Los Angeles – Starting pitcher Aaron Cook wants to remain in Colorado. Early indications are the Rockies will try to make that happen.
Joe Bick, Cook’s agent, said Wednesday that he spoke briefly last week with Thad Levine, Rockies senior director of operations, about Cook’s next contract. Bick said the team is open to discussing a two-year deal.
“It was nice of them to touch base to let us know what they were thinking,” Bick said.
Cook is first-time arbitration-eligible, leaving him in line for a huge raise from this season’s $326,000 base salary to about $1 million per season. Closer Brian Fuentes, who also is arbitration-eligible, could be in line for a new deal, too.
There is precedent for a Rockies’ preemptive strike, which gives the player more security and provides cost certainty for the team. Last winter, Colorado signed Jason Jennings, the most accomplished young pitcher in team history with a 49-43 record, to a two-year, $6.9 million contract. Cook is 17-12 in his career, with a 5-1 mark this season.
“This is the team I want to be with,” Cook said Wednesday before the Rockies’ game against the Dodgers. “These are the guys I have come up in the minors with, played four or five years with some of these guys. We have a great feel for each other and are starting to play well. I want to be a part of what is going to happen here in the next few years.”
Cook has won five straight games, including a complete-game 7-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday at Coors Field. The quiet, unassuming Cook has emerged as a potential staff ace just 13 months after nearly dying on the mound because of blood clots in his lungs.
Cook had an operation last September to improve blood flow to his shoulder. A portion of his top rib was removed during the surgery.
Petrick honored
Former Rockies catcher Ben Petrick will be honored by the club at a banquet today as part of the Rockies’ 2005 Hal O’Leary Awards at Coors Field, which honor local athletes and individuals for outstanding achievement and leadership.
Petrick will be recognized for his community work for those with Parkinson’s disease. The former catcher is also scheduled to attend Monday’s Padres-Rockies game at Coors Field.
Petrick, the Rockies’ second-round draft choice in the 1995 amateur draft, retired from baseball last year at age 27 because of Parkinson’s.
Staff writer Troy E. Renck contributed to this report.
