Colorado Rockies: 3 Thoughts From Monday’s Winter Meetings

2) Bud Black gives vote of confidence to Rockies young catchers

While first base has been the primary focus of Colorado’s offseason thus far (more on that in a bit), there were some who felt the team might pursue a veteran catcher. Tom Murphy and Tony Wolters are the only catchers on the Rockies roster with MLB experience, and combined, they have all of 77 starts.

With Colorado’s starting pitching staff also being among the youngest in the game, the idea of signing a veteran catcher and clubhouse leader to help them grow has been suggested more than once.

But the Rockies new manager Bud Black spoke to MLB.com about his roster earlier today, and did not sound like a man concerned about putting his trust into a youth movement behind the plate.

"“Talking to our guys, they are high on Murphy and Wolters on their makeup, their aptitude, their work ethic, what they believed in, what they need to do to help our pitchers, and they are young, no doubt about it. But Mike (new bench coach Mike Redmond) and I and the pitching coaches, we’ll give them everything we can to make them the players they can be… Sometimes you feel good about the players you have, and you’ve got to trust them, even though they are young, you’ve got to trust them.”"

This isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement, but more Black acknowledging the reality in Colorado right now. The Rockies would surely love to have a veteran backstop who’s been to the playoffs and knows how to manage the ups and downs of a long season, but the cost of acquiring a guy like that isn’t worth it for a team with two talented, young MLB-ready catchers on their roster already.

Black appears to understand that, and appears to be ready to accept Murphy and Wolters as the solutions behind the plate.