Not that it was ever much in question, but Rockies owner Dick Monfort confirmed in comments today that the organization won’t be able to spend its way out of its roster difficulties. “We don’t have a lot of flexibility next year,” Monfort said of the team’s payroll situation, as Nick Groke of The Athletic was among those to cover (Twitter links).
Appearing at an end-of-season press conference alongside GM Jeff Bridich and manager Bud Black, Monfort also commented on the team’s just-announced TV deal. The contract, which begins with the start of the 2021 season, is “not as lucrative as I wanted it to be,” says the Colorado franchise owner.
It’d be foolish to rule out contention for a club that features some impressive core talent and that made back-to-back postseason appearances in the prior two campaigns. But much went wrong for the Rox in 2019 and there aren’t many clear avenues to improving — at least, beyond getting the team’s existing players ready to roll for the new campaign.
Last year’s Rockies club opened with a $145MM payroll, marking the sixth-straight year in which the organization set a new high-water mark. That tally was reached in part with a series of multi-year contracts, many of which remain on the books.
Looking ahead to 2020, there’s already $120MM on the ledger, some portion of which is dedicated to underperforming assets. That’s before accounting for arbitration pay raises to Trevor Story, Jon Gray, Scott Oberg, David Dahl, and others. And it doesn’t include any new acquisitions.
There are other interesting observations still rolling out of the presser, with Michael Spencer of CBS Denver documenting some items of interest via video on his Twitter feed. Some recent comments from star third baseman Nolan Arenado featured heavily. Bridich contested any suggestion that the club has adopted or will take up a rebuilding posture. He also said the club is content with the opt-out clause included in Arenado’s contract. Indeed, the GM says it was his idea to bake it in. (Why? He spoke obliquely of “some of the realities that can exist” and “giving people the opportunity to take a breath, at a certain time period, to say is this right for me right now?” Of course, it’s also possible the team pushed the concept as a way of giving non-financial value.)
Looking ahead, the pitching staff is probably the key area of focus. Though the club was also distinctly below-average offensively, it’s easier to imagine relying upon internal strides in that area. Getting arms to Coors Field remains a difficult task, however, which helps to explain how the club ended up with some less-than-desirable reliever contracts. Bridich says the organization is “always looking” at ways to get quality players in, though the above-noted limitations figure to make that tough. The roster architect suggested that he remains confident in a group that certainly has been more effective in the recent past. As he put it, “I think that there still is a foundation as long as certain guys bounce back.”
This mess is clearly of the General Manager’s making..specifically signing McGee, Davis, & Shaw all to three year deals. All are on the wrong side of 30 and have little to no chance of rebounding next year…if anything they’ll regress even more. Desmond was another one of his brilliant moves..2 years to go on that mistake. Perhaps the Rox start with Jeff Bridich’s resignation might make the most sense.
Trade Nolan and get a massive package back that can put the Rockies back in the race
Who is taking that contract and giving up a haul?
Phillies. They might not have that amount of talent, but they have the cash and a 3B prospect named Alec Bohm that might entice the Rockies,.
they would never give him up.todays baseball in terms of trades the one star or younger star for a massive haul of young talent isn’t reality anymore
neither Medina or Howard are going anywhere, and that’s what Colorado will ask.
Unfortunately, these days, teams aren’t paying “massive” packages for anyone. Wherever Arenado plays, he’s going to command a huge salary and the modern reality of the game as defined by teams like the godless Dodgers and the impervious Astros (and to a lesser extent, the Rays, A’s and Milwaukee) is to save money and hold on to your prospects. The teams that can afford Arenado don’t need him or want to upset their in-house applecart to bring him in. Teams that can use him can’t afford him.
Godless…Dodgers?
As much as I love Nolan, his contract doesn’t contain any excess value as he is definitely making market rate at present. That’s not a recipe for a large return in a trade.
Agreed 100%. He’s at market rate. The best the Rockies can hope for is just to get the salary off the books. Perhaps they get a solid prospect in return and possibly a Low A-ball toss in..
I’m not advocating a trade at all, especially given the likely return.
