NEWSLETTER
The Kris Bryant market has been slow to develop this offseason, with little more than casually reported interest from a small handful of teams (and the general belief that Bryant would prefer to play somewhere west of the Mississippi). But things are finally heating up here lately with at least one potential suitor: The Colorado Rockies.
Rockies remain interested in Kris Bryant, sources have indicated to @Ken_Rosenthal and me, and it seems they are not being shy about it…
— Nick Groke (@nickgroke) March 14, 2022
Serious interest from the Rockies was first reported last night, but it has spilled over into today, from the report you see above. Soon thereafter, Jon Heyman took it a step further, writing that the “Rockies are aggressively pursuing Kris Bryant.” Adding that “talks are at ownership level” now.
Well, then.
As you should know by now, when talks reach the ownership level, that usually means things are getting serious. Wanna add that extra year? Gotta talk to the boss. Want a little more on an AAV basis? Gotta get the owner involved. And so on.
And for as odd as the matchup may seem on the surface (hold that thought), their interest in Bryant is not completely out of nowhere. Aside from the fact that Bryant would absolutely rake at Coors Field, and geographically, the union does fit, Bryant was also the focus of many discussions between the Rockies and Cubs over the years (usually in theoretical swaps involving Bryant and Arenado). So I guess we can’t rule it out.
But I still find their involvement surprising. Put simply, the Rockies don’t have a very obvious path to contention right now, especially in the NL West. Heck, over the last year, alone, they’ve “lost” Trevor Story (still a free agent) and Nolan Arenado, making the pursuit of Bryant – a similarly aged bat for the same side of the infield – feel a little out of place.
But, hey, multiple reports of escalating interest say what the say. And there’s nothing wrong with bad teams trying to get better (he says with double meaning).
For what it’s worth, the Mariners (and maybe also the Padres, if they can’t first land Seiya Suzuki) are two other potential suitors according to the rumors. Stay tuned, maybe this one will happen quickly.
