DENVER — Jon Gray and the Rockies are taking the next step this weekend toward inking a new deal to keep their right-handed pitcher in Denver long-term.

The two parties are having extension talks this weekend. Gray, a free agent after this season, is hoping for a three to four year deal. It would be great, Gray said, if they could finalize a new contract before the end of the season.

“It would just be ideal for me,” Gray said on Friday. “To be able to have that hometown feel when I take the field is nice, and to have this community that I’ve been a part of to play for and represent, that’s something I’m looking for.”

The Rockies drafted Gray in 2013, and Colorado is the only organization he’s been a part of. Gray has expressed his interest to stay in Colorado many times this season, including right before the trade deadline, when his name was coming up in possible rumors. He said at the time that the Rockies are only team he wants to play for, and that having success on another team wouldn’t feel the same as if it happened with the Rockies. 

“If I won here, it would mean the world to me,” he said right before the deadline. “I can’t pass up on that. I don’t want to.”

Turns out, the team felt the same. The team made the decision three days before the deadline to take Gray off the market. Sources said everyone all the way up to owner Dick Monfort wants to put together a new deal.

“He’d like to be here and we’d like to have Jon,” interim general manager Bull Schmidt said after the deadline. “Our objective is to continue having Jon as a Rockie.”

Gray has climbed his way into the franchise record books, sitting at second for career strikeouts (807) and fifth for career starts (144). The Rockies have spent years building up the current rotation to get it to where it is today, and Gray said he feels like the rest of the team isn’t far behind. 

“I think there’s more opportunity than some people think,” he said. “We are a really talented group and we’re just missing a few parts right now.”