By TRACY RINGOLSBY, Scripps Howard News Service

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Josh Towers realizes this spring training is about making a major league rotation -- preferably the Colorado Rockies."There has to be results," Towers said. "I'm not just here to work on my changeup."

First came long-term deals for starting pitchers Jeff Francis (a year ago) and Aaron Cook (in December). Then, last month, shortstop Troy Tulowitzki signed a six-year, $31 million deal, the biggest ever given a player with less than two years in the big leagues.

Earth to Barry Bonds: There is no room at the inn.The seven-time National League Most Valuable Player Award winner and the game's all-time home run hitter has finally been thrown a curve he is having a hard time handling.

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Finally, after 13 professional seasons, Yorvit Torrealba feels like he has a baseball home with the Colorado Rockies.

Didn't Shakespeare write a play about the Mitchell Report?Think he called it Much Ado About Nothing.Irony is, the assumption was that in ordering the Mitchell Report, baseball thought it would provide closure for the ugliness that was the game's steroids age. Instead, it has created a lot of loud and very public rhetoric.

New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman would consider his offseason a success because he overcame efforts within his organization to trade developing young arms for high-priced Johan Santana.Cashman was convinced that keeping the youngsters was better for the Yankees in the long run.But will it be good for him in the short run?

Adding Dan Haren to a pitching staff led by Brandon Webb gives the Arizona Diamondbacks as strong a 1-2 as any team in baseball.What the Diamondbacks are waiting to find out is whether Randy Johnson, at age 44, can bounce back from his third back operation and fill the No. 3 slot.The rest of the National League is wondering if:

The biggest surprise this offseason could be that the big spenders didn't spend.After winning the World Series in 2004, the Boston Red Sox revamped their rotation. They let Pedro Martinez and Derek Lowe leave as free agents and brought in Matt Clement and David Wells, a pair of signings that went bad.

Now that the injustice of the past eight years has been corrected and Goose Gossage is in the Hall of Fame, it's time to start looking at who should be next on the list of greats finally given

Reality sets in quickly with the start of the new year.