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Latest On Rockies’ Offseason Strategy

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It wasn’t that long ago that many thought Jon Gray’s days in Colorado were over. In July. With the team outside the playoff hunt, armchair wisdom suggested trading Gray at the deadline, but all accounts suggest they were more than comfortable keeping the big righty in Denver. He finished the year with a 4.59 ERA/4.22 FIP in 29 starts covering 149 innings. It wasn’t a stellar year, but it might be enough to leave other clubs curious about what he might be capable of outside of Colorado.

Inside Colorado, GM Bill Schmidt is now fully installed in his role, so there’s little reason to think his position has changed. They’d love to have Gray back. Gray, of course, will be a free agent the day after the World Series. The Rockies have no more a hold on Gray than the other 29 teams in the league (assuming they don’t extend a qualifying offer). There are rumblings of a contact extension being on the table, per The Athletic’s Nick Groke. Still, any agreement at this juncture would be surprising.

In terms of the rest of the roster, Schmidt’s recent comments provided by Groke suggest he may turn initially to the trade market, which would be a departure from normal operating procedure under former GM Jeff Bridich. If the Rockies do decide to dangle some of their players, Groke suggests Raimel Tapia, Brendan Rodgers, Colton Welker, Daniel Bard, Ryan Vilade, and Grant Lavigne as affordable assets that might draw attention. Comments from the club last season suggested they plan to build around Tapia and Ryan McMahon, so it would be a little surprising to see one of them move, even if there’s wisdom in exploring the options.

Rodgers, likewise, has hung around for long enough waiting to replace Trevor Story. The 25-year-old managed enough offensively to suggest he might be ready for that role. That said, 100 wRC+ and 1.6 fWAR in 415 plate appearances doesn’t scream superstar. The bigger question with Rodgers might be his position, as he may no longer be ticketed for shortstop. Still, he’s looking like a plus power bat at the keystone, per Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. That’s a fine future for Rodgers, but it does limit his potential future value.

Schmidt, of course, already made his first couple of big moves this winter, signing Antonio Senzatela and C.J. Cron to extensions. Those moves lend credence to Groke’s suggestions above to dangle the organization’s other first baggers like Welker and Lavigne on the trade block, despite their youth. Cron’s deal was just for two years, but it does provide the team with some surplus from which they might be comfortable dealing.

Quick Hits: Hess, Washington, Padres, Black, Strom

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Rays reliever David Hess announced today (via his Twitter feed) that he will be undergoing chemotherapy after doctors discovered a cancerous germ cell tumor in his chest.  “As we’ve started on this journey we’ve had people circle around us and shower love, prayers, and support in ways that have been so amazing I don’t think we can even put into words how grateful my family and I are,” Hess wrote.  “As we get ready to go into this treatment time, we are confident this will all be gone from my body and I’ll be back doing what I love on a baseball field soon and be healthy while doing it.”  We at MLBTR wish all the best to Hess in his treatment and we’re hoping for a full and quick recovery.

More from around the league…

  • Braves third base coach Ron Washington can’t interview with other teams about managerial openings until Atlanta’s postseason run is over, so Washington told reporters (including The Athletic’s David O’Brien) that he has yet to hear from the Padres or Mets.  Washington is happy in his current position but admitted he would like to “get back in the room” for a second stint managing a big league club.  It’s possible Atlanta’s playoff run could interfere with Washington’s job prospects, as if the Braves were to advance deep into the World Series, the Padres and Mets might potentially hire new managers before Washington becomes available to talk.
  • If not Washington, could the Padres turn to another veteran skipper in Rockies manager Bud Black?  The Denver Post’s Patrick Saunders is doubtful, writing that “realistically…I don’t think the Rockies would let go of Black and I don’t know if [Padres president of baseball operations A.J.] Preller would even consider him as a candidate.”  After all, Preller did fire Black back in 2015, ending Black’s previous nine-year run as the Padres’ manager.  Black is under contract to the Rockies through the 2022 season, though team president Greg Feasel recently stated that the Rox had yet to speak to Black about a contract extension.  The Padres’ search for a new manager has thus far connected them to several experienced former bench bosses, and Black would certainly fit the description after 14 seasons managing in San Diego and Colorado.
  • Longtime Astros pitching coach Brent Strom told FOX 26’s Mark Berman that this could be his final year, though he and his wife will discuss the situation once the Astros season is over.  “I’ve been doing it a long time.  I’m going to be 73 years old…and so there’s a lot of life out there besides baseball that I might want to experience, but I haven’t made any decisions as of yet,” Strom said.  Strom has been the Astros’ pitching coach since the 2013-14 offseason, the latest stop in almost 40 years’ worth of work in baseball as a coach and as a minor pitching instructor and coordinator for six different organizations.

