At this week’s press conference to introduce Ian Desmond, Rockies GM Jeff Bridich stated that improving the bullpen was his next goal, and the Rockies made their first effort to do so on Wednesday, agreeing to a three-year deal with free-agent left-hander Mike Dunn. The contract, announced today by the Rockies, reportedly guarantees Dunn a hefty $19MM and is also said to come with a fourth-year club/vesting option worth $6MM. Dunn is a client O’Connell Sports Management.
Dunn will earn $4MM in 2017 and $7MM in both 2018 and 2019. The contract’s option comes with a $1MM buyout and will reportedly vest if he appears in 130 games from 2018-19 or pitches in 60 games in 2019 alone. Reports also indicate that he can earn up to $1MM of options each year if he becomes the team’s closer and finishes 55 games, and he’ll also receive a $500K assignment bonus if he’s traded. The incentives afford Dunn $100K each year for 30 and 35 games finished, $150K for reaching 40 and 45 games finished, $200K for finishing 50 games and $300K for finishing 55 games. While the Rockies haven’t said they plan on utilizing Dunn as their closer, the incentives represent the clear acknowledgment that it’s at least possible that Dunn surfaces in that role at some point over the next three years.
[Related: Updated Colorado Rockies Depth Chart]
Dunn, 32 next May, has been a mostly steady bullpen piece for the Marlins over the past six seasons, pitching to a 3.59 ERA with 9.8 K/9, 4.1 BB/9 and a 35.7 percent ground-ball rate in 328 innings of relief. He missed the first two months of the 2016 season with a forearm strain but had never been on the Major League DL prior to that stint and pitched effectively upon returning, as he logged a 3.40 ERA with 8.1 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 in 42 1/3 innings of work. That durability bodes somewhat well for his chances of reaching the aforementioned incentives, but Dunn will also be 34 in the final guaranteed year of the deal and relief pitchers are notoriously volatile.
The longtime Marlin has held opposing left-handers to a .226/.306/.336 batting line since cementing himself in the Miami bullpen back in 2011. Right-handed opponents fare better than lefties, though Dunn has improved in that regard in recent years, as he’s held righties to a .229/.322/.386 slash in the past four seasons.
Dunn will join a Rockies bullpen that ranked last in the Majors in ERA in 2016 (5.13), 24th in FIP (4.35) and 23rd in xFIP (4.27). He’ll join Jake McGee and Chris Rusin as left-handed options for first-year skipper Bud Black, who will also have right-handers Qualls, Motte, Adam Ottavino and Jordan Lyles at his disposal. Hard-throwing righties like Carlos Estevez and Miguel Castro, too, will be waiting in the wings, while Jairo Diaz could make his way back from Tommy John surgery in 2017 as well.
Bridich and his staff will hope that the Dunn signing plays out with better results than either of last year’s free-agent bullpen expenditures, as both Jason Motte and Chad Qualls performed poorly in their debut campaigns with the Rockies. Dunn has a lengthier and more consistent track record than that pair in recent years, but he’s also a fly-ball pitcher with some platoon issues that’ll be leaving the cavernous Marlins Park for the homer-happy confines of Coors Field. More troubling is the fact that Dunn’s fly-ball tendencies reached extreme levels in 2016; the southpaw turned in a career-low 27.9 percent ground-ball rate which was accompanied by a 42.6 percent fly-ball rate (21st among relievers with at least 40 innings pitched) and a 29.5 percent line-drive rate (highest in the Majors, same criteria).
The Rockies are clearly confident that Dunn can continue to be stingy in terms of the home-run ball, but he’s been a bit more susceptible to homers in the past two seasons and won’t be provided any favors by his new home setting. Nonetheless, it’s been an extremely favorable market to relief pitching this winter — especially those in the second and third tiers of free agency. While there were fairly widespread expectations that Aroldis Chapman, Kenley Jansen and (to a lesser extent) Mark Melancon would set new records for relief pitchers, the market has now seen Brett Cecil land four years ($30.25MM), Dunn secure a three-year pact and Marc Rzepczynski sign for two guaranteed years ($11MM).
Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports first reported that the two sides were nearing a deal (on Twitter). FanRag’s Jon Heyman was the first to say there was an agreement in place (Twitter link). ESPN’s Buster Olney tweeted Dunn’s guarantee, while Nightengale chimed in with the remaining financial details (all Twitter links). Ken Davidoff of the New York Post tweeted word of the assignment bonus. MLB.com’s Thomas Harding reported the year-to-year salaries and incentives breakdown (all Twitter links).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Frig off Rockies
Not sure what that means…but it is interesting that a guy with a career 1.365 WHIP who pitched primarily in the NL gets a 3-yr $19M deal, potentially $25M if he vests for a 4th. Seems like an overpay.
Thank you for highlighting the whip…it’s the most important stat for relief pitchers.
They should move LeMahieu to first, Story to second, and Desmond to short. Then they just need some more pitching and a veteran catcher and they could easily be a contender.
