Rockies rumors: Colorado has ‘checked in’ on Max Scherzer, James Shields

Rumors are that the Colorado Rockies have checked in on both Max Scherzer and James Shields as MLB free agency heats back up after the new year.

Would the Colorado Rockies ever actually have a chance to sign a top pitcher in free agency? We have considered whether or not the team should try at length on these electronic pages, including the questions of whether they should try to sign Max Scherzer or if they should look to make a run at James Shields.

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That’s the philosophical debate on the Rockies’ side of things. This is a separate question about the perspective of the free agents themselves: if Jeff Bridich and the front office ever actually made a run at Scherzer or Shields or any other top free agent pitcher, could they actually convince one of those pitchers to choose Colorado?

That is the question that comes to mind for me when I see Thomas Harding’s note on MLB.com that the Rockies have ‘checked in’ on both Scherzer and Shields.

"The Rockies have also checked in with the headline-grabbers, Max Scherzer and James Shields (one can envision his standards-raising work with the Royals translating to the Rockies), although it seems unlikely the Rockies can offer the contract others might."

It seems especially true that the Rockies might get priced out of the Scherzer or Shields sweepstakes because they would likely have to overpay in terms of dollars, years, or both to land a pitcher who is sought after by so many teams.

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It seems even more especially true that the Rockies will get priced out this winter when the Los Angeles Dodgers will be interested in both pitchers and when the New York Yankees will inevitably try to sign Scherzer at some point this off-season.

These so-called ‘check-ins’ might be nothing. They are probably nothing. Still, the fact that the Rockies are checking at all means something.

Here’s the way I look at it. Whenever a “mystery team”has swooped in the past and signed a major free agent, I have known for sure that it was not the Rockies. But now, I can at least hold out the slightest bit of hope that the Rockies are actually the “mystery team” when Scherzer and Shields are getting ready to sign.

This may or may not be the right off-season for the Rockies to push for a big signing, but the fact that it’s even a remote possibility is interesting, no?

Next: Should the Rockies pursue James Shields?