Rockies Extend Antonio Senzatela

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October 6: According to Jon Heyman of MLB Network, Senzatela can increase his annual salary by meeting thresholds of innings pitched. By reaching 200 innings in 2022, he will add $1MM to his salary in each season from 2024 to 2027, and the same applies for 2023. That means Senzatela has the potential to add $8MM to his payout.

October 5: The Rockies announced this afternoon they’ve agreed to a five-year contract extension with right-hander Antonio Senzatela. He’ll be guaranteed $50.5MM, and the deal also contains a club option for the 2027 season. Senzatela, a client of Republik Sports, was headed into his second trip through the arbitration process and had previously been under club control through the 2023 season.

Antonio Senzatela |Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports

It’s a rather surprising first move for newly minted general manager Bill Schmidt, who shed the “interim” tag from his title over the weekend. Senzatela has, at times, looked the part of a durable innings eater with a grounder-heavy approach, but he also possesses one of Major League Baseball’s lowest strikeout rates and was only in line for a modest raise on this season’s $3MM salary in arbitration. He’ll now earn $7.25MM in both 2022 and 2023 before taking home $12MM annually from 2024-26. The 2027 option is valued at $14MM.

Senzatela, 26, has been a durable rotation cog for Colorado over the past few seasons, although it’s worth noting that as recently as 2019, he was optioned to Triple-A and finished the season with an ERA just shy of 7.00. The right-hander was hammered for a 10.34 ERA from July through September that season but has enjoyed much more success since returning.

In 40 starts and 230 frames dating back to Opening Day 2020, he’s worked to a combined 4.11 earned run average — albeit with a 15% strikeout rate that ranks 188th of the 198 starting pitchers to have thrown at least 100 innings in that time. Senzatela ranks on the opposite end of the pendulum with the 15th-best walk rate in that time (5.1%) and the 22nd-ranked ground-ball percentage (51.1%).

Clearly, the Rockies are betting that he’ll be able to continue to suppress runs at a roughly average rate, leaning heavily on his blend of strong control and knack for inducing grounders. The challenge for Senzatela will lie partly in his ability to reduce the rate at which he allows hard contact. Of the 98 qualified pitchers in Major League Baseball this season, Senzatela’s 90.6 mph average opponents’ exit velocity was sixth-highest. That’s driven in part by a propensity to allow hard contact on the ground; his exit velocity on ground-balls is fourth-highest in MLB, whereas on balls in the air it’s a slightly less-alarming 27th.

Historically speaking, there’s ample precedent for pitchers in Senzatela’s service bracket — more than four years, less than five — signing a deal in this range. Kyle Hendricks’ 2019 extension with the Cubs, a five-year deal worth a guaranteed $55.5MM, is the most recent and closest parallel.

Notably, Hendricks also largely goes against today’s archetypical strikeout machine. He relies more on weak contact and pinpoint command to offset one of the game’s slowest fastballs, however, whereas Senzatela’s power sinker hovers in the 95 mph range but simply doesn’t miss many bats.

While both pitchers are grounder-heavy command artists, Hendricks had a vastly superior track record that included a prior third-place finish in NL Cy Young balloting. He’d already agreed to a $7.405MM salary for the forthcoming 2019 season, and Senzatela would’ve been hard-pressed to earn a second-time arbitration salary in that range. If Hendricks was indeed cited as a point of comparison in negotiations, it’s a strong deal for Senzatela’s camp to have come close to that same guarantee with a demonstrably worse statistical platform.

