Sunday Rockpile: Tulowitzki Recovers, Embree still on the radar

Troy Tulowitzki's leg appears to be finally fully recovered after his early season quadriceps tear according to an update from Troy E. Renck. While Renck mentions how important this is for Tulo's offense, his defense also suffered pretty badly and the Rockies need both sides to be at full strength to compete in 2009. I'll have an NL West defensive preview up later today, but it should be no surprise that Tulo's a vital cog for the Rockies on that end.

Other notes by Renck include the report out of Oakland that the A's are considering offering arbitration to Alan Embree, who the Rockies have interest in. Since Embree's a type B free agent, there's no risk of losing a draft pick for the Rockies in signing him, all the risk would be for the A's if he accepts and they're burdened with an overpriced reliever. Embree on the free agent market is likely to come in well below the $3 million he made in 2008 but he still might be too expensive for such a limited role, as he's likely to require a two year deal, particularly if the A's do offer arbitration. I really wonder if there's not a better, cheaper option to fill our left handed reliever role out there.

Renck's notes also allude to this New York Times piece about the Mets looking to fill their bullpen via trade before offering contracts to K-Rod or Brian Fuentes, with one of their targets being Huston Street. I don't buy that this is anything more than a leverage play on the part of the Mets GM. The fact is that New York probably needs two late inning relievers, and they can only sign one and keep any sort of bargaining strength. They will have to eventually trade for another one. That Minaya turned down a fairly safe trade with the Rockies for Street leads me to suspect that his real intent is just the opposite of what the report says, he'll sign the first of the free agent pair to crack, and then trade for his other guy by the Spring.

Finally, Renck attempts to connect Yorvit Torrealba to Boston's search for a catcher, but that's sort of ridiculous knowing what type of player Yorvit is and what types of players Boston's actually been targetting for the slot. It's not going to happen, even as a stopgap.