They have got to clear money off the books for Story, Gray, and Dahl, all of whom appear to be foundation pieces going forward.
That means eating some money now on Desmond and the relievers in order to keep those guys long-term. Bridich went to business school, The idea of sunk costs should not be new to him.
But honestly, I think the best way for them to clear a lot of that money is to package some prospects with those guys to help reduce the amount of salary they have to eat.
I don’t think there is another way out from under those deals, and if they don’t free up that money then 2-3 of their current best players will be gone in the fairly near future.
They should consider trading Trevor Story? He’s inexpensive, and would bring back a top pitching prospect or two in return.
Story is easily their most valuable player commodity, but they should be locking him up instead of trading him.
Trade Blackmon big $ off his good year without expecting much prospect return……unless willing to absorb decent chunk of change to get decent prospect.
White Sox will take him.
I can get behind that
Paying 1 player, no matter how great he is, nearly 25% of your total salary is a sure recipe for failure. They should move Arenado for numerous prospects and field a competitive team.
Desmond, Shaw, Davis, and McGee are the ones that are handicapping this team. Arenado isnt. Those 4 at the top produced a -1.1 WAR. Absolutely stupid to keep them around.
That may be true but you’re not going to get much back for any of those four. In fact, you may have to eat a good bit of their salaries to move them at all.
Or include some prospects that have significant excess value, but when was the last time the Rockies did THAT?
Or just release the pitchers a la Mike Dunn
Dunn had a one-year option for 2020 that they bought out for $1M instead.
For 2020, Davis is owed $17M, Shaw gets $9M, McGee gets $9.5M, and Desmond has $15M coming.
Desmond has $8M due in 2021.
Murphy is on the books for 2021 ($8M) and 2022 ($6M).
Story had a $5M deal for ’19, and is eligible for arb on the heels of his best overall season.
The point being, teams like the Rockies cannot afford to have a stack of big misses like that, especially when young core players (Story, Gray, Dahl) are coming into arbitration.
Proud of the way the team finished this season! With the top 4 starters injured much of the season and the bullpen totally collapsing except for a few, there is no way one could expect anything better than fourth in the division – and that came down to the last game of the season! Nevertheless, the performance of the “replacement starters” such as Peter Lambert, Antonio Senzatela, Jeff Hoffman, Chi Chi Gonzalez, and Tim Melville is very encouraging, assuming that German Marquez, Kyle Freeland, and Jon Gray will be healthy for 2020. Several newcomers in the bullpen late in the season were welcome, with the career best performance by Oberg. Deadwood such as Davis, Shaw and McGee should not be allowed to pitch for this team again. Between Estevez and Oberg, the Rocks should not have to look for a closer during the off-season. Potential stars such as Hilliard, Tapia and Hampson make it hard to see where everyone is going to play, with the best left side in baseball, the progress of McMahon, and a healthy Dahl. It makes “Wait ’til next year” easy to say.
Optimism!
The problem is Monfort himself. Firstly, there’s so many transplants in Colorado, they take over the ballpark on a nightly basis and sellout or come near close on the likes of their division rivals most notably the Dodgers and Giants (due to Denver being new LA/SF).
No matter what the Rockies do, they sell out 25% of their games regardless of the roster on the field. Monfort know he has to do nothing to make money. Additionally, their TV right aren’t part of the nation Fox Sports or Comcast conglomerate, so they have more control over their TV rights and revenue. They are one of the few “small market” network deals left.
Monfort also love to play the “small market” angle. Denver isn’t a small market and hasn’t been for some time. The Metro area grows by several hundred thousand every year.
Monfort says they have no money, he’s full of it.
They just signed a new, more lucrative TV deal, too.
I read that highlight yesterday, but I have yet to read into it, so I don’t know anything about that deal. All I know is what I read above about it kicking in in 2021.
I’m not a Rockies fan, but I live here and I refuse to take a dump on the local team. I only root against them 6 times a year when they play the Phillies.
However, the way Monfort treats his fanbase as idiots drives me nuts.
