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Offseason Outlook: Colorado Rockies

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The Rockies just wrapped up their sixth straight losing season and second straight with over 100 losses. There are some internal reasons for optimism but they have a difficult path out of the National League West basement.

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Kris Bryant Discusses "Terrible" Run Of Injuries

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  • With $104MM still owed to him over the 2025-28 seasons, it isn’t surprising that Kris Bryant isn’t at all considering retirement, as he told Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post.  Bryant went into detail about the back and arthritis issues that have plagued his tenure with the Rockies, and how he is already pursuing a new workout plan to strengthen his core and get his back in playing shape.  Since signing his seven-year, $182MM free agent deal with the Rox in March 2022, Bryant has been limited to only 159 games, leaving him both “guilty” about his lack of production and determined to turn things around as he enters his age-33 season.  “I’m not going to sugarcoat it, it’s been terrible.  It’s been terrible on me, physically and emotionally,” Bryant said.  “I feel like I’ve let a ton of people down.  There is nobody who feels worse about this than me.  There are a lot of nights when I’m upset, I’m depressed.  I want to be out there with the guys.  It sucks.  I want to be on road trips, I want to play.”

Charlie Blackmon To Retire At Season’s End

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Charlie Blackmon is calling it a career. The four-time All-Star announced this evening (on X) that he is retiring at the end of the season.

“As a kid you play the game because you love it, like nothing else matters,” Blackmon wrote. “I still play the game that way, but I don’t feel like a kid anymore. My perspective has changed. I have been blessed to call the city of Denver and The Colorado Rockies my baseball home for the entirety of my career. I am grateful for the support of this organization, my teammates, and most of all Rockies fans. It is with a thankful heart and a career’s worth of memories that I choose a new path.” Blackmon went on to thank his family as part of a longer statement.

Blackmon spent parts of 14 seasons in the majors and played 17 years professionally. That entire run came with the Rockies. Colorado drafted the lefty-hitting outfielder out of Georgia Tech in the second round in 2008. Blackmon reached the big leagues three years later and broke out among the best outfielders in the National League in the middle of the decade.

Colorado traded Dexter Fowler to Houston over the 2013-14 offseason. That paved the way for Blackmon, who’d been a part-time player over the previous couple years, to take over in center field. Then-manager Walt Weiss penciled him into the Opening Day lineup in ’14. That kicked off a stretch of 11 straight years (including this season) in which Blackmon was part of Colorado’s season-opening lineup.

Blackmon ran with the opportunity, hitting .288 with 27 doubles and 19 home runs to earn his first All-Star nod. He had similar numbers the following year before really emerging as an offensive force in 2016. Blackmon hit .324/.381/.552 with 29 longballs to earn his first of consecutive Silver Slugger awards. He returned to the All-Star Game amidst a career year the following season.

During his age-30 campaign, Blackmon raked at a .331/.399/.601 clip while leading the majors with 725 plate appearances. He drilled 37 home runs, 35 doubles and an MLB-best 14 triples. Blackmon won the NL batting title while leading the majors with 213 hits and 137 runs scored. That’s incredible production even at Coors Field and deservedly earned him his second straight Silver Slugger award. Blackmon finished fifth in NL MVP balloting and helped the Rox to their first playoff berth in eight years.

Colorado was bounced by the Diamondbacks in the NL Wild Card game. They’d return to the postseason the following year, with Blackmon again playing a central role. He hit .291/.358/.502 with 29 homers and an NL-leading 119 runs. The Rox knocked off the Cubs in the Wild Card contest that time around, though they were swept by the Brewers in the Division Series (in which Blackmon went 1-12).

Early in that 2018 season, Blackmon and the Rockies agreed to a $94MM extension. The deal paid him $21MM annually in 2019-21 and came with player options covering the 2022 and ’23 campaigns. That locked Blackmon up through his 30s and more or less ensured he’d spend his entire career in Denver.

Blackmon had one more excellent season, connecting on 32 homers while hitting .314 to earn another All-Star nod. Yet the team dropped to 71-91 in 2019. They went 26-34 during the shortened schedule while Nolan Arenado’s relationship with the front office deteriorated. Colorado traded Arenado the following winter and have essentially been mired in a rebuild ever since — even though the front office has been reluctant to acknowledge it as such.

That has coincided with Blackmon’s decline as he’s gotten into his mid-30s. He continued to hit for solid averages until this season and remained one of the tougher players in MLB to strike out. Blackmon hasn’t hit for the same kind of power he did during his 2016-19 peak, though, and he had to move off center field at the end of the 2018 season. Blackmon has spent more time at designated hitter than in right field for the past three years.

Despite the drop in production, Blackmon’s status within the organization hasn’t wavered. The Rockies re-signed him last September on a $13MM deal for what’ll be his final season. Blackmon has unlocked another $1.5MM in incentives and could secure $500K more if he logs 25 plate appearances over the last week.

