven homers and 29 RBIs in 59 games, the bulk of them at first base. He last played in the big leagues in 2007 -- 13 games, mostly in August, with the Reds. He went 1-for-14.

Bellhorn, who played 48 games for the Rockies in 2003 after being acquired from the Cubs, will have to hit well in spring training to win a spot at Class AAA Colorado Springs. Prospect Eric Young Jr. figures to play second base there, and Christian Colonel and Luis Gonzalez seem likely to be headed there as corner-infield types.

BY THE NUMBERS: .301 -- On-base percentage for INF Clint Barmes lifetime and in 2008. Barmes has a total of 59 career walks and 1,354 at-bats. Last year he drew just 17 walks in 393 at-bats.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "There is a saying I heard from my grandpa: 'There's no such thing as an old fool.' You don't get to be old by being a fool. You don't pitch in the big leagues as long as he has without having some characteristics that have some quality to them." -- Manager Clint Hurdle on LHP Alan Embree, 39, who has pitched in 846 major league games over the past 15 seasons.