Rockies Sign Casey Blake

Rumors were flying around the Twitterverse yesterday about a big press conference the Rockies planned to hold this afternoon to announce a “big free agent” signing. Some of us briefly forgot that the team had already agreed to terms with Michael Cuddyer, about as big as free agents get in Dan O’Dowdland. But it turned out that DOD did have something else up his sleeve today: a one-year contract for former Dodger Casey Blake.

We can do better than Casey Blake at third. His numbers last season (.252/.342/.371) are about the same as Ty Wigginton‘s were. Plus he’s older and more often injured. So why did we unload Wiggy and sign Blake?

Most likely, Blake’s job will be to hold Nolan Arenado‘s place. If he can stay healthy (a big if), he can provide some consistency and stability at the hot corner, which would be nice, seeing as how second base still looks like it will be a game of musical chairs. And worse comes to worse, he performs at the same level he did in 2011 and the Rockies part ways with him for 2013.

I don’t feel very strongly about this signing one way or the other. My initial reaction was ick, but this is better than having no clear option for third at all. With Cuddy all set to start in right, Tyler Colvin will be the one with no place to sit, and hopefully he can find his way into a trade package for somebody else. Martin Prado perhaps … ? We can dream.