The Rockies are keeping their first baseman in the fold, announcing an agreement with C.J. Cron on a two-year contract extension. The deal guarantees the Moye Sports Associates client a total of $14.5MM.
It’s the second extension of the day for the Rox, who also just locked up righty Antonio Senzatela on a five-year contract. Unlike Senzatela, who was already under team control for two more seasons via arbitration, Cron was slated to become a free agent after the World Series. The two sides had publicly expressed interest in working out a reunion, however, and it seems they’ll do so before Cron ever hits the open market and hears from other clubs.
The extension will bring Cron some stability after pinballing around the league in recent seasons. The former Angels first-rounder was traded to the Rays in the 2017-18 offseason, claimed off waivers by the Twins in the 2018-19 offseason, signed by the Tigers (after being non-tendered by Minnesota) in the 2019-20 offseason, and signed a minor league with Colorado this past offseason.
That minor league pact proved to be an overwhelming bargain for the Rox, as Cron rebounded from last year’s season-ending knee surgery and raked at a .281/.375/.530 clip with 28 home runs — the second-highest total of his career. That said, there are some red flags to consider as well.
Beyond the fact that Cron will turn 32 in January, he displayed some eye-opening splits. The overwhelming amount of Cron’s damage came at Coors Field, where he batted .326/.412/.661 as opposed to .235/.337/.397 on the road. He was also, as is typically the case, much more productive against left-handed pitching (.311/.393/.583) than against right-handed opponents (.269/.368/.503). The Rockies clearly weren’t concerned by the splits, however, and for a fairly modest price tag of $7.25MM per season, that’s a defensible stance. Cron’s numbers against right-handed opponents, after all, were still strong. And while the home/road splits are glaring, he still managed an above-average on-base percentage on the road while maintaining a respectable isolated power mark.
That increased walk rate, it should be noted, is perhaps the biggest driving factor of this deal. Prior to the 2020 season, Cron had walked in just 5.5% of his career plate appearances. He walked nine times in just 52 plate appearances with Detroit before sustaining a season-ending knee injury, however, and the newfound patience largely carried over into the 2021 season. This year’s 11% walk rate effectively doubled his career mark and served to dramatically boost Cron’s offensive floor in the process. So long as the newfound plate discipline is here to stay, Cron ought to be a convincingly above-average bat over the next two seasons, even if he’s more of an average hitter on the road and a prodigious slugger at home.
Cron, like Senzatela, will be paid $7.25MM in each of the next two seasons. It’s a reasonable price to pay for a solid power bat who rates as an average or better defender at his position. From a bigger-picture standpoint, the Rockies now have about $61MM on next year’s payroll — a figure that’ll jump to about $82MM, assuming Charlie Blackmon exercises a $21MM player option. That’ll leave a pronounced gap between the currently projected payroll and the franchise-record $145MM mark, giving the Rockies some leeway to add to the roster under newly minted general manager Bill Schmidt.
Given the manner in which the open market has increasingly devalued free agents on the wrong side of 30, specifically first-base-only sluggers — there’s a reason Cron was effectively non-tendered twice, after all — one could argue that the Rockies shouldn’t have jumped the market. Taking a more patient approach could well have presented them with a “better” deal on a comparable player, or perhaps even a lower price tag on Cron. At the same time, they’ve now secured some cost certainty and ensured they’ll hang onto the specific person and teammate they clearly were targeting.
The broader issue for the Rockies will be one of how they supplement this roster next year. Extending Senzatela and Cron figure to be well-received moves among the Rockies’ fanbase, but all those moves accomplish for now is taking steps to ensure this same 74-win group can stay together. With Gray and Trevor Story both still ticketed for free agency — and Story widely expected to depart — the Rockies will need to add multiple pieces and/or see several big strides from young players just to get back to this year’s level of play. Actually improving the product and, more improbably, piecing together a contender that can jostle with the two best teams of the 2021 season (Giants and Dodgers) will require substantially more effort from Schmidt and his lieutenants.
Jeff Passan of ESPN was first to report the Rockies and Cron were in active extension discussions. Jon Heyman of the MLB Network was first to report the two sides were in agreement. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reported the contract terms.
