Dec. 16: Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports breaks down Shaw’s contract in a tweet, noting that the right-hander will earn $7.5MM in 2018, $8.5MM in 2019, and $9MM in 2020. The contract comes with a $9MM vesting option for 2021, which will vest if Shaw either makes 60 appearances or finishes 40 games in 2020. Alternatively, the option vests if he makes 110 appearances combined from 2019-2020. If Shaw doesn’t hit those marks, however, the option has a $2MM buyout. The deal also offers the righty $4MM in incentives.
Dec. 15: The Rockies have formally announced the signing of Shaw to a three-year deal.
Dec. 13: Shaw is expected to command a $27MM guarantee over three years, Heyman tweets.
Dec. 12: The Rockies have agreed to a deal with free agent righty Bryan Shaw, Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports reports (Twitter link). Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported earlier tonight (Twitter links) that talks between the two sides are “advanced” and “nearly done.” The deal is a three-year contract that will pay Shaw in the area of $9MM per season, according to ESPN.com’s Buster Olney, who also tweeted earlier today that teams believed Shaw and fellow right-hander Tommy Hunter already had agreements in place. Shaw is a client of Rowley Sports Management.
Shaw has posted strong numbers during his seven seasons with the D’Backs and Indians, with a career 3.13 ERA, 2.64 K/BB rate and 8.0 K/9 over 446 1/3 relief innings. The durable righty has never spent any time on the disabled list and leads all pitchers with 442 appearances between 2013-17. He owns a 50.6% career ground ball rate, which will serve him well at Coors Field, though Shaw has also been known to have been hurt by the home run ball. His 0.6 HR/9 in 2017 was his lowest such number in the last four seasons, however.
Shaw has 11 saves in his career but has never really worked as a closer, rather primarily serving as Cody Allen’s setup man in Cleveland. It would seem as if the Rockies may also intend to use Shaw in a setup role, as the team has been connected to such established closers as Wade Davis and former Rockie Greg Holland on the rumor mill. Bullpen reinforcement was a stated goal for Colorado this winter, with Holland, Pat Neshek (who has signed with the Phillies), and Jake McGee all hitting the free agent market.
Several teams had interest in Shaw this winter, and he was weighing multiple three-year offers, including one from the Mets. Newsday’s Marc Carig recently speculated that Shaw could have waiting to see if he landed a deal from a team (like the Rockies) that holds its Spring Training in Arizona, where Shaw and his family have a home.
MLB Trade Rumors ranked Shaw 25th on our list of the winter’s Top 50 Free Agents, predicting him for a three-year deal worth $21MM. Landing a deal with a rough average annual value of $9MM is a nice get for Shaw’s representatives, and another sign of how heavily teams are valuing relief pitching this winter. Neshek’s two-year deal with the Phillies guarantees him $16.25MM, while Brandon Morrow found two years and $21MM from the Cubs and Luke Gregerson two years and $11MM from the Cardinals.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
good luck
– an indians fan
Why?
7 years in the bigs… and this is a “down” year.
He’s never had a 3.52 ERA— that’s a career high— which I find impressive.
Quality guy, if you need RP.
if you watched him every day you’d know why i say that lol
He had a career 10% HR/Fly ball ratio and even though he does have an average ground ball rate of 50.6% he is prone to leaving fat pitches that are easy to elevate, as shown demonstrated by a HR/9IP of 1 or higher in 2 of his last 3 seasons. Those numbers leave a lot to be desired when signing a player to pitch in the thin Colorado air.
The Rockies should first and foremost look for pitchers with a sharper downward spin to limit fly balls and reduce launch angles.
jordan4giants
Thanks for the well thought out response.
Vs the headscratcher, if you only watched them play.
If one watched a player every day, they’d still have the same exact stats that were recorded and are known. So it leads to wondering , if there was some reason for caution, something seen in delivery, tendencies. some reason.
Again thanks.
I have not watched him play that much, except when he was with the DBacks. I was basing my opinion off of fangraphs and looking at his average launch angles and hitability. But you are right, in that a seeing eye grounder and a roped single look the same in the box score. My unease stems from a cursory look at his peripherals.
sorry i should have made myself more clear.. long story short, after seeing him pitch year after year in cleveland, i don’t think his stuff plays well in that ballpark. jordan4giants has a pretty darn good explanation.
The Rockies can’t rely on spin rates for pitchers. One word – 5280.
The thin and dry Colorado air limits how much spin rate matters for 81 games a year.
Shaw has pitched in the most games last season as well as over the past 3 seasons, 4 seasons, and 5 seasons. Durability is what the Rockies paid for and that is the most important thing playing at an elevation that makes recovery difficult.
