Dick Monfort talked to Troy Renck in advance of next month's ownership meetings and after developments of this past week's GM meetings took place. There's not really anything we haven't heard before. The team is trying to bring back Jorge De La Rosa but at three seasons max. The Rockies are also hoping that Ian Stewart, Seth Smith, Chris Iannetta and Todd Helton contirbute more in 2011. The key quote would probably be this, in relation to signing free agents now or extending Troy Tulowitzki, Ubaldo Jimenez and Carlos Gonzalez later:
"We will look at it. But we also want to keep the three big names we've got. They all come up in 2014. Our goal is to keep them."
I think it's a nifty thought, but assuming all three are intent on signing for what they're worth, and all three continue playing in the same talent range that we saw this past season, we'd be looking at three $18 million to $20 million+ /year players. Because I have a hard time envisioning that the Rockies intend on spending what will probably amount to at least 60% of the payroll on just three players on a roster of 25, I'm going to just suggest that this might be a bit of false bravado. The realist scenario still sees the Rockies retaining two of the three beyond 2013.
I haven't really discussed this much, but this would mean that the Rockies almost have to develop another superstar level of player before that clock expires to replace whoever it will be that's allowed to walk if they wish to remain at their current level of contention. If you want to know why the Rockies are so intent on keeping their top level prospects, this would be your answer.
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I keep on coming back to the Pirates as the most likely team that would offer Jorge De La Rosa four years in a contract, and at the moment, it seems like they may be the only team willing to go that far. The Nationals are interested, but they're spreading that interest with a wide net, and seem intent on courting every available free agent starter. If it was me, I'd take the shorter contract to avoid having to live in Pittsburgh, let's hope that JDLR comes to the same conclusion.