The Rockies have reached a contract extension with reliever Scott Oberg, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports. It’s a three-year, $13MM deal with an $8MM club option for 2023. However, the pact contains escalators that could push the value to $15MM over three years and $26MM for four, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Oberg is a client of agent Brian Charles of Big League Management Company, LLC.
Prior to this extension, Oberg had been projected to earn $2MM via arbitration in 2020. That will still be the case, according to the New York Post’s Joel Sherman, who adds that Oberg will be guaranteed $4MM in 2021 and and $7MM in ’22. This extension will overlap with his final two arbitration-eligible campaigns and, if the option is exercised in a few seasons, buy out two free-agent years.
The fact that Oberg has become a core piece for the Rockies is fairly remarkable, as the team didn’t invest much in him (a 15th-round pick) when it drafted him in 2012. The right-handed Oberg became a regular out of the Colorado bullpen in 2015, but he didn’t truly blossom until 2018.
Oberg has quietly been one of the game’s most effective relievers since his breakout season, having relied on a fastball-slider combo to log a 2.35 ERA/3.20 FIP with 9.03 K/9, 2.75 BB/9 and a strong 52.7 percent groundball rate across 114 2/3 innings. Looking at Oberg’s home/road splits, it’s clear pitching at the hitter-friendly Coors Field hasn’t really fazed the 29-year-old in recent seasons.
Oberg did see his overall production plummet as 2019 progressed, but he was dealing with significant health worries then that affected his numbers. He didn’t take the mound past Aug. 16 on account of blood clots in his right elbow, which forced him to undergo surgery to address the issue. That was the second time Oberg has battled blood clots during his career, but there doesn’t seem to be any concern on the part of him or the Rockies that it’ll be an ongoing problem.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
They love paying relievers, don’t they?
At least this one has a track record of success in Colorado so you know he won’t get torched like almost every other reliever they’ve signed when pitching at high altitude.
Yeah… But baseballpun is right. This team already has way too much $ sunk into their bullpen already and even with this guy extended they are still likely to finish in last place next season. This guy is not going to help them win a championship between now and when his extension is over. The Rockies should be cutting cost and gaining prospects for the future when they might actually contend. Not spending more cash on relievers when they can’t win anyway. What is that… 4 bullpen pitchers they still owe 9 digits each? That is way too much for a terrible team that is more likely to finish in last place than third place next year.
Rookies will suck for years, no free agent pitcher or player want to come to Colorado. When they leave Colorado it take a week to 10 days adjust to sea level . then they go back and start all over.
this is a great move though. theyve finally found one that can play in their stadium and are making sure they capitalize on it.
Yep…and as good as he was last year, the tail end of this 3 year deal feels all too familiar…
Wasn’t that what they said about Jake McGee?? Signing one with success there has to be better. Though they’ve been burned that way with McGee too. Hard to say. Colorado’s been burned from basically every contract they’ve given out in the recent past.
I’d say locking him up is a better buy then their other splurges. At least he’s cheap and they add some club control
Nice deal for an underrated bullpen piece
He’s gonna be showing hitters his O face
Hopefully his works out better than Seung-Hwan Oh’s.
lol when has a relief singing or extension ever failed the Rockies?
So should they just stop having a bullpen altogether because they had past failures?
Haha
People are showing their lack of critical thinking in this comment section
i see colorado finally learned it’s lesson in building a bullpen. good to see them extend there own player instead of splurging on the market