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The Colorado Rockies have expressed interest in free-agent pitcher Kyle Kendrick, according to ESPN's Jerry Crasnick.
Kendrick spent his first eight big league seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies, posting a 4.56 ERA and 4.55 FIP in more than 1,100 innings, most of which came as a starter. Kendrick, as Crasnick notes, has been decent at inducing grounders, boasting a 46.1 percent rate in that area. However, his ability to miss bats simply isn't there; the 30-year-old right-hander has struck out fewer than five batters per nine innings during his career.
Of course, Kendrick could step right into the Rockies rotation and become easily the best pitcher at limiting walks in the unit. His career walk rate of 2.5 per nine innings is a better mark than all but five pitchers on the team posted in 2014. Only one of those hurlers, Christian Bergman, started a game.
If the Rockies decide to bring aboard Kendrick, it would signal good news in at least one way. He would almost certainly be higher on the depth chart than Jon Gray and Eddie Butler, both of whom should stay in the minors this season, as I wrote about yesterday. This is the kind of pitching depth the Rockies need to tread water in the coming year before possibly being able to field a real contending club in 2016.
Simply put: You can do a lot worse than Kendrick, who has been consistently "meh" but also very durable as a big leaguer. Colorado is going to need a lot of innings eaten up. Say what you will about Kendrick, but he can almost certainly do that.
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The deal between the Dodgers and Padres that is supposed to send Matt Kemp to San Diego is now on hold after the resutls of the physical Kemp underwent showed arthritis in both of his hips, per USA Today's Bob Nightengale. Things are about to get real interesting.