March 26: The Rockies have formally announced Tovar’s extension. Per Jon Heyman of The New York Post, the 2031 option has a $23MM salary and $2.5MM buyout
March 24: The Rockies and shortstop Ezequiel Tovar have agreed to a long-term contract extension that will run through at least the 2030 season. The 22-year-old Tovar will earn $63.5MM over the seven guaranteed years of the deal, and the Rockies hold a club option on his services for the 2031 season that could bring the total to $84MM if triggered. Tovar is represented by the Rimas Sports Agency, and the extension will be official once the shortstop passes a physical.
Tovar was already under club control through the end of the 2028 season, and this next extension will now add at least two and maybe three more years to his time in Colorado. Due to Tovar’s young age, he’ll still be in his prime when eligible for free agency, as he’ll either be 29 or 30 years old at the end of the deal depending on whether or not the Rox exercise their club option.
Tovar entered the 2023 season as a consensus top-25 prospect in the sport. The youngster made the club’s Opening Day roster as the starting shortstop last year but got off to a difficult start before heating up towards the end of April. Tovar managed to carry that hot streak into the All Star break, hitting a solid .283/.314/.479 with nine home runs during that 65 game stretch. Unfortunately, however, Tovar struggled in the second half and hit a paltry .246/.277/.386 the rest of the way. While Tovar’s 66 extra-base hits hinted at real power potential, the youngster struck out in 27% of his trips to the plate while walking just 4.1% of the time. That undisciplined approach left him with a wRC+ of just 70, 30% below league average and fourth-worst among all qualified hitters in the majors last year.
Difficult as Tovar’s rookie season may have been, his age and prospect pedigree make it easy to imagine him finding another gear offensively in the coming years, and his glove is already nothing short of elite. Tovar’s defense at shortstop was worth a whopping 16 Outs Above Average last year, which ranks in the 99th percentile of all MLB fielders per Statcast. Fielding Bible’s Defensive Runs Saved was similarly impressed with Tovar’s work in the field, as his +12 DRS ranked behind only Anthony Volpe, Wander Franco, and Dansby Swanson among major league shortstops last year.
Glovework of that caliber can be a carrying tool that allows players to remain productive overall in the majors leagues even if they struggle at the plate. That’s particularly true at shortstop, where strong defensive players can put together star-level production with even average offensive contributions. For the Rockies, that leaves this deal as a somewhat less risky arrangement than it might seem on the surface; after all, the deal is somewhat similar to the eight-year, $70MM pact the Pirates and third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes agreed to on the heels of a 2021 campaign that saw Hayes post a 85 wRC+ in 96 games. That deal maxes out at $82MM over nine years if Pittsburgh exercises its club option, a similar commitment to the $84MM over eight years Tovar will earn if his club option is exercised by the Rockies.
For Tovar, meanwhile, the deal locks in life-changing money while still affording him the opportunity to hit the open market in his prime. Of course, in signing the deal he also forgoes the opportunity to hit free agency in his mid-20s, a route which has led other players such as Bryce Harper and Manny Machado to massive paydays worth $300MM or more. On the other hand, Tovar would surely have to break out and become at least an above-average hitter in the majors to command a deal of that sort of caliber. While such an improvement with the bat can’t be ruled out, it’s certainly understandable for the 22-year-old to prioritize financial security, particularly on a deal that will still offer him a second bite of the apple following his age-29 season.
With Tovar now locked up for at least the next seven seasons, the Rockies have now set into place a clear building block for the club’s future. On the heels of the first 100-loss season in franchise history, the club spent cautiously in free agency with short-term agreements for players such as Daniel Hudson, Cal Quantrill, and Charlie Blackmon. That approach leaves little optimism for a 2024 club that appears to be buried behind four highly competitive teams in the NL West. Even so, with Tovar and another emerging youngster in Nolan Jones under long-term team control and a farm system rife with exciting prospects like Amael Amador and Chase Dollander, it’s certainly possible that brighter days lie ahead for the Rockies. With the club’s longest extension since the one afforded to Nolan Arenado prior to the 2019 season now in place, Tovar is now all but certain to be a major part of that future.
