1:32pm: Alexander gets $2MM, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.
11:24am: The Rockies have signed left-handed reliever Scott Alexander to a one-year, major league contract, per Patrick Lyons of Just Baseball. Infielder Aaron Schunk was designated for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Alexander is represented by Apex Baseball.
Alexander, 35, is coming off a strong but injury-shortened season with the A’s. He missed time due to a ribcage injury and tendinitis in his shoulder, but when Alexander was healthy he logged 38 2/3 innings of 2.56 ERA ball.
Alexander fanned a below-average 19.4% of opponents against a higher-than-average 9.4% walk rate, but his mammoth 60% ground-ball rate was among the highest in MLB and helped to offset some of his more pedestrian rate stats in other areas. Of the 474 pitchers who tossed at least 30 big league innings last year, only 11 turned in a ground-ball rate of 60% or higher. Alexander was tied with Giants righty Camilo Doval at exactly 60%, sitting tenth in the game.
The 2024 season was the tenth of Alexander’s career. A sixth-round pick by the Royals back in 2010, he’s tossed 309 1/3 major league innings and combined for a 3.20 ERA, 18% strikeout rate, 8.7% walk rate and a colossal 67.4% ground-ball rate. That ability to pile up grounders at a higher rate than just about any pitcher in MLB surely appealed to the Rockies, whose Coors Field home is notorious for its homer-friendly nature and sprawling, expansive outfield. With quality defenders all around the infield — Ryan McMahon, Ezequiel Tovar, Thairo Estrada, Michael Toglia — the Rox are an even more natural fit.
While Alexander has never worked as a closer — 10 career saves notwithstanding — he’s no stranger to high-leverage spots. He picked up 10 holds for the A’s in 2024, has a career-high of 21 holds (Dodgers, 2018) and has amassed 62 holds in his major league career. The Rox have plenty of interesting young arms in their bullpen competition (e.g. Seth Halvorsen, Angel Chivilli, Luis Peralta, Jeff Criswell), but Alexander will provide a seasoned veteran who can comfortably pitch in late-inning spots as needed.
As things stand, there’s no set closer in Colorado. Veterans Tyler Kinley and Justin Lawrence are the most experienced options. Both have closed games for the Rox in the past, but both pitched to ERAs north of 6.00 in 2024. Those struggles could open the door for a power-armed young reliever like Halvorsen or Victor Vodnik to win the job.
Alexander’s arrival on the Rockies’ roster will come at the expense of the 27-year-old Schunk, who made his big league debut in 2024. Schunk, the Rockies’ second-round pick in 2019, appeared in 39 games with the Rox but batted only .234/.265/.330 in 98 trips to the plate. He’s slashed .291/.346/.464 in 807 turns at the plate in Triple-A over the past two seasons. It’s a solid-looking line, though when weighted for the enormously hitter-friendly environs of the Pacific Coast League (and, specifically, the Rockies’ Triple-A home in Albuquerque), it’s actually a bit shy of league-average production.
Schunk played at second base, third base and shortstop in the majors last year and has minor league experience at all three spots. He’s spent the vast majority of his time at the hot corner in pro ball, logging more than 2800 innings at third base between the minors and last year’s 89 big league frames. He’s been regarded as a sound defender at third base in scouting reports from Baseball America, FanGraphs and MLB.com in the past.
Between his solid minor league output at the plate, that defensive versatility and a full slate of minor league option years remaining, Schunk could hold appeal to a club with less infield certainty than the Rockies currently possess with McMahon, Tovar, Estrada and veteran utilityman Kyle Farmer. The Rockies will have five days to trade him. A player’s DFA window is one week long, but since waivers are a 48-hour process, Schunk would need to be traded by next Monday or else placed on outright waivers.
Come on, nobody needs employment from the Rockies this badly
What team did you play for, clown?
….Exactly
Calm down
This is a nice signing for the Rockies. Nothing will change them being last in the NL West, but seems like a good fit for the cost.
What? Why? Surely he could’ve gotten an mlb deal from someone else.
Save opps, probably.
Except that he’ll probably have an ERA north of 6.50 by the end of April pitching in Coors.
Actually, apologies, this is the Rockies, so I just proved your point. If he pitches to an ERA north of 6.50, no question he’ll be their closer.
For what? Saves aren’t going to make a soon to be 36 year old injury prone reliever look any better or get him any more money.
He hasn’t pitched 50 plus innings since 2018.
Yes he would have, and stop calling me Shirley.
Careful what you say around these Rockie fans, they’re ready to BLOW! Ahahahahaha!
I have a lot of respect for Rockies fans, they still have a good time watching games and their ownership does not help with signings like KB.
Last place team for sure though. Better than White Sox and Marlins, probably. Not far behind Angels.
@ Top 100
Sure they enjoy it, most of them are as high as the Rocky Mountains most of the time, especially on bring your bong to the ballpark nights. Blaze on Rock fans, blaze on! Ahahahahaha!
Odd takes on taking a MLB deal ever, especially once spring training starts.
Schunk has a chance to be a good player. To me he was the 25th/26th guy. Feel like the Rox should have designated or released someone else
They just Schunk their season
Maybe they can replace Schmidt with Pepe Le Pew, free agents won’t run from them any faster.
Watch out Dodgers!
I had no idea he had such a low ERA and a rise in strikeout numbers (still not great but a step up regardless) last year.
Not a bad pickup for the Rox.
Quality arm, could be the difference between another 100-loss season and only 98.
Designated at Spring Training? “Uhhhhh where am I supposed to go coach?”
Signing a 35 year old reliever while DFA-ing a 27 year old utility infielder in favor of 34 year old utility infielder Kyle Farmer. I am not in favor of the Rockies doing a complete 100% tear down rebuild, but this is just silly. Having a handful of veterans on a team losing 100 games can be a good thing. Having mostly veterans on a team losing 100 games just begs the question “What the hell are they doing?”
I liked Estrada and Alexander signings. Unless KB has a hot ST, he should be a bench player to let more kids play.
They are not going to pay KB $27 million to sit. Teams like Dodgers can afford to do that, but the Rockies cannot.
Hiflew – They are doing a few things here:
1) Putting what they believe to be the best 40 man roster together that they can, so if the 35 year old is better than the 27 year old, they are keeping the 35 year old.
2) They are trying to keep some good clubhouse guys around to mentor their youngsters, teaching them how to prepare for games and how to play the game right. Even in full rebuilds, teams need a few veterans on the roster for this very purpose.
3) Alexander and others could be attractive to teams at the trade deadline so it makes sense to sign some of these older veterans at a lower cost. If they play well, these players can be much more attractive to acquire at the trade deadline than veterans with large salaries, as it can allow potential playoff teams to improve at the deadline without going into CBT penalty tiers.
1) Point taken. But I disagree with the opinion.
2) I believe I said that. But they now have far more mentors than youngsters. Signing Alexander means the Rockies now have 17 players aged 28 or older on the 40 man. That would be fine for a team coming off back to back playoff appearances. For a team coming off back to back 100 loss seasons, it is utter failure.
3) The Rockies do not really have a stellar history regarding the trade deadline. All I am going to say about that.
Dorothy
Good points – of course the Rockies don’t always trade expiring contracts even when they are out of it
I wonder if it would be better for the Yankees to claim Schunk and in turn dfa Braden Shewmake.
The parenthetical “and, specifically, the Rockies’ Triple-A home in Albuquerque” is very clunky, awkward writing. “And” is not really necessary, and “specifically” should be AFTER the stadium. Splitting the thought up makes it harder to read.