Rockies GM tells Blackmon to take trade rumors with 'grain of salt'

As Colorado Rockies general manager Jeff Bridich welcomed Ian Desmond into the mix on Tuesday, he took time to reach out to his current center fielder Charlie Blackmon to try and assure him that he's not on the block.

"I told him to take all the rumors and everything that he might be reading with a huge grain of salt," Bridich told MLB.com's Thomas Harding of his conversation with Blackmon. "As the situation was with 'CarGo' (Carlos Gonzalez) over the past few years, there are teams that are doing their jobs and doing their due diligence and calling on our guys.

"But we have never come out and said, 'We want or need to trade Charlie Blackmon.' I felt like he needed to hear it from me. Unless he saw something directly attributed to me, he could take everything else with a grain of salt."

Blackmon is coming off a career year in which he hit .324/.381/.552 with 29 home runs and 17 stolen bases in 143 games. He's under team control through the next two seasons and is part of a very strong outfield core for the Rockies.

The addition of Desmond, who played center field for the Rangers last season, led many to believe that one of the Rockies' outfielders would become dispensable. The plan, however, is to use Desmond at first base despite him having never played the position before.

The Rockies have reportedly received interest in Blackmon from a number of teams, including the Washington Nationals, Chicago Cubs, and Toronto Blue Jays.