Jorge De La Rosa and the Rockies are talking contract

Last week Colorado general manager Dan O’Dowd called re-signing Jorge De La Rosa “a top priority” for the Rockies and now Troy Renck of the Denver Post reports that “there are strong indications” the two sides “began contract talks” this week. According to Renck the Rockies offered De La Rosa a two-year, $8.75 million deal last offseason, but he turned it down and then was limited to just 122 innings this season because of injuries. When healthy he was very solid, posting a 4.22 ERA in 20 starts despite calling Coors Field home, and De La Rosa is 34-24 with a 4.49 ERA and 434/200 K/BB ratio in 437 total innings for the Rockies during the past three seasons. Renck speculates that he “could reach the neighborhood of $10 million per season on the open market,” but for someone with a 5.02 career ERA who has never posted a mark below 4.22 that seems pretty optimistic considering John Lackey was the only free agent starter to get more than $10 million per season in a multi-year deal last offseason (although Randy Wolf came very close).