That said, while the price point may be a bit of a surprise, the Rockies surely place extra value on pitchers who’ve shown the ability — and the desire or willingness — to pitch effectively at Coors Field. Persuading any free-agent starting pitcher to sign on for multiple years pitching at altitude is a difficult endeavor. Beyond that, the Rockies have a fairly weak farm system, so trading for a controllable pitcher is easier said than done. Senzatela has had his share of success in recent seasons and, if he can continue on the same trajectory he showed from 2020-21, the deal will look reasonable enough.

From a payroll vantage point, the Rox can certainly afford the deal as structured. Colorado had just under $47MM in guaranteed salary on the 2022 books, and Senzatela’s salary bumps them to a bit more than $54MM. Charlie Blackmon will tack on another $21MM when he exercises a player option for the 2022 campaign, but even that subsequent $75-76MM is nowhere near the franchise-record $145MM payroll. Colorado is reported to be in agreement on an extension with first baseman C.J. Cron as well, but that shouldn’t drive up the bottom-line payroll in 2022 by too much.

Moreover, by the time Senzatela’s salary jumps to the $12MM range, the Blackmon contract will be off the books. The Rockies didn’t have a single guaranteed salary on the 2024 payroll prior to this long-term deal, though a $16MM club option on top pitcher German Marquez appears likely to be exercised, barring a significant injury or decline. An annual $12MM salary for an innings eater of Senzatela’s nature isn’t an egregious price to pay, although the downside with him is greater than with other arms who’ve signed in this price range — and it’s a bit surprising to see that price tag agreed upon so far in advance.

At the end of the day, the Senzatela extension serves as another reminder that the Rockies don’t view themselves nearly as far from contending as their 74-win season and -57 run differential would suggest. Colorado bucked conventional wisdom at the deadline when opting to hang onto Trevor Story, Jon Gray, Daniel Bard, Cron and other trade candidates, ultimately only moving Mychal Givens despite being buried in the division and lacking long-term control of those players.

Owner Dick Monfort has repeatedly stated in the past that he believes the current Rockies core is capable of contending, although that core will likely be turning over at least to an extent with the expected departure of Story. Competing in a division with the two best teams of 2021, plus a flawed-but-talented Padres squad in win-now mode would appear a daunting task for most teams, but the Rockies operate on an island and, in many ways, prefer their own unorthodox methodologies to more popular industry trends. The group of Marquez, Senzatela, Kyle Freeland, Gray (if he’s re-signed) and Austin Gomber certainly could form the nucleus of a competitive pitching staff, but the Rox are thin on depth behind that quintet and will need another year of uncanny health in the rotation just to repeat their 2021 output. Some additional roster augmentation will be needed this offseason.

Jeff Passan of ESPN was first to report the agreement and the deal’s terms.

Rockies Extend C.J. Cron

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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.

Latest On Jon Gray

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The Rockies have already begun their offseason work in earnest, hammering out contract extensions with Antonio Senzatela and C.J. Cron this afternoon. The front office has previously expressed interest in extending impending free agent Jon Gray as well, and that figures to be one of the next steps on the team’s priority list.

Colorado is still looking to work out a long-term deal with Gray, according to reports from Bob Nightengale of USA Today and Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. However, Feinsand hears there hasn’t been any recent progress in talks with Gray’s representatives at CAA Sports.

The third overall pick in the 2013 draft, Gray has been a career-long Rockie. He broke into the majors in 2015 and has been a consistent member of the rotation over the years since, flashing mid-rotation ability at his best. The right-hander posted a sub-4.00 ERA with above-average strikeout rates in both 2017 and 2019, no small feat given that he calls Coors Field home.

Gray’s shortened 2020 campaign didn’t go according to plan. His velocity dropped two miles per hour and he was knocked around for a 6.69 ERA over eight starts before ending the year on the injured list due to shoulder inflammation. Gray entered 2021 as a bit of a question mark, but he bounced back from the down year to put together a nice season.

Over 149 innings, Gray worked to a 4.59 ERA with strikeout and walk rates (24.4% and 9%, respectively) both marginally higher than the league average. He racked up ground-balls at a strong 48.8% clip and induced swinging strikes on a solid 11% of his offerings. Gray also regained a tick on his average fastball after last season’s velocity dip, a trend that held even after he missed a bit of time in early September due to forearm tightness.

