The Colorado Rockies traded for outfielder Matt Murton on Wednesdsay morning. Murton split time last year with the Chicago Cubs and Oakland Athletics as well with both organizations minor league teams. Murton started out his career in the Boston Red Sox organization but was traded to the Cubs in the Nomar Garciaparra trade. He is an average hitter that will hit the occasional home run but he is more of a double hitters while played ok defense.

The Rockies sent the As infielder Corey Wimberly for Murton. Wimberly recently went undrafted in the Rule 5 draft and hit .291/.370/.345 in Double A for the Rockies.

Ubaldo Jimenez just received a very nice raise from the Colorado Rockies as they two agreed on a four-year contract that will keep Jimenez in a Rockies uniform for quite a while. The contract is $10 million in guranteed money as well as club options in 2013 and 2014.

He will receive $750,000 in 2009, $1.25 million in 2010, $2.8 million in 2011 and $4.2 million in 2012. The club options are for $5.75 million in 2013 and $8 million in 2014. There is a $1 million buyout on the options

Rockies General Manager Dan O’Dowd had this to say:

“We like the type of kid he is,” Rockies general manager Dan O’Dowd siad. “He’s got tremendous character and integrity. I think he’s bought into everything we’re all about.

I think he has a chance to be an ace with his ability, but he has some areas he needs to improve on before he’s able to do that.”

Congrats to the Rockies and Jimenez on getting a deal worked out!

It was a busy day on Wednesday for the Colorado Rockies as they signed five different players to minor league contracts. The two big names that most people will know are Scott Podsednik and Matt Belisle. The other three players that were signed to minor league deals were Dan Ortmeier, Edwin Bellorin, and Cedrick Bowers.

All the players are expected to be invited to spring training where they will compete for a major league roster spot.

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Jason Marquis is the newest member of the Colorado Rockies and he will be thrown right into the starting rotation when he comes to spring training. Marquis had played the last two seasons with the Chicago Cubs but was a back of the end starter for them and was often skipped over in his starts.

The Rockies sent the Cubs reliever Luis Vizcaino in exchange. The Cubs will also pay $875,000of Marquis’s contract. Marquis will be a free agent after the 2009 season. He went 11-9 with a 4.53 ERA last year for the Cubs.

Marquis also swings the bat very good as he has a career .206 average with 40 rbi’s. He can also hit the long ball which he did a couple of times for the Cubs.

Good move for the Rockies even though they improve the payroll by $5 million.

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The Colorado Rockies have been wanting to pick up a left handed relief pitcher that could serve in the setup role and on Tuesday it looks like they got their man. Alan Embree has agreed on a one year contract which is being rumored to be around $2.55 million. The contract and terms won’t be announced until Thursday after the Rule 5 Draft.

Embree went 2-5 with a 4.96 ERA in 70 appearances for the Athletics last season. He pitched previously for the Giants (1999-2001) and Padres (2002 and 2006).

Keep checking back as we are reporting any transactions as soon as we hear about them. The Winter meetings are going on Las Vegas right now, so there are a lot of things floating around.

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The Colorado Rockies are bringing back ex-manager Don Baylor. Baylor will be the teams new hitting coach news sources reported on Monday in Denver.

The team also brought in Jim Tracy to serve as the bench coach and Rich Dauer as third base coach. Jim Wright becomes the bullpen coach and Brian Jordan will be the strength and conditioning coach.

The only coaches that were retained from last year are first base coach Glenallen Hill and and manager Clint Hurdle.

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On Monday the Colorado Rockies and Oakland Athletics worked out a trade that will send Matt Holliday to the Oakland Athletics. The Rockies will be getting Greg Smith, Huston Street, and Carlos Gonzalez back from the A’s in exchange for Holliday.

This deal is decent but I was hoping for a little bit more for Holliday. Smith is a pretty wild pitcher that doesn’t serve well for Coors Field. Street is a good reliever that will need to fill in for Brian Fuentes who the Rockies let walk away. Gonzalez, 23, saw his first big league action last season and hit .242 with four home runs and 26 RBIs in 302 at-bats.

What do you think of the deal Rockies fans? Leave us a comment and let us know!

The Colorado Rockies and Marcus Giles sure didn’t last long.  Giles has been released by the team after not securing the second basemen’s job out of spring training.  Some reports are saying that the Dodgers are interested in picking him up so he might find a team before opening day.

The Rockies have also sent some players down the minor leagues from spring training.  Ian Stewart, Omar Quintanilla, and Seth Smith were all optioned to Triple-A Colorado Springs.  While Humberto Cota was sent to minor league camp.

The Colorado Rockies have locked up another player to a long term contract and this time it is Brad Hawpe.  Hawpe who signed a one year contract in January, and now signed a three year contract that will throw that one year deal out the window.  Hawpe will make $17 million dollars in this new three year contract.

The Rockies are really spending the money after making an World Series appearance last year.  They are going to give it a good run for the next 3-4 years as they have locked up their key players to smiliar deals.  I still believe the Rockies will only go as far as the pitching staff will take them.

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The Colorado Rockies have locked up Manny Corpas with a four year contract that is worth $8 million dollars.  The contract also has club options for 2012 and 2013 which is way down the line.

Pretty good deal as long as Corpas can close out games like he did last year.  $2 million a year isn’t bad at all, it will all just come down to performance.

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