Rockies Rumors: Michael Cuddyer Almost Returned To Colorado?

Michael Cuddyer was reportedly giving serious consideration to accepting a qualifying offer from the Colorado Rockies before he signed a two-year deal with the New York Mets this week.

On the list of possible outcomes for the Colorado Rockies after they extended a qualifying offer to Michael Cuddyer, this was probably the preferred order:

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Cuddyer signs elsewhere, lands the Rockies a compensatory draft pick
Cuddyer signs multi-year deal with the Rockies, team then makes a trade accordingly, ideally switches to first base
Cuddyer accepts qualifying offer, the Rockies get creative and makes it work

It turns out that only two of those options were on the table for the lovable Cuddyer. Thankfully he opted for the best-case scenario as far as the Rockies are concerned, but it sounds like he was awfully close to going the other direction. According to Marc Carig, Cuddyer narrowed his situation down to two options: sign with the Mets or take the qualifying offer.

Cuddyer says he would have accepted qualifying offer had he not been signed by the Mets. Well then.
— Marc Carig (@MarcCarig) November 11, 2014

There ya go. So, clearly the Mets needed to make an aggressive move. here. Or watch their best option stay with the Rockies.
— Marc Carig (@MarcCarig) November 11, 2014

The Rockies had options to put together a good roster for next season if Cuddyer had accepted the offer. But it would have been more complicated, it would have potentially left the Rockies with some dead weight on their payroll, and it would have meant hitching their wagon to another player who has struggled with injuries in recent seasons.

In the end, this probably worked out best for everybody involved. Well, everybody but the Mets, that is, no matter how much they keep rationalizing this decision.

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