Colorado Rockies general manager Jeff Bridich discusses the team

Later, Joyce asked Bridich about the bullpen and how many pieces does he think that the Rockies need and if any relievers could fall outside of their price range. Bridich said this:

"If we can add more than one arm that fits us in the ‘pen, I think we’ll try to do that. You know, it’s not necessarily an ‘either or’ situation with a closer like Greg Holland, or Wade Davis, or somebody else…[but] we have some roster flexibility right now, we’ve got some financial flexibility to a certain degree so we’ve been very focused on pitching and we’ll continue to focus on pitching and hopefully, we’ll be able to sign some guys up to help us in the ‘pen."

It should be noted that one of the bullpen arms that the Rockies had last season, Pat Neshek, resigned with the Phillies on a 2-year, $16.25 million contract today.

Bridich on payroll flexibility

Ryan Spilborghs followed up on Bridich’s answer on the financial flexibility that he mentioned about the bullpen. Spilborghs said that he thinks that there is probably about $40 million to spend for the 2018 season but he asks if Bridich would ask the Rockies owners, the Monforts, to exceed that $40 million, if needed. Bridich replied with this:

"We’re going to continue the hope and the plan is to continue to grow and so, the plan, as of right now, is that our payroll to be north of where it started last year and probably right around where it ended up last year, give or take…because there are so many unknowns…"

Bridich continued by saying that he and the Monforts have always had great communication and that is why the Rockies were able to pounce on Greg Holland last January.

Bridich on the closer spot

Jeff Joyce followed up Spilborghs question with another bullpen question: is he willing to have an unexperienced closer in that role or would he prefer a veteran closer and Bridich offered an interesting response.

"It kind of comes down to personnel. It comes down to who you’ve got, who’s ready for the challenge of something like that, whether it’s the eighth inning or ninth inning–those high leverage type of innings during a game… Are there some guys, internally, that we feel like have the composition-the mental and physical constitution to do those sorts of things? Yes. Are they ready for that next challenge? It’s probably some yes and no depending on who you’re talking about but there is something to be said for having some veteran calm, veteran presence in the back end [of the bullpen]…[but] it’s not a situation where we believe that it’s got to be a veteran closer or nothing. We’re more open-minded than that."