You will see a lot of Cleveland fans talk about Shaw this way. He was used mostly in high pressure situations and it wasn’t always pretty but he got the job done quite a lot of the time. Most of it is because he was the guy who gave up the lead top 10 of game 7 of the world series. I think 3/27 is an over pay but he is a very dependable setup man.
He shouldn’t go to Colorado. I feel his stats will not be as good in Colorado. Most likely getting a good amount of money to play in Colorado.
Nobody’s stats are better in CO.
In all honesty Ulbaldo Jimenez had his best stuff in Colorado. 56 Wins for 5th most in Rockies franchise history with a .6/9HR rate.
As a relief pitcher, seems like CO would be the last place I’d want to pitch. But, then again I’d probably do it for $$$$$
Pitchers can have success in Colorado. It doesn’t scare as many people away as it used to, especially now that they have a good core
Teams aren’t stupid. They don’t look at a pitcher’s surface numbers in Colorado and assume that the player’s that bad. They all park-adjust and project future performance. Chatwood was terrible in Colorado, and he just pulled 3/$38M based on his stuff and his age
the mets are just the worst aren’t they. The second Sandy pulls back his offer he signs with the rockies
Amazing how Alderson still has a job.
The Mets aren’t close to contending so why waste 27 million on Shaw ?
Yea no offense to Mets fans, but I don’t get their thought process. The other day there was a long thread about how/why the Mets should make a run at Machado should (at the time) the orioles make him available.
indians sign greg holland. do it.
PASS… hopefully it’s a sign-and-trade deal.
Lol those don’t exist in baseballa
Keep hoping because that doesn’t exist
#NotMyReliefPitcher
It works when people do that with the President, so I’ll just refuse to acknowledge Shaw as a Rockies reliever, and then he won’t be one!
Magic!
I’m going to start doing that with my homework.
$9 million a year for him? Insanity.
That’s what it takes to convince pitchers to pitch in colorado.
One of 2 or 3 most consistent good relievers in baseball and only 30. He’s worth more than Morrow and Neshek, the guys who have signed so far.
I should have been a relief pitcher apparently.
Yup! The price of relief pitching is skyrocketing ! WoW!
Gee, I wonder if it was all of Alderson’s statements amounting to “we plan to do virtually nothing of consequence to improve our team right now” that caused them to miss out on their top 2 bullpen targets all at once? Or maybe they just decided to continue pretending NY was Cincy when the agents wanted to talk $$….
Hmmm, apparently news of Addison Reed’s death (i.e. signing with Philly) has been greatly exaggerated. Second chance, Alderson. Don’t blow it.
i bet Reed would rather go to the Phils than the Mets… Phils future looks a hell of a lot brighter
Mets need a new GM as well as new ownership.Hard to be a met fan these days
Curious if they’re giving up on Wade Davis. Rockies best late inning options are very sketchy between Carlos Estevez, Jairo Diaz, Adam Ottavino, and Scott Oberg.
They have some quality middle inning guys (Dunn, Rusin, and now Shaw). None of whom I’d want pitching 8th and 9th innings in the post season. Two of whom are paid like elite setup pitchers.
If anything signing a solid set up man helps them knew a back end guy. It means more save opportunities.
Home runs are not the issue in Colorado, they were several parks giving up more homers than Coors. Because of the huge outfield area it is the bloops that are the killers. He should be fine there. A good signing, 1 down and 2 to go.. Hopefully A trade for Colome is next.
5th in park factor for homeruns…I believe #1 overall…but it is the vast OF. Home runs on the decrease is also a product of an improving pitching staff. But Coors wasn’t as friendly for HR as Philly was.
Really hoping he went to the Mets, but the Wilpons shop for there players at the dollar store
it wouldn’t make the Mets any better than last season though. You are just swapping Reed for Shaw in this case
Hey Rockies, Good Luck with rubber arm Shaw, and he will be very streaky, as a relief pitcher…He will also probably set the record in Colorado for the most home runs allowed, and that will make your fans go crazy. He does have a rubber arm
He’s long had an above-average ground-ball rate, never run insanely high HR/FB rates. Is he great? No. Would I have gone 3/$27M on him? Probably not, but he’s not some batting practice machine either. The amount of hate he’s getting here from Cleveland fans is kinda weird
Shaw is awesome in low and medium pressure situations and is durable, 70 appearances a year, the higher the stakes the more likely he is to act like butter in a microwave.
Sports are fun!
Shaw decided to cash in and forget about his own career performance ..Colorado is a graveyard for pitchers
But Denver is also a terrific place and Coors field a wonderful atmoshere
Coors Field has treated him well. A 0.00 ERA in 9 appearances with 8.6K/9.