Like the two extensions, even though I thought Antonio’s was expensive. Like the idea of extended players
$10MM a year for a starting pitcher is not really that expensive. It’s not a super cheap deal, but it’s about an average deal for an average starter. He is still young, so he could still improve and make the deal look cheap in the coming years. He could also flop and spend the last 2-3 years in AAA Albuquerque. But plenty of other franchises have made that mistake as well.
Everyone always faults the Rockies for not having pitching. Well now they have 3 spots covered of the best rotation in team history with a 4th spot possibly coming in the form of Jon Gray. If Austin Gomber gets better, then the entire rotation would be set for the next few years. They have starters covered, so getting a bullpen overhaul and a couple of quality bats in the outfield could make the Rox a surprise contender next year.
Why are you acting like Senzatela was a free agent? You can’t just say $10 mil AAV is fair while not even mentioning they had two more cheap years of control…. So the years they bought out are way more than $10’kil AAV.
Yes and if they waited those two years and Senzatela had a good year or two, it is highly possible that he would have cost more than $50MM for just those 3 years. So yes, they are paying him more than arbitration value in the first two years with the gamble they will pay him less than open market value on the final three.
Yeah, just ignore the control they already had over him, that makes it sound way better, but it’s disingenuous.
Bro I’m mlb 50 million for a pitcher for 5 years is nop expensive is the way it is period
yeah, i think its a wise investment.
Except you gloss over the fact that the Rockies had Senzatela under control for 2 years. He wasn’t going to cost 20MM for those 2 years. It’s a 3 year 35 MM extension for a guy who I thought was a potential non tender after this season. The best teams typically don’t pay up for back end of the rotation production. Of course the Rockies aren’t and I sure as hell don’t see them becoming that anytime soon.
What a weird front office
Now this extension makes sense.
Can we wait for the actual contract to be announced before we decide if it’s good or bad?
It will almost certainly be the standard type of “7 million dollar per yr mediocre veteran” contract I am sure….I am not really sure why a team going nowhere wants to pay 7 million a year instead of developing a young homegrown first basemen.
Do they have a young homegrown first baseman who will be ready within the next two years?
“do they have a homegrown first baseman”….If they don’t the whole front office should figuratively be lined up against the nearest wall and shot…….First base is the easiest position to fill, largely because slugger, limited one trick ponies like Cron are available pretty much EVERY YEAR(see Nelson Cruz, Juan Encarnacion, Kyle Schwarber, Matt Adams and many others). How about actually acquire a young first base prospect or young player, such as Dom Smith(still plenty young enough to be there 4+ years from now), who seemingly has fallen out of favor with the Mets….The Rockies CLEARLY, have no idea how to run a professional baseball team and are merely throwing things against a wall, desperately hoping that something will stick……….
Boy you really like to use quotations, don’t you? Anyways, your whole argument is based in having too many 1 dimensional sluggers, and your counterpoint is another 1 dimensional slugger in Dominic Smith?
$7.25M/yr for what Cron provides is still really cheap, and it’s actually pretty comparable to an average rookie 1B making the Major League minimum (and a little more during his sophomore year) on a $/WAR basis.
Actually this Cron deal is pretty much what I expected, my guess was two years at twelve million. The actual deal is not unreasonable, I am just not sure that the Rockies had much competition in terms of bidding for Cron. Cron had a nice end of the season, had better stats at Coors, but even with the DH, name three other teams where he would definitely start rather than just being in the spring training mix.. Maybe the Pirates, but they would not have spent that much. Toglia could be better or worse, too early to tell, but he’ll be ready by Spring 2024 at whatever level he is capable of reaching.
No, I wont. But, seeing as how the extension is only $14 mil for 2 years, I will repeat. Now, this extension makes sense.
Why are Rockies extending everyone
Happy for CJ! He’s come a long way from being blocked by Albert Pujols in Anaheim.
Where are the salary figures and numbers?!
Makes sense now why they didn’t trade him at deadline
Not really. He wasn’t going to get this much money as a FA. Would have made more sense to trade him then offer him this contract in the offseason.
