The Colorado Rockies had an up and down season in 2013 and as the offseason starts to heat up the winter meetings, the team looks like it will be a player when it comes to trades, as they plan to build around Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez and have dealt Dexter Fowler and now they may be acquiring names in Brett Anderson and Sean Marshall.
According to Hardball Talk, reports have the Rockies looking at both Marshall from the Reds and Anderson from the Athletics and this comes after Oakland may have decided to keep Anderson, although those reports were from late last week. Anderson has been solid despite an injury and with Fowler going, the team is now looking at Jhoulys Chacin, Jorge De La Rosa, Tyler Chatwood and possibly Jordan Lyles in the rotation and they would like to add another reliever after getting LaTroy Hawkins earlier in the offseason.
Marshall is on a contract that has $12 million on him the next two seasons and they could see him in a closers role. The 25-year-old Anderson could end up being a huge snag for the team, as he has a 3.81 ERA in 80 starts and while his health is not tip top, with him starting in just five games last season, the risk reward is high. The team would rather not give up prospects to get him, but they want another arm and he has $8 million coming to him and that could be a lot, but it might be worth making the deal. He would be under team control for a couple years and it would add another arm to the rotation and it needs one.
The report said that Joaquin Benoit and Grant Balfour were broth options but were too expensive and that is why the team is looking at a trade after signing Hawkins. The Athletics are still not sure if they will trade him either.
The Rockies went 74-88 last season and finished in the bottom of the NL West division and while the owner of the team said that CarGo and Tulo would not be traded, that could change depending on what deals they get. Last season Tulo hit 25 home runs while hitting .315 and also driving in 81 RBIs and now the team is looking to make its first playoff appearance since 2009. Gonzalez was injured as well and finished hitting .302 with 26 home runs and 70 RBIs while playing in 110 games and now those two are the players the team will build around.