I’d like to hear your reasoning for that movement. It seems like Lemahieu and Story are adequate if unspectacular defenders as is, while Desmond’s never been particularly good at shortstop and just took a year off from the position. I don’t love Desmond at first, but that seems preferable to rearranging the entire infield.
Ian Desmond may become a very good defensive 1B.. However, you just never know. Rod Carew went from being a very mediocre defensive 2B to an outstanding 1B whereas Carlos Guillen went from being a below average (but better than Carew played 2B) defensive SS to being just awful at 1B. Willie Stargel, Pete Rose, Steve Garvey, Bob Watson, Tony Perrez, Bill Buckner, Jack Clark and Pedro Guerrero are some who successfully moved to 1B. Others such as Gary Sheffield, Bobby Bonilla, Greg Luzinski and Frank Howard are some just to name a few who couldn’t master 1B
no, they should just trade lemaheiu to the dodgers. slide desmond to second, sign brandon moss or valbuena to play first. lemaheiu is a fine player but just had a career year.
That’s not a bad idea, certainly if they can get one of the Dodger’s starting pitchers (e.g. Alex Wood). Maybe they could get van Slyke too to fill there first base need.
As a Dodgers fan I can tell you even at a career year that would be undersell. LeMaheui is worth at least Wood van Slyke and a top 10 prospect
I didn’t mean a straight-up trade with the players mentioned. However, a trade containing those players makes a lot of sense. Also, keep in mind that Wood still has 3 years left on his deal and has the potential to be a no. 2 starter. I think a top 10 prospect would be pushing it. Maybe Brock Stewart or Ross Stripling?
LeMathieu is a GG 2B tho
keep it up Rockies I like the moves anything to knock off the giants
No team is more desperate for LH relief than Miami. No team would give Dunn less consideration than Miami! Hitters love facing him!
He had a good year last year…
They loving making outs?
The Rockies really need to improve both their bullpen and starting rotation if they want to have any hope of competing in the near future. They have arguably one of the worst pens in baseball and a sub par rotation
Draft more good pitchers. Develop them better.
With the way the positional roster is constructed right now the Rockies absolutely should go for it and trade for both relief help and starting pitching
They do not have the luxury of time to wait for drafted pitchers to develop before guys like C Gonzalez and C Blackmon hit free agency
Which leads to a never-ending cycle.
Not really a Rockies-only assessment. If scouts and coaches from (insert team here) develop better internal talent, they have players for six years plus. I’m not even seeing why this is particularly debatable.
Scouting better, now and into the future, leads to a lesser need for trades in the future.
Between the signings of Mike Dunn, Ian Desmond, and the Bridich comments about ‘veterans of character,’ I question whether or not the Rockies’ roster-building strategy is both sound and anti-discriminatory.
The team has marked it’s ‘character evaluation’ form as proprietary, meaning it believes it contains industry secrets and is protected from being shared. And yet, the team continues to go out and give big money [and job security] to openly Christian athletes. The trend continues with these two pickups, and I cannot help but wonder if the team is back to enforcing religious clubhouse rules and making hiring decisions based on religion.
Perhaps MLBTR’s own Mr. Todd, a former attorney, would like to throw in his two cents?
You’re reaching, big time. There are countless players in the league that are extremely outspoken about their Christianity. You’re looking for something that isn’t really there.
I have no problem with religion, outside of the workplace. If the team is [again] enforcing team chapel meetings or making hiring decisions based on religious beliefs, then it is simply discrimination.
The team already holds a ‘Faith Day,’ which, of course, only celebrates *one* specific faith.
I agree with your concerns about “Faith Night” only seemingly celebrating one religion, but the Rox aren’t the only team to have such a promotion. The Nationals, Braves and Dodgers have all done similar promotions in recent years, for instance, and I’m sure there are more teams that have done so, if we were to take the time to further look into the matter.
A lot of teams have Faith Days so this isn’t new. You know a lot of teams have done Gay Pride days right? Like it’s not new to target a certain group for a certain game.
I guess we’ll see if the Rockies can coax Adam LaRoche into un-retiring.
Celebratory nights are not the right thing to focus on though, there’s been a lot made of the Rockies odd way of targeting what players they sign and draft. A simple google search of “rockies christian players” yields too many results to ignore imo.
When you search “Rockies Christian” the first thing that pops up is Christian friedrich, who wasn’t very good and no longer plays for them
I didn’t tell you to do that. I wrote “rockies christian players”.
Unless that’s a joke, in which case….don’t quit your day job.
The Rockies are the only team in MLB to be outspoken about their preference to Christians though.
I have no idea what the Rockies are doing behind closed doors, but unless/until there’s any actual reason to believe anything of this sort, I see no reason to suggest it.
Citing character in announcing player signings is nothing new. Rizzo and Daniels did the same in discussing Desmond, whether or not they used that particular term (not that I’d see it as being particularly loaded).
Isn’t $18 million a bit too much for this guy?
I agree. Dunn is a good but not even close to being a top left handed reliever. Rockies had to over pay to get somebody to pitch there.
Who wants to pitch in Colorado ? They need to up the salary for anyone signing there. Ask Mike Hampton
Colorado has to overpay for any FA pitcher, that’s nothing new,
Michael Dunn was wonderful in “Ship of Fools”.
