6 million offer the Rockies have on the table

Miguel Olivo has been mentioned multiple times as a prime target should Torrealba walk away from the current two-year, $5.6 million offer the Rockies have on the table.GM Dan O'Dowd has hinted that right fielder Brad Hawpe may give Helton an occasional day off at first base (Hawpe's high school and college position), and with Barmes's ability to play all over the infield there may not actually be a need for a utility player. That could possibly free up a roster spot to bring back Jason Giambi as a left-handed pinch-hitter, though he would be strictly limited to that role as his ability in the field is all but gone.As a whole, the Rockies are in fine shape around the infield. All but Iannetta are among the top fielders at their positions as well, making this one of the best all-around infields in the game.. The hottest spot in college basketball this season has surely been Lexington, Kentucky. This isn't normally big news because the Kentucky Wildcats are almost always good. But after a couple years of poor performances and Billy Gillespie, the folks in Rupp Arena were starving for success.And by all accounts, they did anything they could to get it, spiriting John Calipari away from Memphis, where he guided the Tigers to three consecutive 30-win seasons,but there were always signs of trouble. Calipari has always been a focus of suspicion after his term at UMass did not end on the best of terms.

With that program on probation after its unexpected Final Four appearance in 1996, Calipari flamed out in the NBA before landing at Memphis.There he resurrected a struggling program by recruiting a plethora of athletic, quick, and creative players to run his dribble-drive motion offense. The signings of Derek Rose (now playing for the Bulls in the NBA) and other standouts helped Memphis dominate a weak Conference USA and make deep runs in March. Over this year, a series of findings have surfaced around the Memphis program, raising doubts as to the validity of their success, mostly during the 2008 national runner up run. However, it appears that such success was not achieved without some wrongdoing.

In 2009 the program was put on 3 years' probation and forced to vacate 38 wins and the Final Four appearance in 2008.Much of the attention revolved around a fake SAT score for the star point guard Rose, as well as a series of other infractions. This track record has drawn the ire of many around the college basketball world (including the coach with the most wins in collegiate history), who feel like something seems to be lacking in today's game. Bob Knight sure made his thoughts were known:"We've gotten into this situation where integrity is really lacking and that's why I'm glad I'm not coaching," he said. "You see we've got a coach at Kentucky who put two schools on probation and he's still coaching. I really don't understand that." Without a doubt, these are stern words from an icon of the game. But are these comments just sour grapes or a thoughtful warning toward Kentucky and a condemnation of a sport spiraling out of control At the risk of piling on, I have to say that I agree I haven't always understood Knight's process.

The man can throw a chair better than anyone on the sideline, but his verbal, mental, and sometimes physical confrontations with players was certainly unsettling.So I'm going to take the comments with a grain of salt, knowing that they are from a man who is far from perfect himself. He found another job at Texas Tech and made a successful late career there There are few that could accuse him of being a mercenary. Yet in Calipari's case, one must seriously step back and look at the implications of Kentucky's actions. I realize that thinking of college athletics as an education-first pursuit is a pipe dream and talk of academic priorities are occasionally overblown.In this situation though, Kentucky has so blatantly disregard and shred of academic or institutional dignity in hiring their new coach, they have made a man who put two schools (two!)on probation and yet he is the highest paid coach in college basketball. What kind of standard is that setting Calipari has led the Wildcats to a successful start and has yet to lose a game there with a hyped freshman class and a solid veteran cast. But are the ends worth the corner-cutting means that Calipari has become known for The school he left, Memphis, is left with the ramifications of the NCAA crackdown;a tarnished reputation, the probation, and the vacated record books, while Calipari himself was never punished.Are great coaches really worth the potential (and some might argue inevitable) headaches down the road for Kentucky Was it really in that bad of shape that it had to go out and make such a desperate, tactless splash in signing the flashy, successful coach Only time will tell. This article is also featured on Sports Shakes.