Colorado Rockies Rumors: Interest in Mike Dunn for Bullpen?

With Major League Baseball and the players union agreeing on a new collective bargaining agreement, it’s expected that the hot stove is going to heat up quickly for the Colorado Rockies and other MLB teams.

One of the players who has been potentially linked to the Rockies in recent days has been reliever Mike Dunn. The 31-year-old left-hander has spent the last six seasons with the Florida/Miami Marlins, putting together a 3.59 ERA in 351 innings in south Florida.

“We first interacted with his agent at the (general managers) meetings,” Colorado general manager Jeff Bridich told Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post in this interview. “That’s no surprise … We had conversation. After that I’m not sure what to say.”

The possibility of Dunn joining the Rockies is intriguing. Mike Redmond, who was recently hired as Colorado’s bench coach, spent more than two seasons with Dunn in south Florida when he managed the Marlins between 2013 and 2015 so he knows him well.

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Dunn also could take over the “left-handed specialist” role that Boone Logan thrived in last season. It’s expected that the Rockies will lose Logan in free agency so the addition of Dunn could potentially solidify that question mark in the Colorado bullpen.

He’s coming off a solid season in Miami, posting a 6-1 mark out of the bullpen despite allowing 43 hits in 42.1 innings pitched. It marked the first time since the 2012 season that Dunn had allowed more hits than innings pitched.

Another interesting stat from Dunn’s 2016 campaign were the number of strikeouts per nine innings pitched. Dunn had never averaged below 9.7 in his previous seven MLB seasons, including 10.6 in 2014 and 10.8 in 2015. Last season, however, Dunn bottomed out at 8.1.

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On the positive side, Dunn also brings an attractive price tag. Prior to the 2015 season, he signed a two-year, $5.8 million contract with the Marlins. As a point of reference, St. Louis recently signed left-hander Brett Cecil to a four-year, $30.5 million deal after he posted a 1-7 mark with a 3.93 ERA out of the bullpen with Toronto last season.