Astros, Rockies Interested In Juan Rincon

Charley Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press writes that the Astros and Rockies are talking to the Twins about righty reliever Juan Rincon.  The Venezuelan will be 28 this January.  Rincon has always shown good command and kept the ball in the park; he’s seemingly a lock for 75 innings and an ERA around 3.

Struggling with a groin injury, Rincon posted a 1.60 WHIP in the second half and lost his job as the eighth inning setup man in September.  Also, he had surgery to remove bone chips in his pitching elbow in October of 2005 and soreness lingered into the start of the season.  Back in May of ’05, Rincon earned a 10 game suspension for performance-enhancing drugs.  He lost an appeal of the suspension.

Rincon made about $700,000 in 2006; he’ll be a free agent after the 2008 season.  As RotoWorld mentioned, a fine fit would be third baseman Morgan Ensberg.