Rockies still trying to re-sign Yorvit Torrealba

Yesterday the Rockies signed Chris Iannetta to a three-year, $8.3 million contract with an option for 2013, but they’re apparently not done handing out multi-year deals to catchers. Iannetta actually lost his starting job to Yorvit Torrealba down the stretch and Troy Renck of the Denver Post reports that the Rockies have offered Torrealba a two-year, $5.6 million contract to stick around and split time again. Torrealba is said to be seeking $6 million over two years, so only $400,000 stands in the way of a seemingly inevitable agreement. Both catchers are right-handed hitters, so they don’t really form any kind of platoon, and presumably the 31-year-old Torrealba realizes that the 26-year-old Iannetta will get every opportunity to claim most of the playing time. Torrealba has a good defensive reputation and has hit .258/.316/.393 in four seasons with the Rockies, which is somewhat respectable for a catcher, but Iannetta’s career .242/.361/.446 line gives him significantly more upside. Having both Iannetta and Torrealba would be a nice luxury for the Rockies, but if they like Iannetta enough to keep him around through 2013 it would probably make more sense to back him up with someone making $400,000 and spend $5 million elsewhere.