The Rockies have expressed interest in Athletics' third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff, tweets Troy Renck of The Denver Post. He adds that Jose Lopez, Jorge Cantu, and Ty Wigginton are also on Colorado's radar in a second tweet, calling the team "quietly aggressive" during the GM Meetings.
Kouzmanoff is a non-tender candidate, even moreso now that the A's have brought in Edwin Encarnacion and are aggressively bidding on Adrian Beltre. Renck adds that he would fill the role of Melvin Mora for Colorado, pushing Ian Stewart at third base and potentially platooning with him. Cantu, Lopez, and Wiggington could all do the same as well. Earlier today we learned that the Rockies also have interest in Alex Gordon.
Esmil Rogers would be a fair trade off in my opinion. Especially for Alex Gordon.
I think thats too much for Gordon. Unlike Gordon, Rogers still has the capability of being a really good player. Gordon, at this point, is a buy low type guy. I would trade them someone like Nicasio.
Big Kouz would be a beast in Colorado. Heck, the guy has averaged 19 homers per year over the past four while playing in two of the worst hitters parks in the game.That said, I’d love to see the A’s stick with Kouz at third and “aggressively bid” on Adam Dunn. We’ve already seen what Beltre can do in a pitcher’s park. And Beltre and Kouz are essentially equals on defense and Beltre wouldn’t be much of an offensive upgrade over Kouz in that stadium.
I was about to disagree with the charge that Kouzmanoff was Beltre’s defensive equal, but the stats don’t lie (UZR over 16 compared to Beltre’s which is right around 12)… It’s amazing how much Kouz was able to step up his defensive game after being traded away from Cleveland precisely because of his defensive struggles. As a Rockies fan, I’d be a little sad to see Ian Stewart get stuck in another platoon situation, especially considering how well he hit lefties just two years ago… Too bad Uggla’s off the market. I was hoping for that 70HR middle infield 🙂
I doubt he’ll ever again be as close to perfect as he was in 2010, but given how well he’s progressed since he fell apart as a kid in Cleveland, I’m thinking he could maintain a UZR between 8 and 10 for the next several years.
I’m definitely worried about Beltre regressing to his Mariner numbers. He has had two great years, and will get two huge contracts in his career. I just don’t want the A’s to be on the bad end of this one just like the Mariners were for several years.
I think it would be interesting to see what Kouzmanoff could do in a hitters park for once. Granted, he still won’t take a walk to save his life, but I’d imagine 25-30 HRs is a real possibility.
Something like .260/.300/.450 wouldn’t be out of the question. Not great numbers for third base, but when paired with his three straight years of solid-to-excellent defense, it makes for a pretty valuable commodity.
Why do the Rockies insist on platooning Ian Stewart? Let him play and let him learn. That .206 career ISO is pretty nice to have in a line up.
Kouzmanoff is an ok player, but he had better not be the RH bat that we are looking for. Yes, he has pop, but couldn’t buy his way onto 1st.
I always like Cantu with the Fish, if they can’t get Kouz they might be able to get him for almost nothing. he was not a bad power option at all until the late May of 2010 onward. Maybe hitting in Coors will rekindle that “feeling” he had after he was ran out of Tampa??
Hopefully the Dodgers can get some 3B depth. After Casey Blake we literlly have NO ONE to man the position. NO ONE!