Daniel Alvarez-Montes of El Extrabase. first reported the extension, the seven-year term, and the total value of the contract if the club option is exercised. MLB.com’s Thomas Harding. reported the extension’s $63.5MM value over the seven guaranteed years.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
The Rockies extend too many players.
Eh, that’s debatable, they haven’t really given out any huge deals. I like the upside potential with this one depending on the amount of money.
Maybe not too many, but the guys they extend, like Elias Diaz and Ryan McMahon, don’t really need to be extended. They’re just keeping the core of their 70-win team in place.
The problem with this deal and most of the Rockies’ other deals is that all they are doing is locking themselves into mediocrity (at best) The Rockies have no vision, no plan, and little action that will take them to being a good team again.
all they are doing is locking themselves into mediocrity (at best)
=============================
Tovar looks like quite a bit better than ‘mediocre’.
76 career OPS+ is pretty mediocre.
76 career OPS+ is bad, not mediocre which means basically average.
On the other hand his defense is stellar. Exemplary. Awesome. Exceptional. That is why overall he had a 2.5 WAR in his rookie season last year.
2.5 WAR is just above the MLB average of 2.0, so he was a mediocre or slightly above mediocre player in his rookie season.
War is a very objective stat, this was a great signing, which is rare for them,
They tend to extend their star SS. Also they tend to end up dealing them and getting zip in return.
angryyankeesfan1
76 career OPS+ is pretty mediocre.
==========================
You are really under-estimating the impact of age on his stats. There are plenty of SSs that struggle when they come up-Volpe, Kim, Stott, Abrams, Giminez, Crawford, the other Crawford, Ahmed, etc.
Just me, but I wouldn’t worry about a 77 last year at age 21. In fact, an argument could be made that he should never have been promoted with only 21 AAA ABs.
Where is his growth coming from? It won’t be in power. Speed? His bat to ball skills weren’t great, so he could turn into a decent line-drive hitter. I think the Rockies were a year early here, but it ain’t my money.
Your inclination to distrust the Rockies is valid.
@angry
As you have no doubt found out..76OPS+ is just bad. out of SS’s who had 200+ plate appearances he is in the bottom third or WRC+ His offense has been just horrible. Doesn’t mean it will stay that way but so far yeah bad.
He seems like a BABIP guy? Generally means you will see large swings one the offensive stat sheets. THis year he maybe a .300 hitter next year might be below 240..
Regardless good signing fairly cheap for a generally great glove at a premium position.
I think COL is almost forced to try to lock in their young talent in order to try to compete with the rest of their division and of course the whole league.
GM, POBO coaches feel the $ won’t destroy his motivation to prepare, focus and improve his skills. It is also a judgement on his personality, values not to let the money be a distraction.
I don’t know him personally but Venezuela is a country with economic, crime & political issues. His $ can help himself, his immediate and extended family in a big way if managed well.
He now has guaranteed what for most people enough $ for the rest of his life
Good Luck to Mr. Tovar
.
Can’t think of a good extension by signed. Blackmon was ok, sort of. This deal I get more than others but still history isn’t on their side.
The one good player they extended was Arenado, and they traded him a year in. And then turned around and signed Kris Bryant for more money…
@Angry Just curious, do you that ATL as well extends too many players??
They extend good players. The Rockies don’t.
Tovar is going into age 22 season and he did quite well last year for a rookie SS. McMahon who was extended was pretty good as well.
I have a hard time faulting a team for trying to retain young controllable talent. Especially a team such as COL who has to play a game within a game dealing with the stark contrast in home and away differences.
But hey they could go our and trade for albatross contracts such as Stanton’s, that seems like an excellent business model…
They don’t need to trade for them, they just sign guys like KB to their own albatross contracts.
No one wants to sign with the Rockies if they have other good options, and the Rockies don’t have the money to wildly outspend other bidders.
Teams like this have to extend guys early to keep them
Do they though? Todd Helton and Arenado are the only ones that I can think of that they have recently extended. Before eventually trading Arenado.
