Victories and rising free agent salaries have the Rockies discussing security with pitcher Aaron Cook. For the past month, Rockies general manager Dan O’Dowd and agent Joe Bick have kept an ongoing dialogue about a two-year contract with a club option for the right-hander, who finished last season as the Rockies’ best pitcher.
“It’s very possible,” Bick said Thursday. “We are trying to make something happen.”
Cook is first-time arbitration eligible, leaving him with leverage to gain a substantial raise from last year’s $326,000 salary. The Rockies have identified Cook as a critical piece of their youth movement, faith he rewarded after returning from complicated surgery to correct a pulmonary embolism.
Cook, a candidate to start opening day, went 7-2 with a 3.67 ERA in 13 starts, including two complete games.
“Both parties are interested in moving toward this, but I can’t say how soon it will get done. Aaron is certainly a core guy for us.”
Footnotes
Openings remain for the Todd Helton Performance Hitting Clinic Jan. 28-29 held at Cherry Creek coach Mark Johnson’s Triple Crown Sports Center. Both team and individual spots are available. For more information, call 602-421-3997. … The Rockies remain interested in starter Josh Fogg, reliever Brian Meadows and utilitymen Luis Rivas and Ramon Martinez.
Denver Post staff writer Patrick Saunders contributed to this report.
