With Ian Desmond now in Colorado and free agent slugger Mark Trumbo a candidate to join him, the Rockies may soon have a surplus of quality position players. Center fielder Charlie Blackmon’s name was already in the rumor mill before the Rockies agreed to a five-year, $70MM deal with Desmond on Wednesday, so the odds of the team moving him have perhaps increased since. General manager Jeff Bridich responded to that Wednesday, telling reporters – including Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post – that the Rockies “have not had any intention of trading” Blackmon. At the same time, he didn’t rule it out.
“As I’ve said before, we’re just going to keep our ears open and eyes open,” said Bridich. “That’s just part of the business.”
If the Rockies do deal Blackmon, odds are they’ll try to acquire starting pitching in return – especially if they sign Trumbo. Picking him up would likely push Desmond from first base to an outfield that, in addition to Blackmon, currently includes Carlos Gonzalez, David Dahl and Gerardo Parra. But Colorado fully intends to play Desmond at first, sources told Saunders, which could certainly affect both Trumbo and Blackmon. Regardless, the Rockies are indeed searching for a high-end starter, per Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link), and acquiring a major rotation piece would have to come via trade thanks to the weakness of this year’s free agent class. One front-line starter in whom the Rockies have interest is Toronto right-hander Marcus Stroman, but the Blue Jays are unwilling to swap him for Blackmon, reports Jon Morosi of MLB Network (Twitter link).
Although the Blue Jays are in need of outfield help, something Blackmon would certainly provide, their reluctance to part with Stroman isn’t particularly surprising. After all, Stroman exceeded the 200-inning barrier and posted a 60.1 percent ground-ball rate in 2016, and ERA estimators like FIP (3.71), xFIP (3.41) and SIERA (3.62) indicated that he deserved better than his 4.37 ERA. Moreover, the 25-year-old Stroman is far younger than Blackmon, 30, and is under team control for longer. Stroman is set to make his first of four possible trips through arbitration this offseason, and MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects a $3.5MM award. Blackmon, meanwhile, is two years from free agency and will make an estimated $9MM in 2017 after slashing .324/.381/.552 with 29 home runs and 17 stolen bases in 641 plate appearances last season.
Whether or not the Rockies land another starter, Bridich reiterated Wednesday that they’re pushing to improve their bullpen, which was among the majors’ worst last season. With their top southpaw from 2016, Boone Logan, now on the open market, the Rockies have turned some of their attention to fellow left-handed free agent reliever Mike Dunn (via Thomas Harding of MLB.com).
“We’ve looked at just about every free-agent reliever, and with him being in the National League, we’ve seen him a number of times and there’s some level of familiarity there,” Bridich said of the longtime Marlin. “And he’s still available. He’s somebody, to a certain degree, we’re paying attention to.”
The Rockies are also in on right-hander Brad Ziegler, with Bridich telling Harding, “He’s certainly a good pitcher, and with how many times we’ve seen him and faced him, we feel like we know him real well.”
As Bridich pointed out, the Rockies are familiar with Ziegler, who was with the NL West rival Diamondbacks from 2010 until they traded him to Boston last July. Given his grounder-heavy ways (a 66.3 percent rate over 596 2/3 career innings), the 37-year-old Ziegler would seemingly be a solid fit at home run-happy Coors Field. He also has experience as a closer, having amassed 52 saves over the past two seasons, and would be a strong bet to serve in that role with the Rockies.
How surprising
The headline literally is as obvious as the color of the sky. I mean have the Rockies ever been known for their great rotations?
Yes
This is just like saying “Angels looking to improve farm system” lmao
Lmao
Dahl package for Sonny, make it happen Billy!
Who would the Rockies take besides Reyes and Martinez for Blackmon?
It would be one of. If I’m STL I refuse on both- they are just too talented to give up for anyone who might have inflated numbers due to Coors. Reyes climbed up the rotation to be the Cards’ ace down the stretch, so he should be untouchable. I’m thinking they will trade for Lorenzo Cain or Brett Gardner at a cheaper price. Cain will probably cost something like Luke Weaver and Jack Flaherty, Gardner would probably cost one of the two.
Tapia, McMahon, German Marquez, Antonio Senzatela, Forest Wall, Dom Nunez for Quintana, Abreu, and Robertson? or would it not be possible to get Quintana and Abreu without Rodgers, Pint, or Hoffman? Also, obviously the Rockies would have to trade an OFer or 2 for pitching, and hopefully still sign a fee agent or 2, as they’d still need a couple of bullpen arms and another SP
…or they can possibly try to trade for Odorizzi and Colome from the Rays?
No way they give up a bunch of top rated talent like that.
McMahon, Tapia, Wall, and Nunez are arguably the pieces that make the Rockies into a star caliber team.
Trading away more than half their farm for Quintana? I’ll pass, the Red Sox and nationals gave up less combined compared to this for Sale AND Eaton.
Also Abreu and Robertson’s contracts are money sinks, it would be absolutely insane for the Rockies to even consider this trade.
It would kill the rebuild and leave them in obscurity for around a decade.