I didn’t see any particulars, now that you mention it. The previous deal was for $20M/season, and most of the guesstimates I saw for the new deal had that doubled.
Of all the mistakes Bridich has made (and they are numerous), the Ian Desmond Contract reigns supreme.
Not only did it chew up a significant chunk of payroll, it also blocked Ryan McMahon at 1B, resulting in his shift to 2B, which then led to DJ LeMahieu leaving.
When Desmond did not work out at 1B, they signed Daniel Murphy and shifted Desmond to CF, which led to Mike Tauchman heading to the Yankees where he did very well when he was healthy.
So, effectively, the Ian Desmond Contract cost them DJ and Tauchman, and delayed the development of McMahon, when they could have just re-signed DJ for far less than they gave Desmond in the first place.
The very first move of this off-season should be the dismissal of the GM.
It’s that awkward moment when you realize how many times the Rockies have reached the playoffs, even gotten to a World Series, but have yet to come close to a division title.
Not to mention giving up a first round pick to sign Desmond…
So many conspiracy theories. You do know that DJ “cashed out” as a free agent? I don’t blame him – it was his big payday and well deserved, but he wasn’t going to get that from the Rockies. None of your musings hold water.
DJ left as a free agent because they didn’t offer him an extension. And a large part of that was that they signed Desmond and chewed up a big chunk of change unnecessarily.
His contract with the Yankees is two years at $12M per year. That’s FAR less than they gave Desmond.
My “musings” are 100% on point.
It sounds as though the person to trade is Story. He’s not locked up and right now would garner a top pitching prospect or two as a return
the sad fact is as long as there is a team in Colorado there will be issues such as this. their best assets will always be hitters, who will have the dubious “Coors Effect” lable bounced off them regardless of splits, so they will have to buy pitching, presumably to miserable effect.
The Broncos have and always will run that market. Once football starts no one cares about what happens on Blake Street.
I’m not a Rockies fan, but as a baseball fan I feel sorry for Rockie fans. The core talent is there obviously, but man has management and Burdich fumbled this. In looking at the contracts there are some poison pills in them. There’s no way they can trade Davis or Desmond or swap bad contracts with them receiving full blown NTCs. Add onto the fact Davis’s option becomes a player option should he finish 30 Games in ‘20. Shaw & Davis having obtainable guarantees for reachable innings thrown, mainly Shaw who is 38 innings away from the option being guaranteed. McGee you can argue is not likely, but possible. Even if Burdich was creative he basically hamstrung this team for two more years, due to what seems clear incompetence. Seems a massive waste of 50M in 20 and 34M in 21. Which really does nothing, but back up the thoughts that Monfort doesn’t give an F with the quotes and statements to ticket holders.
I bet there are a lot of teams who would want and be better with Daniel Murphy. The guy can flat out hit. Not really sure why he got benched vs. LHP so often. He’s hit them in the past. heck, to hit .300 you almost have to hit them.
Desmond and the relievers are dead wood. Best you can do is make Desmond an expensive bench player (He does at least offer position versatility).
Biggest problem the Rox have had from Day 1 of their existence is no starting pitcher wants to pitch for them. So unless they want to revisit the past and pay crazy money for another Mike Hampton, forget signing a solid FA starting pitcher.
Next year? Maybe a .500 team with the same serving of those exciting 12-10 games and a bunch of pitchers with an ERA north of 5.00.
Try to trade Blackmon, Desmond, Murphy and Davis. McGee and Shaw can help in certain situations so keep them.
Move McMahon to first, Hampton and Rodgers battle for 2nd. Tapia and Dahl would be first Of. Hilliard and others to battle for3rd and 4th. Wolters and Nunez catch.
Davis could get something in return as he wasn’t horrible on the road. Murphy could be a very good DH. Blackmon should get something decent. Maybe a bag of balls for Desmond.
Get pitching for anyone traded.
The bullpen could be decent next year with Oberg closing, Estevez, Diaz and Tinoco setting up, and McGee, Bettis and Shaw in garbage time until they prove otherwise.
Starting P Marquez and Gray, make the rest go away.
Also replace boy genius as the GM.