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Rockies Looking At Aardsma, Balfour, Coffey

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The Rockies have spoken to the Mariners about a possible David Aardsma trade, reports Troy Renck of the Denver Post (Twitter link).  Colorado has also shown interest in right-handers Grant Balfour and Todd Coffey, though Renck tweets that Balfour would have to be acquired in a "sign-and-trade" arrangment since the Rockies don't want to lose their first round draft pick as compensation for signing the Type A free agent.

Aardsma, who is known to be on the market, would be used in a set-up role with the Rockies since Huston Street is established as Colorado's closer.  Balfour's Type-A status isn't the only hindrance to a possible signing, as he reportedly wants a three-year contract.  The Rockies may be hesitant to give a middle reliever that kind of long-term commitment, though Joaquin Benoit, Jesse Crain, Scott Downs and Matt Guerrier have all signed three-year deals this winter.

Coffey, non-tendered by the Brewers earlier this month, comes with the smallest price tag but is also coming off the least-accomplished season (4.76 ERA, 9.4 H/9 rate) of the three pitchers.  Renck adds that Colorado's "wish list" also includes Jon Rauch and Chad Qualls (Twitter link).

Minor Transactions: Morales, Harvey, Red Sox

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On a busy day of moves around baseball, here are a few lower-profile transactions…

  • The Rockies have acquired catcher Jose Morales from the Twins in exchange for minor league left-hander Paul Bargas, according to a Minnesota team release.  Morales hit .297/.370/.354 in 181 plate appearances over parts of three seasons with the Twins, only seeing significant playing time while filling in for an injured Joe Mauer in April 2009.  Bargas, taken in the 13th round of the 2009 amateur draft, posted a 3.59 ERA in 58 relief appearances for Colorado's Single-A Asheville affiliate last season.
  • Ryan Harvey, picked sixth overall by the Cubs in the 2003 amateur draft, has signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox, reports Jon Paul Morosi of FOXSports.com.  Harvey is trying to convert to pitching after posting a career .749 OPS as an outfielder in eight minor league seasons in the Cubs and Rockies' systems.
  • In addition to Harvey, Boston has also signed left-handers Rich Hill and Randy Williams to minor league deals, as per a team release.  Hill signed a minor league contract with Boston last summer and made six relief appearances for the Red Sox after spending the previous five years as a starter with the Cubs and Orioles.  Williams spent the last two seasons with the White Sox, where he posted a 5.06 ERA in 52 games out of the bullpen.  The two southpaws received invitations to spring training.
  • The Rangers have signed right-hander Yhency Brazoban to a minor league contract, according to the Associated Press.  Brazoban made 116 appearances for the Dodgers between 2004 and 2008, and last year pitched in the Mexican League and for the Mets' Triple-A team.
  • Texas also signed 16-year-old Dominican shortstop Alberto Triunfel to a contract worth $300K, reports Baseball America's Ben Badler.  Trifunel, a Scott Boras client, was ranked eighth on Blake Bentley's list of top prospects heading into the opening of the international signing period.

Dodgers To Sign Matt Guerrier

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The Dodgers signed Matt Guerrier to a three-year deal, the team announced today. The deal is for $12MM over three years, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter). Newsday's Erik Boland first reported the agreement (on Twitter). 

The right-hander joins Scott Downs and Joaquin Benoit as the setup relievers to agree to three-year contracts this winter. Guerrier will not cost a draft pick, since the Twins declined to offer him arbitration. 

Guerrier led the league in appearances in 2008-09 and pitched in 74 games this past season. Not only is he durable, he is a ground ball pitcher with a career 2.7 K/BB ratio against righties. That figure drops against lefties (1.5 K/BB), but he induces more ground balls against them.

However, defense independent pitching stats like FIP and xFIP suggest Guerrier's 3.17 ERA would have been higher if he had been less lucky in 2010. He posted solid ratios of 5.3 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 last year, but both rates were better in 2009.

The Red Sox, Orioles and Blue Jays also expressed interest in the 32-year-old this offseason. Boston offered a two-year deal with a vesting option for 2013, according to Alex Speier of WEEI.com. The Rockies also bid on Guerrier, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com (Twitter link).

When I examined Guerrier's free agent stock earlier in the offseason, I expected him to land a one-year deal, so agent Joe Bick deserves credit for taking advantage of a player-friendly market.

Joe Beimel Has Multiple Offers

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Lefty reliever Joe Beimel is sitting on offers from several teams tweets Troy Renck of The Denver Post, but none of them have come from the Rockies. 

The market for Beimel has been very quiet this offseason, but that is nothing new. The 33-year-old lefty hasn't signed a contract before January since the 2005-2006 offseason, and in each of the last two winters he's had to wait until March to find a job. Beimel pitched to a 3.40 ERA in 45 innings for the Rockies in 2010, holding left-handed batters to a .221/.275/.379 batting line. 

Rockies Sign Ty Wigginton

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The Rockies continued their active offseason today, officially announcing their contract with Ty Wigginton. Wigginton received a two-year, $8MM deal with an option for 2013, which is steep compared to Eric Hinske's one-year, $1.35MM deal.  The Wigginton contract represents another big win for ACES, the agency behind the deals for Joaquin Benoit, John Buck, Jhonny Peralta, Brandon Inge, and Javier Vazquez.

