The Colorado Rockies' rather dismal handling of Chris Iannetta for several years could finally come to an end this offseason if certain rumors come true. The Rockies appear to be interested in catcher Ramon Hernandez, which could lead to the team trading Iannetta to the Los Angeles Angels, reports Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal.
Hernandez has spent the last three seasons with the Cincinnati Reds and hit ..282/.341/.446 with 12 home runs in 91 games. He was worth 2.0 Wins Above Replacement (FanGraphs version, fWAR). Iannetta was worth 3.3 fWAR after hitting .238/.370/.414 with 14 home runs in 114 games. Iannetta also knows how to take a walk better than Hernandez (16.4 percent to 7.0), but Iannetta strikes out nearly 21 percent of the time to Hernandez's 12.5.
One of the reasons the Rockies are pursuing Hernandez is because he was reclassified as a Type B free agent under the new collective bargaining agreement. He was a Type A free agent before, meaning the Rockies would have had to forfeit a draft pick.
Rosenthal reports that neither signing Hernandez nor trading Iannetta to the Angels is even close, but his sources do believe the Angels like Iannetta -- apparently more so than the Rockies do. Should this all go down, Wilin Rosario looks as though he is still on a development path and will need to bide his time, either in the minors or as the backup on the major league roster.
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