Guarantee this is a crazy overpay. No team more delusional than the Rockies
I’d wager less than 150mill. Possibly 10-12 years. We don’t have details yet.
The kid is all glove and hasn’t shown he can hit.
10 years 100-120 mill would be my max guess. Rockies banking on his bat improving.
Sure he’s 22 but 76 OPS+ definitely going to drive down the price of the extension.
Less than $150 mil?? If it’s even approaching that they’ve lost their minds lol
Over the course of 12 years? Not really
That’s about average aav for a glove first league average offense position player.
If he can get up to 95-100 OPS+ and provide the defense he does Rockies will get good value out of the contract.
Yeah he got around half of that IF the club option is exercised. $150 mil is absolutely nuts lol
Again
12 year contract 150 mill = 12.5 mill a year
7 year contract 84 mill = 12 mill a year
Wasn’t absurd at all. His contract came in right around the same aav
Guaranteeing $150 mil over any length of time to this guy would be absurd, yes.
“Guaranteeing $150 mil over any length of time to this guy would be absurd“
See you’re changing parameters because you don’t really have an argument to stand on. Changing the years committed does change how you view the contract.
Yes 5 years 150 mill would be absurd.
12 years 150 mill isn’t absurd considering he’s 22 and already plays a premium position with good/great defense. They’d be locking up a piece cheaply for years to come. Is it a gamble? Sure. Every contract is a gamble. But getting such a low aav at 12.5 mill when “salary caps” go up each year is less risky compared to mega contracts teams hand out these days going into their 30s.
Lol imagine thinking AAV is what matters and not the total guarantee. 12/150 is not even remotely similar to 6/75…..
AAV is what matters.
Thats what counts against you regarding CBA tax penalties.
When Dodgers signed Ohtani to 700 million dollars, they arranged the contract in such a way it only counts 46 mill against the tax, not 70 mill. Cause of tax implications.
There’s also a reason teams use deferred money to lower AAV hits.
Cause AAV matters more than actual money. Future money is always worth less than present day money.
He’ll get around $30M guaranteed. 2 club options. Besides he’s with the Rimas agency who doesn’t have a history or experience signing long term extensions
He had 37 doubles last year. Only 4 NL hitters had more than that. So I guess there are a lot of MLB players that can’t hit.
That’s cool.
.287 obp
.695 ops
also struck out 166 times last year
fan graphs credited him with a -23.5 offense.
77 ops+
Counting doubles is like counting batting average and saying he hit good. Means very little compared to actual stats and an entire body of work.
Eliminates the coors effect. His road numbers were atrocious.
He was significantly better at home than on the road.
If he can be Andrelton Simmons 2.0 Rockies have a nice piece a ss. But he needs to bump his offense to around league average.
Thank you for your opinion. I’ll put in the appropriate place.
“I don’t like facts”
We know.
He hit 37 doubles and is gold glove type and just turned 22. Most are in double a if they are good
That’s cool.
.287 obp
.695 ops
also struck out 166 times last year
fan graphs credited him with a -23.5 offense.
77 OPS +
He struck out at over 4 strikeouts for every 1 double ratio.
Nearly 4.5. So every 4.5 strikeouts he hits a double. That’s not demonstrating an ability to hit.
Can he improve? Sure. But OPS+ 77 playing half your games at coors isn’t going to cut it.
Him striking out 166 times, taking 25 walks, and getting 37 doubles tells us he’s selling out for power and with such low power ability currently he’s only able to produce doubles not home runs. But he’s clearly selling out for power trying to make as much hard contact as he can.
@Easy: either he is TRYING to sell out for power, or the dude just can’t make contact.
I think that this was a massive overpay and that he will never live up to the Rockies expectations.
True. Could be he can’t make contact very well.
Idk his contact rates or hard hit percentages or whatever they use to calculate that stuff.
I do think he can be league average offense and elite defense kind of like Andrelton Simmons Jose Iglesias all those years. Which if he turns into that the extension is perfectly fine.
Only way I see this extension not working out is if he just craters offensively going forward.
He was 77 OPS+ last year rookie season so we shall see where he goes.
