Major League Baseball's Winter Meetings are underway, and the Rockies could make a couple of moves to fill their two major holes, first base and the bullpen. The Rockies have demonstrated interest in free agent Mark Trumbo, although if they're going to go the "get a guy who can knock a bunch of dingers" route Chris Carter would be much cheaper and wouldn't cost a draft pick. While it's possible for the Rockies' bullpen to turn it around without adding from the free agent pool or trade, adding a second tier reliever could end up being a shrewd move.
About that:
Rumors: Dozier, Dodgers, BoSox, O's, Rockies, Nats, Wieters - MLB Trade Rumors
It sounds like the price for Mark Melancon is going to be higher than the Rockies will be willing to pay. Melancon apparently has four-year offers that are worth more than $60 million from San Francisco and Washington. According to Jon Heyman, the mystery team with a similar offer out for Melancon could be Miami. It's unlikely to be the Rockies. And for $15 million a year for a reliever, they should pass.
But what about Brad Ziegler?
In a tweet, Buster Olney suggests that while Aroldis Chapman, Kenley Jansen, and Mark Melancon are clogging up the reliever market, "13 teams have checked in on Brad Ziegler." Earlier this offseason, Jeff Bridich told Patrick Saunders that the Rockies have reached out to "a lot of guys." Is Zieger one of those guys? Maybe! So let’s do the writer version of checking in on a guy and consider his fit with the team.
Ziegler, who didn’t debut until he was 28, is a 37-year old sidearmer who doesn’t strike a lot of batters out but does an excellent job of generating groundballs and suppressing home runs. He has a 2.44 career ERA for the A’s, Diamondbacks, and the Red Sox for a short time last season. Ziegler’s adjusted Deserved Run Average is 3.02. He’s also reliable. The Rockies haven’t had a reliever pitch more than 60 innings since 2014, and Ziegler has pitched more than 60 in each year since 2012. In Ziegler’s worst season, he posted a 3.49 ERA (2.92 DRA).
As for cost, MLB Trade Rumors predicts that Ziegler will get two years for $16 million. In other words, affordable in terms of money and years. A scrum of 13 teams could inflate that price, but Ziegler would fit with the Rockies. News out of the Winter Meetings will let us know what's going on with the Rockies and Ziegler.