SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Jason Motte sits on a beach in the U.S. Virgin Islands. It’s the first week of December and he’s unwinding as a free agent after last season with the Chicago Cubs.
He doesn’t get any cell phone service on the remote island of St. John’s and heads back to his house around 6:30 p.m. Motte hadn’t received a text all day, which he thought was odd, but goes to dinner on the other side of the island, where he decides to reset his phone.
“I had eight text messages and I was like, ‘Oh, hey, I should probably call my agent,’ ” Motte said.
His agent had been trying to reach Motte all day to inform him the Rockies were interested in signing the reliever.
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“I told my wife, ‘I better take this,’ ” Motte said. “I actually flew to Puerto Rico for a charity event and then up to Colorado.”
A few days later, he locked down a two-year, $10 million contract with the club.
His offseason story was one of many told around the clubhouse as pitchers and catchers worked out at Salt River Fields for the first time Friday.
Reliever Adam Ottavino had a chance to switch places with the media. He took photos for the Players’ Tribune on the sideline during an NFL regular-season game between the Patriots and Giants on Nov. 15 at MetLife Stadium.
“I learned it’s not that easy to do sports photography,” Ottavino said. “It was lousy for the first time. There were some shots that were cool but doing it again I would take a different approach.”
As a self-proclaimed Giants fan, Ottavino made sure to get on the field early to watch Odell Beckham Jr., make some amazing catches in his now famous pregame warm-up routine.
“A lot of stuff ends up looking boring so you kind of have to think ahead to get the right shot,” he said. “There are like 50 guys (photographers) down there and you’re all in the same area so to make yourself different is a little tricky.”
Backup catcher Tom Murphy took his time off to do a different kind of shooting.
“I shot two bucks with my bow and a coyote with one of my guns,” he said.
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He likes to use the .30-06 his father gave him for his 16th birthday and has previously hunted bear in Canada and elk in Colorado.
Pitcher Chad Bettis didn’t have to go as far from the Rockies’ spring training home for his big moment of the offseason. The 26-year-old Texas Tech alumnus got married in Arizona.
The ceremony took place Nov. 21 at The Sanctuary Camelback Mountain Resort.
“It was lots of family and friends and just really great to kind of see everybody,” he said. “We choose Arizona because of the weather. We wanted to do it outside and she’s from Michigan, I’m from Texas. So to have an offseason wedding in either of those two places, it’s kind of cold so we decided to stay out here.”
Pitcher Tyler Chatwood, coming off Tommy John surgery, took his offseason even further south.
He and teammate Jordan Lyles went to the Dominican Republic to work out. “We had to throw some innings to get our innings up this year,” Chatwood said. “We were down there for two or three weeks.”
Utility infielder Daniel Descalso opted not to use his passport but still found time to hike and sit on the beach in Hawaii.
