Looking to shore up the back end of the bullpen, a pair of teams are vying for the attention of the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Colorado Rockies and St. Louis Cardinals are both "aggressively pursuing" closer Alex Colome, USA TODAY Sports' Bob Nightengale reports.
Colome, 28, is entering his first year of arbitration, and remains under team control until 2021. Since being converted to a full-time reliever in 2016, Colome has posted a 2.63 ERA with a 1.12 WHIP and 84 saves across 123 1/3 innings. He made his first All-Star Game appearance in 2016 as well.
It appears Colome will have plenty of suitors. Both the Chicago Cubs and New York Mets are potentially kicking the tires on him as well, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.
The Cardinals, looking to fill in a gap left by Trevor Rosenthal undergoing Tommy John surgery, have already been linked to Colome in trade talks.
For the Rockies, this marks yet another pitcher the team has checked in on this offseason. The team has previously been connected to Baltimore Orioles reliever Zach Britton and former Washington Nationals reliever Brandon Kintzler as replacement options for 2017 closer Greg Holland.
