Jon Gray, Rockies working on deal to keep pitcher in Colorado

Jon Gray, the Rockies’ homegrown right-hander who has go 1 of the astir accomplished pitchers successful Coors Field history, conscionable mightiness beryllium sticking around.

Although Gray is scheduled to go a escaped cause astatine the extremity of the season, he’s repeatedly said helium wants to stay successful Colorado. Interim wide manager Bill Schmidt, who hopes to beryllium named the imperishable GM this fall, said Friday that preliminary negotiations person begun connected a caller contract.

“We’re hopeful that Jon would similar to enactment here, which I judge helium does, and that we’re going to beryllium capable to find a communal ground,” Schmidt said aft the Rockies bypassed immoderate commercialized offers for Gray anterior to Friday’s deadline.

“We internally made a determination to support Jon and not entertain trading him,” Schmidt said. “I would accidental it was a mates of days agone that we made that decision. Our nonsubjective is to proceed to person Jon arsenic a Rockie. We person had immoderate discussions but we’re not astatine the decorativeness enactment yet.”

Gray, who started Friday night’s crippled astatine San Diego, has a .674 (31-15) career-winning percent astatine Coors Field, the second-best people successful franchise past (minimum 40 starts) down Jorge De La Rosa (.726, 53-20). The Rockies are 41-28 successful Gray’s 69 starts successful Denver.

“I’d emotion to enactment here,” Gray said Thursday. “Denver feels similar location and the Rockies are my family. When you turn up successful an enactment similar this one, it’s hard to ideate being with anyone else. I bask wearing purple connected the mound. I’d hatred to deterioration different color.”

Offseason blueprint. Schmidt acknowledged that the Rockies person enactment to bash successful the offseason, starting with beefing up 1 of the worst offenses successful franchise history. Free bureau mightiness beryllium portion of the solution.

“We realize, archetypal and foremost, we are ever going to beryllium a scouting and improvement organization,” Schmidt said. “Along the way, though, sometimes you bash request to capable spots wherever you don’t person that subordinate disposable to assistance your nine out. And we’ll look astatine the free-agent market.

“We cognize we request to get amended arsenic a club. And we’ll instrumentality those steps successful the offseason.”

Footnotes. There was speculation the Rockies mightiness commercialized person Daniel Bard, who is nether squad power done adjacent season. But Schmidt said that the Rockies decided to clasp connected to Bard agelong earlier Friday’s commercialized deadline neared. … Manager Bud Black said right-hander Robert Stephenson (on the injured database with upper-back tightness) threw a 20-pitch simulated crippled Thursday and volition adjacent transportation Saturday nighttime for Triple-A Albuquerque. … Right-hander Antonio Senzatela, coming disconnected the COVID IL, volition propulsion 4 innings Saturday nighttime and could instrumentality to the Rockies’ starting rotation adjacent week.