Sure he’s 22 but 76 OPS+ definitely going to drive down the price of the extension.
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Just for fun, how much would Volpe extend for with his 81+?
7 years, 84 million definitely isn’t an overpay
Was close on the avv
Little off on max years
But I definitely think it’s a good extension.
He’s young, plays a premium position with good defense, and hopefully he improves offensively. But league average offense with good defense isn’t the worst thing in the world.
Incoming on all the Rockies haters who don’t know a thing about them. Tovar is going to be a star, this is a great move to lock him down before he’s priced out of their range.
I don’t know. That remains to be seen. Tovar is an everyday player, but I’d be surprised if stardom awaits.
Watched him a lot in Hartford, which is not a hitters MILB park. He is excellent, and once he makes some adjustments, you are correct. He is going to be a star. Only a handful of players unleash Corbin Carrol type numbers their rookie year.
What a weak strawman. There is a ~60 pt gap in wRC+ between those two, you don’t need to be CC to actually show promise at the plate.
It’s not a straw man; I’m directly addressing comments on this post. The comp is to point out that you shouldn’t judge a player from their rookie year results, but based on these comments, his career is already cemented as weak hitter.
“Going to be a star” lmao stars have an OPS+ not 23 points below 100 and can actually take a walk
amk
Troll
““Going to be a star” lmao stars have an OPS+ not 23 points below 100 and can actually take a walk”
1) being a star and going to be a star are NOT the same thing
2) Tovar has a 70 wRC- though his first 650 PA. Ozzie Smith had a 66 though is first 1315. So, maybe, you know, don’t judge so quickly
3) please don’t be dumb or dishonest enough to think I said Tovar will be Ozzie Smith
Ozzie Smith was a mediocre hitter and that is not even debatable. But he was the greatest defensive SS ever. Is Tovar going to be a 70 war career defender?
amk
Goalposts moved
Noted
How is that moving the goalposts lmao. You bring up Ozzie Smith even though he was never a good hitter.
amk
1) PunkRockies said Tovar was “going to be a star”.
2) You said “stars have an OPS+ not 23 points below 100”
So, you moved the goalposts from GOING to be a star to BEING a star.
I provided the example of Ozzie Smith as a player who 1) was a star and 2) was a terrible hitter at the beginning of their career.
@filihok. I’m going to try and help here.
“3) please don’t be dumb or dishonest enough to think I said Tovar will be Ozzie Smith”
Hey AMK, you might have missed this from fili.
…and still not making the playoffs.
Really? Do you think anyone thinks signing a player currently on the roster to an extension would increase their playoff chances? This obviously is looking at the long-term.
r1712
Troll
Just here to make negative comments. Nothing intelligent to say. Nothing too add to the conversation. Nothing of value to say
Troll
lol says the a-hole who go upset and had a temper tantrum cause someone hinted at religion where you weren’t even involved in the conversation.
Pot meet kettle you POS
mlbtraderumors.com/2024/03/orioles-owner-peter-ang…
IBWCW
Muted (liar – no reasonable person could construe my reaction as a “temper tantrum”)
Dude is not a good hitter and has 5 years of team control left. Some of these extensions getting ridiculous
If he turned into a star he could make more through arbitration.
But this is now guaranteed. Hard to say no to this when he could break his leg tomorrow and never play again.
As far as making more in arbitration, Aaron Judge made 38m in his 3 arbitration years, Corey Seager and Carlos Correa both made 25m in their 3 arb years. I don’t think Tovar is a future 300m contract type.
We haven’t seen the breakdown yet, just that it’s 7/65m guaranteed but with 5 pre FA years of control it seems like he basically just got the arb money guaranteed in advance that Seager and Correa earned without having to put up the numbers first. Of course that’s assuming around 20m salaries for his two FA years which is also pretty impressive for him to secure at this point.
Considering he can still reach free agency at a fairly young age, this was a great extension for the player coming off a rookie season that showed promise but whose hitting profile so far doesn’t scream, lock him up now.
