:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/52196425/usa_today_9592958.0.jpeg)
Mark Melancon is off the board and there was no way Aroldis Chapman or Kenley Jansen were going to be realistic options, but there are still some free-agent relievers available who could fit into the Colorado Rockies’ bullpen.
The club has checked in on at least two of those options, according to MLB.com’s Thomas Harding. Rockies general manager Jeff Bridich talked to Harding about the team’s interest in left-hander Mike Dunn ...
"We've looked at just about every free-agent reliever, and with [Dunn] being in the National League, we've seen him a number of times and there's some level of familiarity there," Bridich said. "And he's still available. He's somebody, to a certain degree, we're paying attention to."
... and righty Brad Ziegler:
"He's certainly a good pitcher, and with how many times we've seen him and faced him, we feel like we know him real well," Bridich said of the sidearmer. "The way he operates, the unconventional can really work for him, and it doesn't matter where he pitches. I understand why his name keeps popping up."
Dunn, 31, posted a 3.40 ERA with 8.1 K/9 and a career-low 2.3 BB/9 last season for the Miami Marlins. The ninth-year big leaguer owns a 3.54 career ERA with 10 K/9. Dunn is an extreme flyball pitcher — he boasts a groundball rate of just 35.7 percent for his career — but homers have rarely been an issue. That, of course, could change with him pitching half of his games at Coors Field.
Ziegler, 37, finished last season with a 2.25 ERA in 68 combined innings for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Boston Red Sox. He experienced a particularly strong resurgence in Boston, where he struck out more than a batter per inning. Ziegler spent parts of the previous five seasons with the D-backs and pitched in a fair share of games at Coors Field, where he owns a lifetime 4.15 ERA with 11 strikeouts and four walks in 171⁄3 innings.
Colorado still has a couple of roster spots to work with; even after Ian Desmond is officially added, the Rockies’ 40-man roster will sit at 38 players.