But then who would play 1B next year? Even if they got a couple decent prospects in return, they weren’t going to get a Major League ready 1B in the deal, and since they don’t have such a prospect already, they’d have needed to pick up a 1B in free agency anyway.
I think they probably did try and trade him at the deadline, but they didn’t get any good enough offers. This new GM then decided he might as well bring him back as a placeholder for a bargain price, since they weren’t going to QO him and needed a 1B for next year anyway.
Also, he might not have done much better, but I bet he could’ve at least gotten a comparable offer in free agency, by the Rockies themselves even if no one else was truly interested.
“But then who would play 1B next year?”
Probably Cron anyway. If the Yankees can sign Aroldis Chapman after trading him the Rockies should have no problem at all doing it with CJ Cron.
It is a good day to be a Rockies player.
Good for CJ.
You get an extension! And you get an extension!
Signed a Minor League deal that paid him minimally, had a solid year, then extended with the same club without testing Free Agency. Seems to speak volumes about where he wanted to play.
where’s the dude that thought the Rockies should give Cron the QO?
Lol I remember that guy. What a moron.
You need a first baseman or you won’t turn many
Double plays or routine infield outs.
Good for him. Finally gets a payday.
Rockies just fot a far more productive 1B than the Padres for 10x less the cost. Further proving how incompetent Padrss GM is
Huh never thought I would see the day the Rockies GM beat Preller
Why not? In the past 15 years, the Rockies have made the playoffs 4 times…the Padres have made the playoffs once. And they were lucky that 2020 was so short so they didn’t have time to have their patented late season flop and miss out again.
Preller is not that good of a GM. He is very reminiscent of when Daniel Snyder took over the Redskins. He doesn’t try to build a team, he just collects names. He is like a kid collecting baseball cards.
Do you really think that Cron in San Diego is better than Hosmer at Coors? I readily agree that Hosmer was a huge overpay, but I am not prepared to say that Cron is better on a neutral field.
I’m saying it. Cron is better than Hosmer on a neutral field.
Thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery.
Am I the only one here who thinks that Cron could have done considerably better on the open market? 7.5 M doesnt sound like much for the numbers he put up.
“am I the only one”….one dimensional sluggers like Cron are literally the textbook definition of the “7 million dollar mediocre veteran” and there is no reason to decline a 7 million dollar offer when that is also your upside on the free agent market…..CJ is no dummy and yes, I think you maybe the “only one” who feels this one trick pony could have gotten more. That being said, Cron is a good power hitter who could help the right team, but I have no idea how he helps a team headed for the bottom.
Except Cron isn’t one dimensional. He’s solid in the field, hits for power and a respectable average and, as noted, now takes a walk. He lacks speed. With teams in the NL likely getting the DH, there could be demand for players that can be rotated thru DH and play the field. I’m sure the collective bargaining issue influenced his decision not to wait. Bird in the hand. If it was known now that the DH was expanded, I could see him getting up to $10mm per.
He’s by no means “mediocre” and not that “one-dimensional” either, but alas, teams feel that paying up for defensively-limited, non-elite, starting 1B over 30 isn’t a good investment when cheaper, younger 1B are so easy to find or move to the position from elsewhere on the diamond.
The Rockies just happen to be one of the rare teams without such an option at the moment, but this new GM also isn’t stupid enough to pay Cron what he’s truly worth if no one else will.
Yes, you are the only one.
Definitely the only one.
I don’t know about ‘considerably’ better, but I do think he’d get something more like $10 million a year over two or three years. $7.5 million a year isn’t a lot in today’s game. Maybe he likes it in Colorado and didn’t want to roll the dice.
You might be. A month ago I predicted he’d get about 9M$ but only on a 1 year deal.
I like how he completely rakes and still signs for less than a year of Hosmer’s salary. Dumb Preller. #FirePreller
“still signs for less than a year of Hosmer’s salary”……That is but ONE good reason to FIRE San Diego’s AJ Preller. If you find yourself needing about 500 MORE good reasons to FIRE AJ Preller, contact me at mlbfan@yahoo.com
Good for Cron. He won’t have to find his sixth team in six years.