Extensions have definitely gotten weird. Not too long ago he would have been a candidate to sign a 5year guarantee with two team options at a guarantee around 25m. There isn’t a lot of downside risk for the player to NOT sign this deal.
With what, one season of MLB PAs? And only entering his age 22 season. I think we get too infatuated with the Julios and Juan Sotos and forget about most guys that have to build up some steam first.
With that AAV, a plus-plus SS with a floor of 2 WAR even with a poor bat is a good building block. On the other hand, the fact that it’s the Rockies in charge of his development may be what stands in the way of making this a complete steal like Albies.
His underlying numbers are not good. Doesn’t take walks and strikes out a lot. OBP under .300. I am sorry but he needs to show more before being worth 70 million 84 with option picked up
I agree, his offensive profile at the moment stinks, but that’s why I mentioned his floor even if he doesn’t pick up in any of the areas that he needs to. 9 mil/yr for plus-plus defense that can get into the 2 WAR range is still decent value for a team that needs all the flexibility it can get to build even an average roster.
If he’s just a 2 win player due to his defense they’re definitely going to be overpaying him here as arbitration has never awarded defensive first players the same as guys who put up offensive numbers. Not to mention defensive first players aren’t making 20m/yr in free agency either.
It seems like they baked in a ton of future offensive growth with this guarantee.
I’d love to see the comps of other 21 year olds that played a full season with similar 25bb/160k plate discipline. I have a feeling it wouldn’t be terribly encouraging even limiting it to up the middle players.
Most poorly run franchise in the past decade
They took the title from the Mets.
A baseball expert consistently shunned should not be doubted.
That’s not even remotely close. The Rox can be dumb and entertaining, but Cohen is lighting up cigars with million dollar bills.
and they’ll have roughly the same record as the Mets
Nice move-have to start somewhere.
Lol @ comments
Half are haters “he sucks!”
The other half “brilliant move!”
He’s a 22 yr old SS
Had a decent rookie yr
Extension is less likely wander franco $
More likely chourio $
Ya still gotta invest in perpetual mediocrity to keep making profits. Seems a lot of the opinions expressed here doesn’t understand the Rockies’ long-standing agenda of only having to keeping their fans interested enough.
6-7 year extension in $8-10 million range is my bet.
You hit that one on the head. Why did you pick those amounts of years and dollars?
I figured they would want to buy out 1-2 years of free agency. He was such a good defensive player that even with a below par offensive showing he still put up a league average WAR which is worth about $16 million on the free agent market, so I went with half of that.
Wow way overpaid him on this deal. But the Rockies are not a well run team so makes sense. Should have gotten Colt Keith money at best
Charlie Blackmon out. Ezequiel Tovar in. This move makes sense.
The Rockies do spend a lot of money for the privilege of sucking.
The kid can play , couple years may be a massive bargain for the Rocks
If he grows into what he is capable of, they save money. He could easily be the type of player to command $20 million in his final year of arb eligibility, which alone makes this deal worth it.
His skill set is really not the type that gets paid in arb.
A starting shortstop who is excellent at defense? Again, I said “if he grows into what he capable of,” meaning those 56 XBHs grow to 70 and his stealing capabilities develop. Also, as a comp, that’s already more XBHs than Correa had in a season outside of 2016 and 2021.
Yes, arb doesn’t compensate well for defense. This shouldn’t be news. How many of his XBHs go for hrs vs correa’s?
If you change, “what he’s capable of” to mean significantly better than any scouting grades see as possible, sure. If he reaches his 99th percentile outcome, it might seem ok. However, why rush to make that unlikely bet?
The difference is not much- Correa was in the low 20’s and Tovar just popped 15. Buying out two years of FA is the rush, I guess, before he shows more value. 7/63.5 is not a huge investment for a player they view as a cornerstone.
On base % under 300 “kid can play”. No he can’t
Ami
“On base % under 300 “kid can play”. No he can’t”
Negative comment to draw attention
AKA trolling
Great move. If you don’t like it, then find another team and go care about them.
I have a problem keeping my blood pressure up in normal ranges, but coming here and reading the comments always helps.
This feels very premature.