As today’s Senzatela extension demonstrates, the Rox front office is particularly keen on keeping pitchers who’ve demonstrated an ability to get outs in Denver’s high-altitude environment. Gray has put together strong home results (better than those he’s posted on the road, in fact) over the past couple seasons. Dating back to the start of 2019, he owns a 4.39 ERA/4.33 FIP over 178 1/3 innings at Coors Field. He’s allowed just 1.3 HR/9 and a .278 opponents’ batting average on balls in play in that time, avoiding the ills that plague most pitchers in that ballpark.

Of course, that Gray has had success at Coors Field doesn’t inherently mean he’ll continue to do so. But there’s at least proof of concept for the front office, and newly-minted general manager Bill Schmidt has seemingly made a concerted effort to keep the core of the current roster in the fold. The Rockies held onto Gray at the trade deadline, and while they could make him a qualifying offer and allow him to depart in free agency were he to decline, it seems likelier they’ll try to hammer out an extension before Gray ever hits the open market.

Charlie Blackmon Plans To Exercise 2022-23 Player Options

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Rockies outfielder Charlie Blackmon isn’t making any plans to leave Denver, as Blackmon told reporters (including Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post) that he is going to exercise the player options on his contract for both 2022 and 2023.  An official decision about Blackmon’s 2022 plans will come soon after the World Series, and Blackmon doesn’t have to make a decision on his 2023 option until after next season, should he change his mind in the next 12 months.

In exercising his 2022 option, Blackmon will earn $21MM next season, and there wasn’t much doubt he would choose to prefer that big guaranteed payday over a visit to the free agent market.  Blackmon entered Game 162 hitting .269/.349/.409 with 13 home runs over 581 plate appearances, his least-productive full season by OPS (.759), OPS+ (95) and wRC+ (94) since becoming a regular with Colorado in 2013.

At age 35 and coming off that lackluster platform season, there wasn’t much chance Blackmon could find anything on the open market that would top the minimum $31MM in guaranteed money he has coming his way in 2022-23.  Blackmon’s original extension with the Rockies has already earned him $63MM, and after the $21MM salary for 2022, he stands to make at least $10MM via the 2023 player option.  That 2023 figure could end up being worth as much as $18MM should Blackmon hit various escalators based on plate appearances and MVP votes.

The Rockies inked Blackmon to that extension in April 2018, keeping Blackmon in the fold before his scheduled trip to free agency in the 2018-19 offseason.  Over the extension’s three guaranteed years, Blackmon has contributed a .295/.357/.489 slash line and 51 homers over 1462 PA, but most of that damage came in 2019.

His decline over the last two seasons doesn’t bode well for Colorado’s chances of getting an acceptable return on that $21MM investment for next year.  Blackmon’s hard-contact numbers have dropped, and opposing teams have been heavily deploying shifts to neutralize the left-handed hitting Blackmon over the last two seasons.

Rockies Designate Chi Chi Gonzalez For Assignment

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The Rockies announced a few roster moves today, recalling right-handed pitchers Justin Lawrence and Antonio Santos, while optioning infielder Rio Ruiz and designating right-hander Chi Chi Gonzalez for assignment.

The Rockies non-tendered Gonzalez in the offseason and then re-signed him on a minor league deal just over a week later. He had his contract at the end of spring training and stayed a part of the staff until the last day of the season. In 24 games this season, 18 of them starts, he has logged 101 2/3 innings with an ERA of 6.46. That may be somewhat inflated by Gonzalez playing his home games in the most hitter-friendly park in the league, but his underlying metrics aren’t much better. His 12.5% strikeout rate is just barely half of the MLB average, which is 23.2%. His 6.3% walk rate is pretty solid though, considering the league average of 8.7%.

Based on that middling production and the fact that he had already been non-tendered by the club once, they were probably heading down the same path this winter. For the club, they decided to just move on now and use the last day of the season to give another look to some younger arms. Lawrence, 26, and Santos, 24, have each logged their fair share of miles shuttling between MLB and Triple-A this season, each one having been optioned six times. Lawrence has a bloated 8.64 ERA over 16 2/3 MLB innings this season, but a much more palatable 4.73 ERA in 32 1/3 Triple-A innings. Santos is somehow the reverse, with an MLB ERA of 4.76 in 11 1.3 innings but a Triple-A ERA of 7.94 in 45 1/3 innings.

