The Rockies continue to seek pitching help according to Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (on Twitter), but they're unlikely to land either Joe Saunders or Hiroki Kuroda unless their asking prices come way down. Troy Renck of The Denver Post adds (on Twitter) that they did call the Athletics about Gio Gonzalez before he was traded to the Nationals, but they were unwilling to surrender four top prospects for the left-hander.
Colorado acquired Kevin Slowey from the Twins and Tyler Chatwood from the Angels earlier this offseason, who figure to compete with Jhoulys Chacin, Alex White, Drew Pomeranz, and Esmil Rogers for rotation spots in Spring Training. Jorge De La Rosa will return from Tommy John surgery at midseason, and Juan Nicasio has recently started throwing bullpen sessions after a batted ball fractured his C-1 vertebrae in August. After spending big on Michael Cuddyer, the Rockies figure to have some spending limitations going forward.
fyi it wasn’t the ball that hurt Nicasio. It was the resulting fall.
Davis or Neimann. I don’t care for Seth Smith and I do wonder if the Rockies and Rays even match up.
…..unless their asking prices come way down.
Well what exactly is Kuroda’s asking price? Does anyone know?
He never responded to Arizona’s 1-year $13 million offer, but I’d like to think it’s because he doesn’t want to pitch in the NL West against the Dodgers 😀
Well he’s not better than Chris Carpenter, but if I am the O’s I would offer him a 2 yr/ 20 million dollar deal and let him tell us no.
Carpenter got a 2 yr 21 million dollar deal
Probably 2 yrs, $12 mil per
Unless they acquire someone, I think the Rockies rotation ends up being Chacin-Slowey-White-Rogers-Chatwood out of spring training, with Pomeranz being the first callup out of AAA. Especially to delay arbitration for Pomeranz. Its a incredibly interesting rotation either way.
They need another good arm if they want to compete.
Nicasio figures to be firmly in the mix too.
Interestingly weak rotation. They should be looking at Jeff Francis IMO, he’d be cheap and durable and the guys love him.
the cards should be pushing westbrook for nothing to colorado. he’s a complete groundball pitcher which is perfect for colorado,plus he’s a veteran for all those young arms. we could split his contract, 4 mil a piece. then the cards go grab oswalt who wants to pitch there and run away with the division
Westbrook has come up in numerous reports with the Rockies, not sure why it hasn’t been seriously discussed. My guess would be $$. I wouldn’t mind the split of 4 mil each.
Chacin…Pour Homme
brandon mccarthy- led AL in FIP
grant balfour
for
tim wheeler
2 mid tier prospects
O’Dowd has been reluctant to put Wheeler in a trade for Prado, keep dreaming on McCarthy/Balfour.
Depending on the mid-tier prospects, I’d do that in a heartbeat.
With the current climate of GM over paying when trading for pitching. Could Kuroda return to LA for another season at or near his 2011 salary, if the Dodgers can move Billingsly?
Sign Jeff francis or bartolo colon cheap?
I hope we don’t come away with some crappy veteran. Millwood did decent for us at the end of the year but I don’t want him to be a guy at the top of the rotation. Gio Gonzalez would have been a nice fit, but not at that price. Kuroda is too much now. We need a #1, not a #5 pitcher.
Can’t wait for our AAAA pitching staff to dominate the NL West
Heck, with this new offense we have and this crap pitching rotation to go along with it, games at coors field are going to be just the way they were in the 90’s!
Yep, lmao
I also think that its hilarious that O dowd’s “prized Pitching acquisitions” went a combined 6-19 with a 5.33 ERA last year
I still want to know what the hell was going through o-dud’s mind when he dealt Ubaldo. All he really got out of the trade was a lefty with a No. 3 starter potential. Alex White won’t amount into anything, because prospects with similar profiles as he never has, and Alex White is going to pitch half his games at COORS FIELD.
Pomeranz should definitely match the equivalent of what Jeff Francis was, and fingers crossed he could blossom into a John Danks V2. But to say he has ace potential is awry.
I think you’ve been misled by all of the Denver-area Negative Nancies. They obviously saw something they didn’t like as far as the amount of innings Ubaldo has pitched in Coors Field and decided to sell high. Not sure what the problem is….
i bet they trade smith to oakland for pitching the always trade with the A’s
No, Oakland will offer McCarthy and Balfour for Smith, and D’OD will turn it down for a PTBNL who was drafted in 2004 and is still in Single-A
smith is 29, not sure why A’s would want him
they have intrest in him and we make a lot of trades with the rockies and we need some outfilders and he is cheap and under control untill 2015 landon powell is the same age and we resigned him
I seem to remember the Rockies having a really great SP at some point in the not too distant past…hmm…what happened to him…can’t seem to put my finger on it…
Chacin’s still there and De La Rosa will be back mid-season.
Oh wait, you’re talking about Ubaldo “My Arm is Going to Fall Off in Two Years” Jimenez. Gotcha.
On 9/21/11, Dan O’Dowd said: “We aren’t going to spend money just to spend money. The one option you won’t see is adding marginal players in the mix for average dollars.”
A few months later he has “bolstered” the roster with Kevin Slowey, Ramon Hernandez, and Casey Blake. Each of them will cost about $3 million for 2012.
At this point it is highly unlikely that the Rockies will get a pitcher of top of rotation qualtiy, the best they could do is get a free agent that has had decent numbers against them at Coors Field. Looking at Jon Garland and Jeff Francis’ stats, the Rockies could probably pick one of them up for cheap. They could also try to get Roy Oswalt who has put up good numbers at Coors Field. I don’t think they should trade Smith just yet, they could keep him and then depending on where they are come the trade deadline they could move him.