“…the club spent cautiously in free agency with short-term agreements for players such as Daniel Hudson, Cal Quantrill, and Charlie Blackmon”.
Ummm, I’m not sure where you got the info on Daniel Hudson signing with the Rockies in the off season but he’s on the Dodgers
I think they meant Dakota Hudson
Not bad for a guy who in a previous article was supposedly getting an “audition” to be the SS. Guess he must have nailed it…
This isn’t awful, but locking up guys that are defense first is always odd to me. Arbitration doesn’t highly compensate defense, so he likely wouldn’t be that expensive through that process. Pretty decent guarantee to secure a few years of extra control.
Considering how high contracts are,for people that underproduce, not bad at all!
25 BB / 166 K’s. That’s a huge gap to make up. Guys with that kind of approach at the plate rarely turn into regular starters. There was no need to extend him.
You say that like a 22 y.o. sophomore can’t make the adjustments to get better.
Nope fanatic , he said rarely and he gave you his reasoning 25/166
Your free to disagree but don’t rework his statement into something its not
I didn’t rework his statement. By definition of this contract extension, he is a regular starter and will be one for the foreseeable future. The Rockies are anticipating now that his plate discipline will improve.
He said rarely, you said cant….there’s miles of difference in that
One is nuanced with explanations supporting, the other is definitive and emotion based
That Ke’Bryan Hayes contract looks like it’s going to age like fine wine. He is already elite defensively, now it looks like his bat may be breaking out too. That could go down as an Ozzie Albies-type team-friendly contract.
That Ke’Bryan Hayes contract looks like it’s going to age like fine wine.
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Yeah, it is almost like he got better has he matured physically and in experience. Has that even happened before?
Hope the Rox checked his background a little better than The Rays did with there’s . Just Sayin.
Rockies made a good gamble for once. I like this deal
Tovar – 2023 OPS. .753 home .643 away . As long as the Rockies overvalue the players who hit in Colorado but much poorly elsewhere, the longer they will continue in the cellar.
bbt
The longer fans use inferior stats like OPE to value players the longer fans will keep making ignorant comments
He hits well at Cupcake field and poorly away. He should get paid as much as he can. What I am pointing out is that paying market for Coors stats is in part the reason this team is weak.
bbt
“He hits well at Cupcake field and poorly away. ”
Nah
He actually hit roughly equally in Coors and on the road last season
Home wRC+ 73
Road wRC+ 67
He was about as consistent as the average MLB hitter
Home wRC+ 103
Road wRC= 97
Which is surprising, since most Rockies hitters face an added challenge on the road due the to “Coor’s effect”
tht.fangraphs.com/the-other-coors-effect/
As the author, Shane Tourtellotte, states, “[even casual fans are aware of this [Coors’ increase on offense due to 1) pitches moving less, 2) ess air resistence on batted balls, 3) a huge outfield) effect”.
More knowledgeable fans are aware of the “Reverse Coors Effect” talked about in the article. That Rockies; hitters are at a disadvantage on the road because, to them, suddenly pitches have much more movement than they are used to at home.
So, if you look at normal stats like wRC+ instead of casual stats like batting average or OPS, you’ll see that Rockies’ hitters aren’t so much aided at home, as they are punished on the road.
And Tovar, at least last year, was pretty balanced.
I was a Rockies baseball-side employee. Take whatever I say for what it’s worth. But I don’t view them as having any real objective as a team. You have a meddling owner. He commands things like this be done. The breakdowns on Tovar might be solid. But the reality is until they can attract good baseball people to the organization. It’s a team ran by luck and meddling. Colorado without doubt in my mind has to be the actual worst run organization in baseball currently. I’ll exclude the Oakland situation.
That baseball side that built the Ubaldo Jimenez era World Series team was largely people who filtered in from Montreal. Quite a few are with Atlanta now.
Dock – Genuine question: Why is the Rockies one of the worst run orgs? (I’m not Rox fan.) Montfort seems to be comfortable running a mediocre team as long as they keep drawing fans. Their attendance history has remained fairly consistent throughout the years. His M.O. appears to be maintaining revenue and profits while keeping payroll at low variance and avoided taking risks. It’s bad for MLB fans, not terrible for their fans evidentally, and good for ownership.
