Colorado Rockies rumors: Team focused on pitching at trade deadline?

This morning, Noah Yingling shared the rumor that the Colorado Rockies are looking at Baltimore Orioles reliever Zach Britton as a trade deadline addition. According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic and FOX Sports, Britton isn’t the only Orioles pitcher being considered by the Rockies as July 31 quickly approaches.

Early this morning, Rosenthal tweeted that the Rockies are also scouting Baltimore starters Dylan Bundy and Kevin Gausman. He also noted that Colorado is looking at starters and relievers from other clubs, indicating that the Rockies could be ready to double-down on pitching as the trade deadline approaches.

Gausman enters Monday night’s home start against the Boston Red Sox with a 4-7 mark and 4.33 ERA. He has allowed just 27 walks in 112.1 innings pitched while striking out 97. The 27-year-old right-hander is a native of Colorado (born in Centennial) so the interest by the Rockies (and potentially vice versa) perhaps isn’t anything new.

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Bundy is a 25-year-old right-hander with a 6-9 mark and 4.57 ERA this season. He has struck out 116 in 108.1 innings pitched. Colorado fans might remember him from a 2016 matchup between the Rockies and Orioles and Camden Yards. He took the loss that evening and surrendered David Dahl’s first big league home run in the sixth inning.

A native of Owasso, Okla., (a suburb of Tulsa) Bundy and current Arizona Diamondbacks reliever Archie Bradley (from Broken Arrow, Okla., another Tulsa suburb) were two of the hottest high school prospects heading into the 2011 Major League draft. Bundy went fourth in the draft while Arizona chose Bradley with the seventh pick.

The Orioles shut Bundy down at the end of the 2015 season with a right shoulder strain. He has, however, remained in good health since then.

Next: Could this Cincinnati reliever be heading to Denver?

This report from Rosenthal shows that Colorado could well be looking at more pitching to boost the club’s chances of returning to a second consecutive postseason berth for the first time in franchise history. Knowing the Rockies spent an enormous amount of money on their bullpen in the offseason, could more resources (including prospects) be heading to the pitching side of the Colorado equation?