I’m glad Cron found a home. Scioscia would never give him enough playing time to develop.
I like these extensions a lot for the Rockies, they’re headed in the right direction.
I think the Rox have a very good chance to sign Kevin Gausman this offseason. He’s from Denver, he pitches well there and he has no qualifying offer attached to him. I’ve been told that because the Rox front office is unstable that won’t happen. I don’t know, they seem pretty stable to me.
They mean that Monfort is literally -unstable-, because the GM slot has been a puppet for Monfort making bad call after bad call..
Cron is a good guy, glad he got a deal….would like to see him at DH more and Connor Joe get a full year shot at 1b/OF.
Don’t pre-order your Gausman Rockies jersey just yet. Gausman has pitched well for the Giants and they have a ton of money to re-sign him over the winter. The Rockies rarely dip into free agency for starting pitching and with good reason; the last free agent starter the Rockies signed was Kyle Kendrick and though far less expensive than his big money predecessors (Darryl Kile, Mike Hampton, Denny Neagle) Kendrick was terrible for the Rockies
Where are the fools who thought the Rockies would extend Cron a QO? This is the perfect size (and length) contract for someone like Cron. If they had offered him a QO for $18-$20M for one season, he couldn’t have signed it quicker, but there was no way Colorado was going to offer that to him. Good deal for both sides.
I’m willing to bet we’ll see a lot of these mid tier players sign extensions now vs. take the risk of waiting for the new CBA to be signed. Take the money now before there are any changes to the CBT or any delays from teams waiting for the CBA terms to be finalized. Hopefully there won’t be a lockout or a strike, but that remains a real possibility.
Pretty sure you’re the only fool here even putting C.J. Cron and a QO in the same sentence.
No Pete, look up the thread from about a month ago discussing QO’s. There was one guy adamant that COL would give him one – everyone else told him he was crazy.
C.J. Cron 2021 WAR: 3.4. Senzatela Career WAR: 6.3. Cron’s gotta feel a little jipped.
He is decent with the bat, the glove not so much, he is not Dick Stuart with the glove but not the best.
Not a World Series team, so go ahead and sign a Coors-only Bomber like Cron and give the home fans an occasional show.
Hit those straight breaking balls and get paid $14.5M. Both sides win.
Dang. Wish the Red Sox could’ve made a similar if not better offer.
Sox don’t need Cron. Bobby Dalbec is going to be just fine offensively. And if not Tristan Casas is not that far away
For years I’ve pointed to one CJ Cron as to why you don’t pay big for a 1b
Now, I can still do that for 2 more years at least!
Great Ink
Rizzo is the next “Oh NO” guy to get overpaid
Remember when we all called Toronto silly for overpaying Kendry Morales and his non sexy 800 OPS game…Rizzo has a 783 over his last 700 abs dating 2 seasons; yet those 2 recognizable zz’s on the back of his uniform is gonna get him paid like it’s scrabble. Pray its not your team unless your into HBP’s
Unless your what is into HBP’s?
RemovePitcher
HBP is hit by pitches.
r/whoooooooooosh
I was hoping he would come to the Ms but I didn’t realize how bad his splits were o my…. Thank u rox.
Feels like a slight overspend on both contracts, but also nothing particularly to worry about.
It’s interesting that middle class players getting middle class money seems so absurd for us front office watching nerds. I personally like that guys like Cron, Schoop, Santana are getting these types of deals. But I have to admit that I’m happy when it’s not my favorite team awarding them. As a Toronto fan I could do without Grichuk gumming up the roster.
Remember when that guy was so sure he was getting a QO no matter how much we told him. He was a real jackass about it too!
Yeah, who was that guy?
The Rockies goal was to keep him, and they knew they could sign him for significantly less than a QO, which more than a few people mentioned, yet he still couldn’t wrap him mind around it.
They could have still kept him even if they traded him. Another team wasn’t going to offer him this contract in free agency and he wasn’t going to punish the Rockies for trading him by signing elsewhere for less.