My thoughts are that Monfort has always had a belief that he’s more knowledgeable about the game than he really is. He hires people, then meddles. It takes awhile to build a great baseball operations dept. And it’s hard to bring good people in when that’s your rep as an owner.
This might bother Denver fans. But they’ve always been a football crowd looking for something to do in the summer. That sounds probably way harsher than I intend. But they don’t out a lot of pressure on the organization to contend.
But I’ll say this too straight up. Building a pitching staff for Denver us EXTEMELEY difficult! It’s hard anywhere…and nearly impossible there. It has to come from the system.
You also have a lot of tourism dollars at the park in the summer. Denver has kind of had that baseball M.O. forever. It’s a Broncos region, and they’re happy enough when the team contends. In a way it’s a little like the Marlins.
You’d think high attendance would translate to deep fan passion. They just don’t roll that way out there.
But what you’ve seen is about 3 baseball ops departments roll through since they went to the WS. Montfort allows people to do their job for awhile…then jumps in and changes course. You won’t attract good people that way.
All that said. I really do like the people. They’re in an absolute zero room for error environment though.
Appreciate the response! So I guess they can only experience a boom cycle if they can develop good pitching. I haven’t followed enough of the Rockies’ draft philosophy and system but so far that department hasn’t been so hot on arms as their prospects rankings show.
The Rockies have their moments. Its just been that Montfort won’t stick with any process. But there’s just been a a lot of turnover there in the fairly recent past. It’s a tight rope they have to walk. League avg pitching would be an amazing goal. It seems anymore at the MLB level they’re playing this stars and scrubs type game. Kris Bryant? No one was going there on him. But Montfort wanted that. Forced the deal of Arenado which destroyed any leverage they had with Stl.
I mean there’s a path to win there. It’s narrow and difficult. But you can’t give your baseball people a plan..then side swipe it 3 years in.
Pitching is just such a crap shoot.
It feels like the Rox have no plan. They extended Arenado. I would not have, but that’s okay. But once the extended Arenado, they found out they couldn’t afford Story, which made the Arenado extension fairly useless.
Then, instead of trading Story, they let him walk for nothing but a draft chance, and wound up trading Arenado. Then, after paying too much for him, and selling him for too little, they signed Bryant.
Montfort won’t trust his people long enough or stay out of it.
Interesting. That helps understand how the Rockies use analytics to finish in last place.
The Rockies were very slow to embrace a full scale analytical movement. But ti tell you the truth. There’s always been a lot of smoke there with that. Scouts have almost always used atleast basic analysis to assess talent. Anyone worth their salt wants the best info. The true value of a good scout is in their ability to spot growth potential in a player. And people never want to credit luck either.
Montfort ran off some good baseball people. It might not LOOK like the Rockies have been a stellar org. But they really did start off with good people. Gebhardt ran a decent front office. A lot of the people were old Expos hands….had built that system. A great many now are working in key spots with the Braves, or have been.
Montfort needs to hire people and leave them alone. But its to the point he can’t hire good people. It’s a tough enough job trying to develop a pitching staff for Coors. Owner who insists on handcuffs like Kris Bryant. That’s not the baseball ops people.
There’s no reason Arenado shouldn’t be playing 3B on a competitive team in Colorado right now.
Some of you folks really can’t stand it that baseball players make so much more money than you, can you? “These extensions are getting out of hand.” “Way overpaid.” “Guarantee this is a crazy overpay.” “They extend too many players.” “Way too early.” Its the same old crap we read in every one of these extension threads.
HH
Yup
The brainwashed victims of capitalism. taught to parrot the idea that labor is overpaid.
Hank..i think its deeper than that for many. Most accept the gross disparity in pay for these entertainers vs say a doctor, lawyer or some other profession..with regard to mr tovar the problem most have is we all see the high level defense but he simply hasnt proved worthy of this deal yet as a hitter ..not in the minors although his ba was better and certainly not in the majors where pedestrian power numbers for colorado stayed the same as the minors and his k rate was way too high to sustain even the 253 avg he had
I agree. But I also don’t find it odd for a comment section dealing with baseball contracts. There’s no point in addressing if really. There’s not going to be a change. It’s hard scrolling through to find actual decent baseball conversations though.
