It hardly seems possible, but here we are in the final full week of Spring Training.

It was an earlier than usual start to the MLB preseason this year, but it seems that the annual passage of Cactus League play has gone especially fast in 2018. Perhaps it is because expectations are at an all-time high for the Colorado Rockies. A number of compelling position battles on the 25-man roster have also caused this spring to fly by.

By this time next week, we’ll be counting the hours until first pitch of the 2018 season. We’ll also have a much clearer picture of what Bud Black’s Opening Day roster will look like.

As the snowbirds begin their annual migration north from sunny Scottsdale, the Rockies’ skipper has just a few remaining days to determine what will be best for both goose and gander when constructing his Opening Day roster.

Colorado opens the season on March 29 at Chase Field, the site of their final 2017 game, an 11-8 Wild Card loss to the Diamondbacks.

The 25-man roster for a winner-take-all Wild Card game isn’t a great indicator of what a club’s Opening Day roster will look like the following spring, but the group Black called upon last October does offer some clues for what he could do to start 2018.

Black stated earlier this spring that he intends to utilize 13 pitchers and 12 position players on his roster this year. The starting eight are all but a lock (barring catastrophe) at this point.

C – Chris Iannetta
1B – Ian Desmond
2B – DJ LeMahieu
3B – Nolan Arenado
SS – Trevor Story
LF – Gerardo Parra
CF – Charlie Blackmon
RF – Carlos Gonzalez

Two of Black’s four available bench spots are pretty much set, as well.

C – Tony Wolters
IF – Pat Valaika*

*A lingering oblique injury could complicate things for Valaika, but he has been making good progress in his recovery.

That leaves two bench spots available — one for the fourth outfielder and a utility spot.

That aforementioned Wild Card roster gives a hint of what Black will do with his fourth outfielder position.

The luxury of being able to reset his roster for a possible Division Series allowed Black to go heavy on position players last October in Arizona. As such, he went with six outfielders. He’ll have only four on the roster to start 2018, although Ian Desmond is a capable fifth option if needed in a pinch.

The fourth outfield spot is a three-man race between David Dahl, Raimel Tapia and Mike Tauchman.

Although Dahl entered 2017 with the most MLB experience under his belt among that group, rib and back injuries derailed his season and limited him to just 77 at-bats — none in the major leagues. A slow start to the spring (zero hits in his first 15 at-bats) put Dahl well behind his peers early this year, but a power surge (five home runs, 16 RBI since) has improved his odds a bit. Still, most signs point to Dahl starting the year in Albuquerque.

Both Tapia and Tauchman earned spots on Black’s Wild Card roster in 2017, but it seems likely that only one of them will be there to start the 2018 season. Each has made a compelling case for a roster spot on Opening Day.

Tapia built a much stronger MLB résumé in 2017, batting .288 in 160 at-bats with the Rockies compared to Tauchman’s .222 average in just 27 big-league at-bats. The 24-year-old Tapia brings a unique speed element to the field, but his base-stealing skills are not quite yet at the major league level.

Tauchman had a monster year at Triple-A and has followed that with a solid spring. Among the three outfielders, Tauchman is the only one hitting above .300 in Cactus League play this year. At 27 years old, he is the senior among them and offers the most consistency.

Dahl may have the most upside long-term; Charlie Blackmon comparisons are not unfounded. However, his injury history and lack of MLB exposure in 2017 make Triple-A the best place for both Dahl and the club in both short- and long-term scenarios.

Tapia’s long-term future is less clear. Black and the Rockies must determine if he can be a full-time player at the major-league level, or if his best role is coming off the bench. They faced a similar crossroads with Valaika in the infield in previous years.

“Pat, we didn’t know how that was gonna play out,” Black said last week. “Pat was an everyday regular player in the minors was and an everyday collegiate player, but coming up and being a reserve for us and being able to contribute told us a lot about who he is as a player, most importantly mentally.”

Valaika was a dangerous and versatile weapon off the bench for Colorado last season. What Valaika provided from a power standpoint in a reserve role, Tapia could provide from a speed standpoint. His base-stealing percentage needs to improve though. In his minor-league career, Tapia has been successful at a 64.4 percent clip. Premier stolen-base artists in the majors are successful roughly 80 percent of the time. Tapia won’t improve those numbers sitting on the bench in Denver, nor will the big club benefit as he makes “learning outs” trying to improve those numbers.

Tauchman, it seems, is the best choice as the fourth outfielder in the moment. While Tapia and Dahl have both proved themselves major-league ready, they can reap more benefits individually and for the team long-term with consistent playing time in Triple-A to start the year.

“That happens across all of baseball,” Black said last week, although carefully not naming any players specifically, “when you have teams that have those players who are getting close. You know, it just might not be their time at that moment. So, to keep them playing regularly is what they need to do, because they are regular players they have to be sent back. There will probably be some decisions that are made from that standpoint.”

As for Black’s other open bench spot, the top two candidates appear to be Ryan McMahon and Jordan Patterson.

McMahon was making a legitimate case to be the Opening Day first baseman before the Rockies re-signed right fielder Carlos Gonzalez — a move that slid Gerardo Parra over to left field and Ian Desmond to first base. McMahon is hitting .339 over 59 Cactus League at-bats and his .374/.411/.612 slash line in 289 at-bats in Albuquerque last year have scouts salivating. McMahon bats from the left side, but throws from the right and can play both corner infield positions.

Patterson’s offensive numbers don’t jump off the page like McMahon’s, but he offers a different kind of versatility that McMahon does not. Patterson is hitting a respectable .288 this spring (he was hitting .300 heading into Monday’s game at Texas), and he has posted averages of .293 and .283 in his last two years in Triple-A. Patterson can play first base and outfield positions, throwing and hitting from the left side.

McMahon is like a left-handed-hitting Valaika, but isn’t quite as versatile defensively as either Valaika or Patterson, so Valaika’s health could very well factor into Black’s decision, if it is coming down to these two.

As with Tauchman, age and experience could play into a decision between McMahon and Patterson. At 26, Patterson has two full years of Triple-A experience under his belt. McMahon, 23, was in Albuquerque for a little over half the year last year.

McMahon has more long-term potential than Patterson, so it may be worthwhile keeping him active in Triple-A (and saving valuable service time, to boot) rather than wasting games on the bench in the majors.

Patterson, meanwhile, may project more as a bench player if and when he ever reaches the majors. He hit an impressive .444 (8-for-18) in his late-season call-up in 2016 but didn’t see the field in his lone trip to the majors in 2017, a one-day activation when Gerardo Parra went on the DL and Alexi Amarista was not yet back from paternity leave.

“I think there are players who you know where they are in their careers and where they are and who they are as players are better suited to potentially be a bench player than other players and we’ve talked about that — how they play their type of game, their head, their ability to handle being a guy that starts most of the game on the bench,” Black said.

The final bench spot is less clear than the fourth outfield spot. Had journeyman Shawn O’Malley not suffered a broken left hand earlier this spring, he might have slid into that final utility role (with the added benefit of being a switch hitter) on Black’s bench.

Update: Patterson was optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque on March 20, but remained on the 40-man roster.

The start to the regular season is coming fast, and so are the decisions on those final two roster spots.

As the snow birds fly north, expect Black’s decisions to take what’s good for both the goose and the gander into consideration.