Rockies Notes: Schmidt, Feasel, Payroll, Offseason

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The Rockies officially promoted Bill Schmidt from interim GM to full-time general manager today, and Schmidt, manager Bud Black, and team president/COO Greg Feasel spoke with reporters (including Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post) about both the hiring and some of the team’s offseason plans.

The chief priority will be adding relief pitching and power bats, according to both Schmidt and Black.  Some of that power could come by retaining free agents such as Trevor Story and C.J. Cron, and Schmidt reiterated that the Rox have interest in re-signing both sluggers, as well as right-hander Jon Gray.

Though Colorado was out of the playoff race at midseason, the team controversially held onto Story, Cron, Gray, and most of its other impending free agents due in part to this desire to keep everyone in the fold.  In the wake of the trade deadline, Story indicated he was “confused” at not being dealt, and reports from back in June suggested that Story was already planning to move on from the Rockies following the season.  Today, Schmidt said simply that Story’s future in Denver is “up to him.  He knows how we feel about him.”

As to how the Rockies could retain their free agents, some extra spending appears to be in the works.  Roster Resource has Colorado’s current payroll at just over $116.8MM, down from the team’s spending in the $157MM range during the 2019 season.  With revenue levels becoming more normalized post-pandemic, Feasel said the Rockies intend to return to that higher spending capacity within two years’ time — “We think we are going to gain ground in ’22, and we think we’ll be back to 2018-19 levels in 2023.”

If Story did leave, his $18.5MM salary from 2021 could certainly be put towards a new contract for Gray and/or Cron.  2022 is also one of the seasons where the money owed to the Cardinals as part of the Nolan Arenado trade dips down; the Rockies only owe around $5.57MM to St. Louis in 2022, before that number spikes to $21MM in 2023, and then $5MM each in both 2024 and 2025.

While the Rox have some cash available, it remains to be seen exactly how that money will be spent, or how Schmidt will operate now that has the full reigns of an organization for the first time in his long career.  The lack of activity at the trade deadline didn’t provide many hints about Schmidt’s plans, and given Feasel’s payroll projection, it could be any real serious expenditures are held off until next winter.

The broader question also exists about how much things will really change in Colorado under the Schmidt regime, considering that Schmidt is already a long-time Rockies staffer, and owner Dick Monfort’s insular management style has come under heavy criticism.  To this end, some new voices are expected to join the mix, as Schmidt said the Rockies are already looking to increase the analytics department.  (An understaffed and sometimes-ignored analytics team was identified by The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and Nick Groke as one of the Rockies’ many issues in a harsh spotlight and critique of the organization last March.)

When former GM Jeff Bridich resigned in April, the expectation was that the Rockies would conduct an external search for a new general manager or president of baseball operations following the season.  According to Feasel, however, Schmidt’s work as interim GM impressed upper management to the point that “he didn’t give us a choice…I mean, how many times you need to be hit over the head with a bat.  And he was the right guy for us at the right time.”

Details about Schmidt’s contract weren’t released, and it could be that Schmidt isn’t working under a traditional deal, as Feasel said there isn’t a firm length attached to Schmidt’s role.  “We consider him an officer of our club and we think that’s pretty special.  His standing is not going to change,” Feasel said.

Rockies Hire Bill Schmidt As General Manager

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The Rockies have removed the “interim” tag from Bill Schmidt, as Schmidt will officially take over the team’s front office as the new general manager.  Schmidt has been serving as the interim GM since May 3, a week after former general manager Jeff Bridich resigned.

The club also announced promotions of two other in-house executives.  Danny Montgomery goes from special assistant to the GM to being a newly-minted vice president and assistant GM of scouting, while assistant GM Zack Rosenthal had the vice president title added to his current duties.

“After five months as our interim general manager, it became increasingly clear that Bill was the right person to lead this franchise forward,” Rockies president/COO Greg Feasel said in the press release.  “We already knew Bill as a trusted and respected baseball professional within the game.  He came into a challenging situation and quickly impacted the play on and off the field.  Bill’s promotion also gives the organization an opportunity to promote two experienced individuals, Danny and Zack, to leadership roles that will be key in getting us to the next level.”