His strike out numbers are very high, maybe the Rockies know something we don’t(highly doubt it) I would’ve waited another year to see if the strikeouts improve, but hey not my money.
Lol. They 100% know something that we don’t.
He’s an aggressive hitter to begin with. Swung at too many off speed pitches low and away last year.
Way too early to extend him. Hasn’t shown above average power. Hasn’t shown serviceable plate discipline. He’s like a young version of an old Baez right now.
I usually bust chops on the Rox, but this looks like a good signing. My guess is he gets ~ $30M through his remaining 5 years of service time, so this is another $30M/2, plus an option year.
All long-term extensions are a bet on character, but the numbers-side look very good.
How does Mr. Deeds still have a job writing about baseball? He’s an utterly incompetent writer. “Difficult as Tovar’s rookie season may have been“ is not proper English. You can’t just leave out “as” at the start of the sentence. Grammar isn’t optional. Furthermore, “meanwhile” has to START the sentence. It can’t just come in the middle, set off by commas. Can this kid.
Nothing matters in Colorado without high K, high gb% pitching. Place is unforgiving. The offense will always play up there. Just an org that’s HAD good people, and run them off. A lot of those Braves scouts now are old Rockies people. Rockies took in a lot of Expos people too back in the day.
Aimless organization now that seems to be ok selling tickets in a gorgeous location.
Lock him up!
Why do I feel like I’m responding to a tweet about Donald Trump.
It’s called TDS, you should seek help.
Per FanGraphs
“With projections like that, ZiPS would give Tovar $92 million over seven years. That’s more than he’ll make even if the Rockies pick up his team option for an eighth year.”
No. Projections are not crystal balls., which is good since crystal balls are useless for predicting the future. Nor are projections perfect.
Yes. I trust FanGraphs and ZiPS more than basically every commenter here
Then why are you here with your condescending chest-pounding instead of the FG boards? You don’t appear to be much of a conversationalist here.
MLBF
Why am I on this website that something different than FanGraphs instead of FanGraphs? Who is to say?
Why would I be a conversationalist here? The vast majority of commenters are not interesting.
So what keeps you here in that case? To read your own comments?
MLBF
What on earth are you talking about? You’re projecting
I read headlines and whatever part of the articles interest me (which is typically very little) to see what’s happening in baseball since I quit the ex-Twitter.
I skim through the comments for the rate insightful one and I can’t help but comment on some of the dumber ones
Ok, dude.
MLBF
Weird that you’re here, dude, for conservation
That’s exactly why I’m here for friendly discourse and gain different perspectives whether I agree with them or not.
Hmmm
Weird since you seemed to attack my perspective
But if you think you can learn from a bunch of mid fans who am I to disagree
I didn’t attack your perspective. I was simply asking why you’re always a dick to others but I think you answered my question. Truth be told, you’re not very interesting and quite predictable with your responses. See ya!
MLBF
That people like you don’t find me interesting is a success.
Muted
Lol. My point exactly.
7/65 seems like a good signing for a player that was a top 25 prospect going into last season, whose bat has improved at every stop in the minors, and who has an elite glove at SS. I would have waited a year to see if the bat came around at the major league level, but then he would have been much more expensive.
“Due to Tovar’s young age, he’ll still be in his prime when eligible for free agency, as he’ll either be 29 or 30 years old at the end of the deal”
Sigh. If Tovar is 29 or 30 his first FA year that’s not prime. It has never been prime.
26-27 is prime age. It’s 2024 and even people who write about baseball for a hobby don’t understand when baseball players peak.
Hope this extension works out better than the Roughned Odor 6 year extension with the Rangers.
Tovar is 22 and played gold glove ss and hit 36 doubles. This was good for both. He can be the face in a year or two
Rockies are off to a great start with their BS contracts!