Wigginton, 33, hit .248/.312/.415 with 22 home runs in 649 plate appearances for the Orioles in 2010. The veteran utility man saw time at first base, second base, and third base for the Orioles, and also has experience in the oufield. He'd been previously identified as the Rockies' top target for a right-handed utility bat.

The Orioles made a curious decision this summer in not trading Wigginton, as he was certain to finish the year as an unranked free agent. Rather than acquire some minor league depth or salary relief, they will instead receive no compensation for his departure.

Wigginton is added to the list of offseason activity from the Rockies that has included extending Troy Tulowitzki, signing Jorge de la Rosa, and acquiring Jose Lopez and Felipe Paulino.  Dave Cameron of FanGraphs is confused as to why the Rockies added Wigginton after getting Lopez.

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first broke the news that the two sides were close on a deal, while his colleague Tracy Ringolsby added details.

Latest On The Rockies’ Search For A Reliever

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The Rockies have been looking to strengthen their bullpen basically all offseason, but they haven't done much in that regard beyond trading for Felipe Paulino. They did make an offer to Matt Guerrier before he agreed to sign with the Dodgers, according to Troy Renck of The Denver Post (Twitter link), but their search for relief help won't stop there.

In a series of tweets, Renck says the Rockies maintain interest in Jesse Crain, but like many clubs they prefer not to go three years on a reliever. He adds that they also like Bobby Jenks and former Rockie Brian Fuentes, but they might be out of their price range. Finally, Renck says it would not be surprising to see them pursue Jon Rauch, though Chad Qualls, Hideki Okajima, and Mike MacDougal are interesting options as well. 

The back end of Colorado's bullpen is pretty well set with Huston Street, Rafael Betancourt, and Matt Belisle, but there's no such thing as too much depth. Street missed time with a shoulder issue and battled an oblique problem late in the season, and I'm sure the team would like to ease off Belisle, who led MLB with 92 relief innings in 2010.

Odds & Ends: Counsell, Ibanez, Johnson, Sheffield

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Exactly one year ago, the Angels signed Hideki Matsui. Today, the slugger finalized his one-year agreement with the A's. Here are today's links…

A’s Interested In Rich Harden

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5:57pm: Renck reports the Harden-A's agreement is unconfirmed (Twitter link). The Rockies are out on Harden. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the A's have talked to Harden, who appears to have better offers elsewhere (Twitter links). Slusser notes that the A's are still talking to Justin Duchscherer.

5:09pm: The A's will sign Rich Harden, Troy Renck of the Denver Post reports (Twitter link). Harden spent the first five and a half seasons of his career in Oakland, where he posted lofty strikeout numbers and a 3.42 ERA between trips to the DL.

The 29-year-old continued to encounter health issues in 2010, but the low ERA and remarkable strikeout numbers were nowhere to be found. Harden battled glute and shoulder injuries this year and posted a 5.58 ERA with 7.3 K/9 and 6.1 BB/9 in 92 innings for the Rangers. 

Seven teams other than Oakland reportedly had some interest in Harden: the Yankees, Twins, Rays, Diamondbacks, Brewers, Mariners, and Rockies.

Odds & Ends: Rivera, Mets, Bruce, Orioles, Dodgers

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Links for Sunday….

Rockies Hoping To Extend Carlos Gonzalez

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FRIDAY, 4:45pm: Monfort confirmed that the team has offered Gonzalez a seven-year extension, but questioned the salary number reported by the Post. "I'm not sure where $100MM came from," Monfort told Wilmer Reina at the Venezuelan paper La Verdad (link in Spanish). "It's true that our organization has talked with his agent about an agreement of seven years, but not with those numbers." – Nick Collias

THURSDAY, 6:18am: Rockies owner Dick Monfort has already committed over $100MM this winter to one of the cornerstones of his franchise, Troy Tulowitzki. Now, Monfort tells Troy Renck of the Denver Post that he'd be open to a six- or seven-year extension, potentially in the neighborhood of $100MM, for another of Colorado's stars: Carlos Gonzalez.

"I am hopeful, yes, that we can get something done," Monfort said. "Why? Well, I haven't talked directly with Carlos, but I know he likes it here. And as a player, I would like to know that Troy Tulowitzki is going to be hitting behind me forever. And I would like that I don't have to play center field every day because we already have a gazelle out there (in Dexter Fowler)."

Monfort acknowledged that, considering Gonzalez's representation, getting a deal done wouldn't be easy. But according to Scott Boras, if the young outfielder is interesting in pursuing an extension and feels that it's "economically suitable for him," he would be open to the idea.

According to GM Dan O'Dowd, any extension negotiations won't continue into spring training, so if the two sides intend to work out anything this winter, talks will need to pick up in the coming weeks. While there were rumors of an informal long-term offer for CarGo, discussions don't appear to have become serious yet. With Gonzalez still a year away from arbitration eligibility and under team control through 2014, the club likely won't be in any rush.

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