Those who have been hoping that the Colorado Rockies would be offering a contract extension to star outfielder Carlos González were dealt a harsh blow of reality on Wednesday. Reporting for the Denver Post, Mark Kiszla spoke to CarGo, who said, “The team needs to approach us if they want it to happen. I’ve got one year left on my contract, and there’s no conversation right now.”
This news comes as a bit of a surprise considering earlier this offseason there were reports that the two sides were talking contract extensions. It would appear that there was at least one conversation, but little else. From Kiszla’s article:
“I felt like (Bridich) was trying to make sure where we were, in terms of whether I wanted to be here or not. But after that, there’s been zero talks,” González said.
It seems that CarGo is willing to consider making Denver his permanent home, due in large part to what he perceives to be a team that figures to be competitive in the immediate future. This current Rockies squad may be at least somewhat reminiscent of his first years with the team in 2009 and 2010. After the 2010 season, CarGo signed a seven-year, $80 million contract extension. In this, the last year of said extension, he is set to earn $20 million.
Despite putting up big traditional numbers over the past two seasons (averaging 32 home runs and 98 RBI, along with a .285/.337/.522), CarGo seems to have entered his decline phase and now projects to be a solidly average major league outfielder. While such players are certainly valuable, they are not the type of players teams typically want to sign to expensive extensions. After seeing what happened to big sluggers like Mark Trumbo and Jose Bautista, if González truly wants to stick around in Denver, he may want to consider keeping his demands low.