The Colorado Rockies had eight of their players file for salary arbitration earlier this week, but on Wednesday evening the team agreed to contracts with three of them. Two of them were pitchers, but Colorado is still looking to improve their staff via trade or free agency.
Colorado agreed to contracts with outfielder Drew Stubbs and pitchers Tyler Chatwood and Jordan Lyles. Stubbs played 132 games in the outfield last season and should serve as a depth option behind Carlos Gonzalez, Charlie Blackmon and Corey Dickerson. Chatwood and Lyles were in the starting rotation, but both missed extensive time due to injuries.
Stubbs agreed to a one-year, $5.825 million deal, according to Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet, and will become a free agent after the 2015 season since this was his third year of arbitration-eligibility. The 30-year-old slashed .289/.339/.482/.821 with 15 home runs, 43 RBIs and 20 stolen bases in his first year with the Rockies. He'll be entering his seventh year in the league and should provide Colorado with good depth since the oft-injured Gonzalez is returning from season-ending knee surgery.
Chatwood missed nearly all of the 2014 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in the middle of the year. The right-hander made only four starts and was held out of action since April 29 with a right elbow strain. After it was discovered he injured his UCL for the second time in his career, he underwent the surgery in July and is expected to miss most (if not all) of this coming season. However, the team signed him to a two-year deal on Wednesday, according to ESPN's Jerry Crasnick, and he'll earn a guaranteed $1 million in each of the next two seasons. The 25-year-old had an impressive campaign in 2013 when he went 8-5 with a 3.15 ERA in 20 starts with Colorado.
And finally, according to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, the Rockies signed the 24-year-old Lyles to a one-year deal worth $2.475 million. Although the right-hander made only 22 starts because of a fractured metacarpal in his left hand that forced him to miss two months, he had his best season in the big leagues. He went 7-4 with a 4.33 ERA and 1.36 WHIP and earned a raise in his first year of arbitration eligibility. The team hopes he can help improve a pitching staff that had the worst ERA in baseball last season.
Despite retaining two of their pitchers, Colorado is still looking to bolster the staff. According to Thomas Harding of MLB.com, the team has had talks with the New York Mets about right-hander Dillon Gee. Free-agent starter Ryan Vogelsong has also been linked to the club, and it's been reported that starters Brandon Beachy and Chad Billingsley have "multiple offers," which the Rockies could be involved with. Colorado has a young starting rotation and they need veteran leadership to take some of the pressure of Jorge De La Rosa.
Keep an eye out over the next week or so for the Rockies to add another pitcher.
