The Rockies have “expressed interest” in acquiring Rangers’ catcher Jonathan Lucroy, Thomas Harding of Rockies.com writes. Harding notes that the information comes four major-league sources. The Rockies are being characteristically tight-lipped and haven’t commented on this or any other potential player they might be interested in.
That’s not all though. Harding expends several synonyms for “paying attention to” in reference to other players the Rockies might be pursuing. In the catcher division, Alex Avila from the Tigers and Kurt Suzuki from the Braves are “on the Rockies’ radar.” Right now, the Rockies are rolling with Tony Wolters, who has taken steps back offensively and defensively from his rookie season, and 36-year-old Ryan Hanigan.
The team’s also keeping tabs on the mass of available relievers. Here, Harding writes that the Rockies have been “monitoring” two relievers. One is AJ Ramos. We’ve heard about the Rockies interest in him before—they’ve “expressed strong interest” in him.
The other name is new: Zach Britton. Britton hasn’t replicated his otherworldly performance from 2016, when he posted a 0.54 ERA, but that was never going to happen anyhow. He’s only pitched 17 innings this season on account of a couple trips to the disabled list with inflammation in his pitching arm. He’s a low strikeout lefty with an extremely high groundball rate. The Rockies’ infield would complement that particular skillset nicely.
There’s still more. Harding writes that the Rockies have been a little more active for other players. They’ve “extensively scouted” Tigers’ left-handed pitcher Justin Wilson and Orioles’ right-hander Brad Brach. Any of these pitchers would upgrade the bullpen.
This news hovers between revelatory and non-revelatory. We didn’t know before that the Rockies were interested in acquiring a catcher, but it’s not clear how serious that interest is. It is intriguing to hear about the wide net they’re casting around the league about relievers though, including advanced scouting. That’s still where the Rockies are most likely to upgrade. We now have more names to ponder a little bit more seriously.