The Rockies have made it clear that they don't want to get in a bidding war with any of their nine (thus far, probably Herges and Ortiz make it eleven) free agents, even if they want some of them back. For this reason, it seems highly likely at this point that Yorvit Torrealba and Josh Fogg at the least will be moving on, as both have come up as being of interest to several teams according to rumors in recent days.
With Jorge Posada likely to return to the Yankees, that leaves Torrealba and Paul Lo Duca as the two most sought after catchers this offseason. I don't see how a bidding war is avoidable in that case.
All the better, as it should open the door for Chris Iannetta again. Let's hope he takes better advantage of that this season.
Fogg was the latest to file, and if some team does give him a three year $20+ million dollar contract I will feel good on two counts:
- Happiness for Fogg for getting a payday after he's been pretty good for us these last three years, and
- Much more happiness that it's not going to be the Rockies giving him that payday, as he's really not worth that kind of dough.
Also in that link is the mention of A-Rod's "starting point" for a contract from the Yankees. $350 million dollars. This is madness on many levels, but it's also fairly pertinent to our understanding of what it might take to extend Matt Holliday this winter. Boras would advise Alex to sign for a price at the high end of what he expects the market to bring, not a middle figure. You have to think that the same goes for Matt, and that the Rockies will have to pony up somewhere in the $20 million per season range to get a signature. Carlos Lee's $18.5 million/yr from 2009-2013 would seem to be the starting point for Holliday.