Should the Colorado Rockies pursue Max Scherzer in free agency?

Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

For it: Scherzer has the goods to be an ace at Coors Field

To think that the Rockies will never sign a free agent starting pitcher to a big contract ever again because of the Mike Hampton and Denny Neagle deals seems like flawed thinking. Instead of looking at those deals and saying that the Rockies should never sign a frontline guy ever again, they should be viewed as guidance for deciding which frontline guys to pursue.

Scherzer profiles as the kind of pitcher the Rockies should consider. He is powerful and misses bats; more importantly, he has the kind of rare top-tier talent that the Rockies need to find and/or develop.

In a hypothetical world where the Rockies pursue Scherzer but then lose out to another team, should they then turn and offer that same big deal to James Shields? Nope. That is a key point here: the argument for making this move is that Scherzer specifically has the goods to justify a big offer, that he is that much better than other free agents who will earn big checks this off-season.