First, neither of their top 3 are in that proposal. Secondly, if you’re trying to argue that’s more than the White Sox got back combined for Sale and Eaton, I don’t know how to respond to that. Thirdly, the Rockies would still have plenty of prospects in their system, and McMahon, Tapia, and Nunez are arguably currently blocked. 4th, that would get them 4 years of Quintana at or near the top of their rotaion for very cheap money, 3 of Abreu who opted into arbitration, and only 2 of Robertson for 25 mil, addressing 3 needs and giving them more flexibility for another trade.
Perhaps it makes more sense to try to get Odorizzi and Colome from the Rays. Regardless, I agree with the other person that responded so far. They might not land Quintana without one of their top 3 prospects, which was the original question
It could easily be argued that the White Sox returned 4 players in the Sale and Eaton deals that are more valuable than anyone listed here.
In fact, I do not think that this deal would land Quintana alone due to the lack of premium talent. Quintana will likely require at least one major headliner.
That’s what I was wondering. The quantity here is admittedly interesting for the White Sox though, considering the number of positions and wants it covers for them (heard they’re looking for OF and Catching) and I figure McMahon can help at 3b/1b assuming they still move Frazier. What about another similar type of package for Odorizzi and Colome from the Rays?
You guys want Stroman we need someone more than Blacky !!!
I dont understand. Desmonds bat is more valuable at another position. They sacrificed a pick for decent production at first base?
I think they really acquired him for this reason. So that they would have a surplus of OF bats and could trade one of CarGo or Blackmon for pitching.
plus they want Trumbo so they can score 20 runs per game
I would love Car-Go on a Jays uniform but not at the expenses of Stroman !!!
Don’t like the idea of this one. I’d rather keep the rotation in tact and try sign fowler. Don’t get me wrong I’d love Blackmon but unless Colorado are willing to take a prospect package and maybe biagini which I can’t see happening. In all honestly I think it’s all paper talk. Rox are obviously keen to win and Blackmon helps them there. More likely cargo or parra go I’d guess
Parra isn’t worth anything. He will be riding the bench as of now, with Desmond, Blackmon, CarGo, Dahl, and Tapia all ahead of him, and his poor contract
Good !!
Stroman is a great piece of our now and future roster !!!
He shouldn’t be dealt unless we get a similar return in terms of yrs of control !!!
We already got rip off on the Synderguaard for Dickey trade thanks to Mr.Anthopolus !!!
No thanks !!!!
Crazy idea. Any way they can just park Desmond at first? I just love Blackmon as a player, and Parra has probably negative trade value.
Re-Sign Edwin; Bautista.
Bring back Revere and Navarro.
Take a long look at internal options to pair with Osuna, Grilli, Biagini jus like we did when we brought up Castro, Osuna to start out of the bullpen and the same way Stroman and Sanchez started in the bigs !
e.g. Foley, Greene, Perdomo, Harris, Rios and Borucki !!
Edwin almost impossible or impossible.
Bautista is possible, but there better options out there to improve.
Ben Revere and Navarro i would like to see back. But they are a plan B option.
I hope the jays don’t touch the start rotation. I would love to see blackmon in Toronto but its not worth at all to give up any starting piece. Maybe figure out a way to get rid of Smoak and get a better option to platoon with Pierce.
Morales has alot of work to prove me that he was worth the fast non sense aquisition of the GM. So many other better choices out there.
I see a lot of people mention bringing Revere back, but what would his role be? He can’t be relied on to be the starting LF after his horrible year and the Jays don’t need a 4th outfielder. I don’t understand how people expect the Jays to use him. They need a legit starting outfielder, not more depth pieces.
Totally agree with you, he’s a plan B if nothing but i mean nothing shows up.
Amen brother! Enarxis is absolutely right. Rogers has the money but they don’t want to spend it. And Shapiro doesn’t want to re-sign EE or JB because he wants the draft picks so he can draft 3 first rounders and prove to the world what a great evaluator of talent he is. Sucks to be Jays fan cause the window that Anthopolous opened is being quickly closed by Shapiro.
If Quintana is traded to the rockies the returning package will have to be David Dahl as the headliner along with Ryan McMahon and Raimel Tapia.
The Rockies could also put Brenden Rodgers in the conversation for a starter.
If the Rockies keep picking up these big bats, they won’t need pitching; lots of 21-15 scores at Coors Field.
Pomerania for Blackmon would be interesting trade. Blackmon would fill role – Another option Buckholtz and lower level prospect-
Would Blackmon benefit in Fenway?
Buckholz is coming off a terrible year and has 1 year of control left. No package centered around him is landing Blackmon, come on man.
Why on Earth would the Rockies want Pomeranz back? He does not pitch well here, we already had him for 2 years. We want a good return, not retreads.
Understood-I overlooked he was there previously. I did not have chance to watch Blackmon frequently but his stat line impressive— would he be a good fit in BOSTON? Obviously talented hitter but Fenway is different configuration
What would it take?
Wright and low level prospect?
Bucky with mid level ?
Understood-I overlooked he was there previously. I did not have chance to watch Blackmon frequently but his stat line impressive— would he be a good fit in Bostin?
What would it take?
Wright and low level prospect?
Bucky with mid level ?
Does Colorado need starting pitching badly enough to trade for Ubaldo Jiminez? Please?
Only if you’re taking back Gerardo Parra. Who wants to give them both another go?