At the time of Bridich’s departure, the Rockies announced that a wider search for a new GM/president of baseball operations would take place after the season, though the club has now decided to stick with a familiar face.  Schmidt has been working in Colorado since October 1999 in various scouting capacities, and has been running the team’s drafts since 2000.  Schmidt was promoted to VP of scouting in 2007, a title he held until becoming interim GM.  Before joining the Rox, Schmidt also worked as a scout and minor league coach with the Reds and Yankees, a minor league coach with the Brewers, and as a national crosschecker for the Indians.

Schmidt’s hiring is something of an old-school move, as teams have generally trended towards younger and more analytically-inclined front office executives in recent years, rather than older, more established baseball lifers.  Schmidt is known to be widely respected around the sport, and his hiring will surely be applauded by peers pleased to see him finally getting a shot to run a big league organization.

It is fair to wonder if Rockies fans are as enthusiastic, however.  Bridich was also a longtime front office employee before he was hired as GM in 2014, and the hiring of Schmidt (and even the promotions of Montgomery and Rosenthal) reflect more continuity within an organization that many fans and pundits believe is in need of a shakeup.  Owner Dick Monfort is known to be very loyal to his employees — perhaps to a fault, as the team’s insularity has been seen as a chief reason for the Rockies have had only five winning seasons since the Monfort brothers become majority owners in 2005.

Thanks to a brutal 19-34 start, the Rockies will finish under the .500 mark yet again this season, despite a respectable 55-51 mark since May 30.  That performance over the last four months quite possibly inspired the team’s decision to mostly stand pat at the trade deadline, moving only Mychal Givens despite the number of impending free agents (most notably Trevor Story and Jon Gray) on the roster.  The Rockies have designs on re-signing Gray, while Story is as good as gone but the team didn’t find any acceptable trade offers, so the decision was made to keep Story and at least recoup a draft pick via the qualifying offer.

Schmidt now faces a tall order in getting the Rockies on track, considering the potential free agent losses, a farm system seen as being lacking in impact talent, and the ever-difficult NL West.  It will be interesting to see how Schmidt’s approach differs from Bridich, who relied mostly on free agency to make his moves and didn’t swing many major trades (apart from moving longtime stars Nolan Arenado and Troy Tulowitzki) in his tenure as GM.

Rockies Activate Peter Lambert From Injured List

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The Rockies announced they’ve reinstated Peter Lambert from the 60-day injured list. He’ll start this evening’s game against the Giants. To create space on the 40-man roster, Colorado transferred corner outfielder/first baseman Connor Joe from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list. Rookie outfielder Ryan Vilade was optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque to open an active roster spot.

Lambert is back for the first time in two years. A well-regarded pitching prospect during his time in the minors, the right-hander reached the big leagues shortly after his 22nd birthday in 2019. His first crack at the majors didn’t go according to plan, as he was tagged for a 7.25 ERA over nineteen outings, but the Rox surely believed in Lambert’s ability to eventually settle in as a solid starter.

Unfortunately, Lambert went down with a forearm strain in Spring Training last year. A few months later, he was forced to undergo Tommy John surgery. That cost him all of 2020 and almost all of this season, but he’ll get back on a big league mound for an appearance or two to end the year. Manager Bud Black told reporters (including Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post) that Lambert could throw up to 60 pitches tonight.

The Rockies obviously aren’t playing more than a potential spoiler role for the stretch run. Nevertheless, it’s a welcome development for Lambert and the team that his lengthy rehab process will culminate in some game action, however brief. Lambert’s return will allow him to enter the upcoming offseason on a more normal footing, while the front office can get a glimpse of his current form in determining how much they can count on him as an option for next year’s season-opening pitching staff.

Joe missed all of last season battling testicular cancer. Fortunately, he was able to make it back to the diamond on a minor league deal and earned his way to the majors in early May. The right-handed hitting Joe had a quietly productive season in a limited role in Colorado. Over 211 plate appearances, he hit .285/.379/.469 with eight home runs.

A right hamstring strain ends Joe’s comeback season a bit early. Still, it seems likely the 29-year-old showed enough offensive punch to hang onto a spot on Colorado’s 40-man roster over the offseason.

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