Elbow problems…….
And there’s their annual overpay for a mediocre reliever, glad to see all is well in the baseball world.
why dont the rockies shed some payroll down and trade Cargo and a prospect LHP to yankees for severino,headley, and brett gardner n it will replace the OF spot losing cargo add headley to play 1st base n gain a cost friendly young SP for the future in severino. i don’t really want to give up on severino that easy but cargo in pinstripes in the bronx feels right!
How does adding Gardner and Headly lead to lower payroll.?
How does adding Gardner help them? Why do posters on here think their team matches up with all MLB teams? lol what a stupid thing to post and also read.
If the Sox are rebuilding, Dan Jennings would have been a decent option here. Can’t imagine the cost would be to prohibitive.
A four year contract for a 32-year-old situational lefty? Yikes! We do live in the age of routine overpayment, so Rox did what they had to do.
If the Rockies sign wieters, trade for 1-2 starting pitchers, hope that their bullpen has a rebound year, and put desmond in left, they might contend
Cant wait to see the cubs crush this guy next May.
Thinking about the Rockies makes me feel wistful about life. It’s so challenging for pitchers to pitch at that altitude and it must be frustrating for young pitchers who are learning to play at the big league level to develop confidence in secondary pitches in the thin air.
I started to wonder if the Rockies would eclipse the Chicago Cubs going 108 years without a World Series title. I realized this feat is “between” championship years and the Rockies haven’t won even one title. Then iI realized if the Rockies did surpass 108 years of futility, I wouldn’t be around to see it.
Damn, life is short.
The Rockies bullpen is nowhere close to being prepared to contend
It does not matter how good your offense is if your starting pitching is a bottom 5 mlb rotation and you have the mlb’s worst bullpen
Unless they make majors changes they will not contend anytime soon
As a Marlins fan, I am very happy for Mike dunn, and his family. Well deserved. When the Marlins acquired him from the Braves, their bullpen was really terrible, and he provided stability, at times being the only useful option. Marlins fans, for some reason, had some sort of problem with him though, mostly b/c he was the only lefty most of the time, meaning he’d come in to a lot of situations without getting the job done for one reason or another. He doesn’t really fare better against either sided hitters. When he is on though, he can go on long runs of effectiveness. Dunn is the Marlins all time leader in appearances. It’s a little weird to see him go, but again, I’m happy for him to get a long term deal like that. Good luck in Colorado. He’ll have some familiarity there, with Mike Redmond as the new bench coach
Trying to figure out what I missed. Platoon issues but he has gone .226 vs lefties and .229 vs righties since 2011. Not much of a platoon issue that I can see there.
His “flyball tendencies” haven’t resulted in bad HR/9 numbers since he ranked a little better than league average at 1.06/9 vs, 1.09 HR/9 league average among relievers last season. His HR/FB was also a little better than league average at 9.6% and was better than 2015.
What has aways struck me about Dunn is how he can get away with walking so many batters. He was much, much better in 2016, walking just 2.34 per 9 vs a 4.7 per 9 for his career going into the season.
Overall I would have to say this is a good signing for the Rockheads.
The Rockies had the worst bullpen in the majors in 2016 and a bottom 5 starting rotation that they have done nothing to improve.
How is this team going to contend for the NL west with such awful pitching?
Adding Dunn will not do much to help a pen that had a 5.13 ERA in 2016
Well, ya they still need at least another 2 bullpen arms, maybe 3, including a closer, but Dunn is a decent start
The Rockies already had one of the best offenses in the NL and they just added another good piece.
The Starting rotation should get better just by being a year more experienced. All 5 of them were very young last season, with the oldest being 27 for the 2017 season. And they have a couple of really good young starting pitching prospects in Hoffman and Freeland that are ready to step in and fill the cleats if any of those guys gets hurt or can’t cut it.
The pen will get better with a healthy Ottavino and the addition of Dunn. I would bet Bridich is not done with improving the pitching staff either. It’s only December 15th and spring training starts in 2 months.
I love when people push the same tired narrative about the Rockies, yes if you look at just ERA they had bottom 5 pitching. If you look at just batting average, on base percentage and slugging the Rockies are the 2nd best offense in the league. Even though people like to devalue the hitters in Colorado they rarely give the pitching the credit it deserves. I don’t agree completely with park factors, because they assume away stats are constant and cant factor in altitude adjustment, they do tell a story. Mainly that when park factors are taken into account the Rockies had mid range in both hitting and pitching overall, though the bullpen was extremely unclutch. A healthy Ottavino should help with that. I do think they could stand to add one big arm but Jon Gray and Tyler Anderson look to improve upon last year and Chatwood was almost unhittable away from Coors so it is not like they have nothing in their rotation (with Hoffman, Freeland and Marquez all in AAA that have a chance to make the jump)..
Home runs by the dozen in 3,2,1…
That’s actually the problem – Their rotation isn’t that good so they’ll probably give up more home runs than their offense can mitigate.
Also want to add that Dunn does a lot for veterans of the military. He and his family are really genuine people