The Rockies have already re-signed Jake McGee and landed Bryan Shaw (both on three-year deals), and they’re now talking with free-agent righty Addison Reed, per Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports (on Twitter). They’re also still “in touch” with Greg Holland and former Cubs closer Wade Davis, per Heyman.
Suffice it to say, the bullpen is a clear point of focus for a Rockies front office that watched Holland, McGee and Pat Neshek all hit the open market as free agents this offseason. At one point, the Rox were reportedly in advanced talks about a deal to bring Holland back to Denver (even after agreeing to sign both Shaw and McGee), but there’s been very little information on that front in the past week. As of last Wednesday, the Rox had reportedly made what they felt to be a “strong” offer to Holland (per Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post), but to date it doesn’t seem to have been enough to sway Holland and agent Scott Boras.
Pivoting to Reed could give the Rox a potentially more affordable late-inning option that is actually coming off a superior year to the one Holland just completed. In 76 innings split between the Mets and Red Sox, Reed worked to a 2.84 ERA with 9.0 K/9, 1.8 BB/9, 1.3 HR/9 and a 40.8 percent ground-ball rate. The spike in home runs allowed was something of an anomaly for Reed, who entered the 2017 campaign with just 0.9 HR/9 in his career.
Reed won’t turn 29 until next week, making him one of the youngest available free agents on the market — certainly the most youthful among established relievers. He’s worked as both a closer and a setup man throughout his big league tenure with the White Sox, D-backs, Mets and Red Sox, compiling an overall 3.40 ERA with 9.5 K/9, 2.3 BB/9 and a 36.3 percent ground-ball rate in the Majors. MLBTR ranked him third among relievers (in terms of earning power) and 16th overall, ultimately predicting that he could secure a four-year deal on the open market.
If they sign Reed it will be tough to argue that the Rockies don’t have the best pen in the NL West. They actually seem to be building the best pen in the NL.
On the road perhaps, but the colts field factor is a tough gig to over come
Coors* field
It is, but you have to keep in mind visiting teams are subject to the same pitfalls as the Rockies.
Not really. A visiting team comes in for 3-4 games. The Rockies are home for 6-10 games at a time. That’s a lot more concentrated usage on their pen and more chance for over-use/injury.
Go for it Rockies. We want more Rocktober!
THIS IS WHO THE CUBS SHOULD BE GOING AFTER. Especially with their BB woes last year. Their pen is nice. But it isn’t nasty, best in NL, World Series great yet.
They should sign him now. Or they’ll regret it .
Cishek & Morrow combined for 23 walks last year, Edwards had 38 by himself. Theo is doing good addressing last years wild pen.
They still need an elite closer… anything less is patchwork for Mason.
Damn it Apple… patchwork for “Maddon.”
Nice I didn’t know that. Do you think Theo and Co. should sign another arm in the pen? And if so, who do you prefer?
Agree was hoping he would end up a Cub
Love it…..
This gives them a pitcher they need. They need more swing and miss guys and he can help. He averages a K per inning which is good
a K per inning was average for all relievers last year.
8.34 K/9 was average.
link to fangraphs.com
Reed was 9.0 last year and has a 9.5 career average.
Wonder if Lucroy will re-sign with the Rockies?
It’s very unlikely. Rockies seem content to head into the season with Tom Murphy and Tony Wolters competing to share catcher duties with Iannetta. Personally I think they should look in Alex Avila, a perfect L/R platoon partner. Lucroy will end up getting a decent offer from Astros or Nats.
Lucroy’s market has been extremely quiet. I haven’t seen/heard about any teams looking st him.
Are the rockies just gonna hoard every reliever on the market
Mets are dumb to not bring him back.
Knowing that Travis Wood will only need the major league minimum to sign (with the Royals picking up the rest) it seems as if he is the PERFECT Mets signing. Looking for lightning in a Bottle……
I think people forgot Ianetta signed with the Rockies, so he might be doing a bulk of the catching while Murphy and wolters will share back up duty.
Sign Brock Lesnar
Decent idea but he has attitude problems.
Still wondering where the offense is gonna come from…
This would be a great signing for the Rockies. I would think that would largely complete their bullpen for the offseason. Though I wouldn’t rule out a bargain arm at some point. They could then get more energy put into signing a corner outfield bat like a Jay Bruce, and make a run at Lucroy. I still think it wouldn’t be bad for Wolters and Murphy to continue to develop in the minors with Lucroy and Ianetta helping this young Rockies rotation. I don’t know how all this would fit into the Rockies budget, or how this would impact the re-signing of Blackmon and Arenado. I’m just a fan though…it’s not my name on the front of these players checks.
Let’s not deal with the Boras/Holland combination. Too pricey and he finished very poorly last season. Reed can help and has some closer experience. Bullpen help is what the Rockies need most. Also thinking we have enough catching without Lucroy. If the Rox stay healthy and figure out “who’s on first” this team will go far into the playoffs next year.
Have to agree. Can’t just ignore the fact Holland’s performance deteriorated in the 2nd half. This winter teams seem to be much more standoffish with Boras clients than I recall in the past. No GM wants to deal with Boras, and so they exhaust all other possibilities to fill needs before engaging him. I’d be willing to bet that a month from now most of his clients will still be unsigned, and he’ll hit the radio circuit to deliver one of his patented filibuster fairy tales about how amazing his players are. He did that last winter with Wieters, and we see how absolutely thrilled WAS is that they bought into Boras’ rose-colored sales pitch.
Holland is 100% going to be an overpay for whatever club gets him. Since Boras is Boras, I doubt Holland gets anything less than ~12M per year and considering how volatile a pitcher he can be, he isn’t worth that. As a Rockies fan, id rather see Reed get a 4 year deal (though both sides would probably prefer a 3 year deal), than Holland get a 3 year deal. Even when Holland was pitching “well”, you could see the mistakes he made with command and in the second half those mistakes turned into a plethora of runs.
Essentially, the Rockies potentially have the bullpen the Mets fans thought they’d have.
I am hearing Rockies are going for 2 out Reed, Davis and Holland. If they can pull that off they will have the best NL pen.