Colorado Rockies: 3 Thoughts From Monday’s Winter Meetings

Monday was quiet on the news front for the Colorado Rockies, but that doesn’t mean it was without its share of intrigue. Here are the relevant bits from day two of the Winter Meetings in Maryland.

1) Big name pitchers changing teams

The headline-grabbing move of the day belonged to one of Colorado’s division rivals, as the San Francisco Giants landed closer Mark Melancon on a 4-year, $62 million pact. While the deal set a new mark for the largest contract ever awarded to a relief pitcher, that record will almost certainly fall again later this offseason when Aroldis Chapman and Kenley Jansen sign contracts.

Melancon is older than those two, and he lacks their elite K rate, but few pitchers in the game can match his effectiveness over the last few seasons. For the Giants, a team that was plagued in 2016 by a mess of a bullpen, landing a guy with a track record like Melancon’s was an absolute necessity.

There were rumors that the Rockies and Melancon had “mutual interest,” and it’s not hard to understand why. Melancon played his high school baseball just outside of Denver, and Colorado also had more than their fair share of bullpen problems in 2016.

But as Kevin Henry pointed out earlier today, splurging on Melancon wouldn’t have been the most prudent move for a team in the Rockies position. Colorado has a more pressing need at first base, and they already have a decent ninth inning option in Adam Ottavino.

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In other, non-official news, the big rumor of the evening is that the Nationals and White Sox are allegedly working on a trade that would potentially send Chicago ace Chris Sale to Washington.

In exchange, the White Sox would get super-prospects Lucas Giolito and Victor Robles, in addition to other prospects.

The idea of Chris Sale pitching in a Rockies uniform is fun to think about. But the asking price from Colorado would probably start with something like Brendan Rodgers and David Dahl, and that would only be the start. It’s possible that if the season goes poorly for the White Sox, they’ll lower their demands for Sale, but as long as his asking price remains this high, the only time we’ll see Sale at Coors Field is in a visitor’s uniform.