The 38-year-old announced his retirement with a career .292/.352/.479 slash to his name. He has played in more than 1600 games and tallied over 6800 plate appearances. Blackmon is three hits shy of 1800 and has 991 runs scored, 797 driven in, and 226 home runs. Both Baseball Reference and FanGraphs credited him with roughly 20 wins above replacement. It’s fair to wonder if that’s artificially driven down somewhat by his home park, as Blackmon never graded well by public defensive metrics with so much ground to cover in MLB’s largest outfield.

Blackmon has six more games to add to those totals. Whatever the precise numbers, he’ll walk away as one of the best players in franchise history. He’s second behind Hall of Famer Todd Helton in hits, runs scored and plate appearances with the Rockies. Blackmon is sixth in Colorado history in home runs and would tie longtime teammate Carlos González for fifth if he connects on one this week. He’s seventh among position players in franchise history by measure of Baseball Reference WAR.

The Rockies finish the season with a pair of home series. They’ll host the Cardinals for three before wrapping things with a weekend set against the Dodgers. That’ll afford the Colorado fanbase an opportunity for a proper farewell. MLBTR congratulates Blackmon on an excellent run and wishes him the best in retirement.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Rockies Place Tyler Kinley On Injured List

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  • Rockies closer Tyler Kinley landed on the shelf with elbow inflammation. Colorado recalled Jake Bird to take the open bullpen spot. It’s his second elbow-related IL stint in as many months. Kinley missed the second half of 2022 and most of last season after undergoing elbow surgery. He was healthy for most of this year but hasn’t found anything close to the success he enjoyed before the surgery two years ago. Kinley allowed a 6.19 ERA over 64 innings. He fanned a quarter of batters faced but walked more than 11% of opponents while struggling with the home run ball.

Charlie Culberson Announces Retirement

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Long-time utility player Charlie Culberson announced his retirement in an Instagram post today. He gave his thanks to his fans, coaches, teammates, agent, friends and family members for all the contributions they made to his journey. He also spoke to Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about his career and what might be next. He has considered coaching and broadcasting but thinks the latter is more likely.

Now 35, Culberson was drafted by the Giants in 2007 out of high school at the age of 18, going 51st overall. He developed into a notable prospect, getting attention for his ability to contribute in multiple facets of the game and at many positions. He made it to the majors with that club in cup-of-coffee fashion. He got into six games during the 2012 season and hit a meager .136/.136/.136 in his 23 plate appearances.

He was sent to the Rockies in the July 2012 trade that sent Marco Scutaro and cash considerations the other way. With Colorado, Culberson was able to get a bit more playing time, serving as a light-hitting utility guy. Over the 2013 and 2014 seasons, he got into 142 games for the Rockies, hitting .227/.273/.327 while playing all four infield positions and the outfield corners.

2015 was mostly a lost season for Culberson. He had surgery to repair a herniated disc in his back and didn’t play in the majors. He tells Toscano that he started thinking about his post-playing days at that time, as he didn’t know if any club would want him after the long layoff.

However, his best days as a player were still ahead. He had lost his roster spot with the Rockies and became a free agent, signing a minor league deal with the Dodgers going into 2016. His role with that club was fairly similar to his time in Colorado. He got into 49 games for the Dodgers over the 2016 and 2017 seasons, slashing .263/.289/.350 while bouncing between the outfield corners and the three infield positions to the left of first base. Perhaps the most memorable moment of his time in Los Angeles saw him hit a walk-off, 10th inning home run to clinch the West division for the club that year (YouTube clip from MLB). He also hit an extra-inning home run in Game Two of the 2017 World Series to pull the Dodgers within 7-6, though the Astros would keep the score there and win that game (YouTube clip from MLB).

In December of 2017, Culberson went to Atlanta in five-play swap largely motivated by financial considerations. Matt Kemp was sent to the Dodgers while Culberson, Adrián González, Scott Kazmir and Brandon McCarthy went the other way. This kicked off what was arguably the best part of Culberson’s career. A Georgia native, he became a fan favorite in Atlanta after hitting a couple of pinch-hit walk-off homers, earning the nickname “Charlie Clutch” (YouTube clips of those walk-offs from MLB).

Over the 2018 and 2019 campaigns, Culberson got into 221 contests for Atlanta and produced a league-average batting line of .267/.316/.457. As usual, he bounced all around the diamond, playing all four infield spots, the outfield corners, and even taking the mound for mop-up duty a few times. He was non-tendered after that 2019 season and re-signed with Atlanta for 2020 on a minors deal, eventually getting into 10 games in the shortened season.

He spent 2021 and 2022 with the Rangers, doing his usual utility thing. He hit .246/.292/.373 in 161 games over those two campaigns while playing every position except for center field and catcher. He was back in Atlanta for 2023 but bounced on and off the roster and only got one plate appearance. It was reported in January of this year that he was going to attempt to move to the mound and signed another minors deal with Atlanta, but he was released in March. He tells Toscano that he knew he was done at that time.

Culberson wasn’t a star player but clearly endeared himself to many fans by his still of play and penchant for coming through when it counted most. He got into 590 big league games and stepped to the plate 1,312 times. He collected 300 hits, including 30 home runs. He scored 140 runs, drove in 145 and stole 21 bases. Per Baseball Reference, he earned a bit over $5MM as a big leaguer. MLBTR salutes him on a fine career and wishes him luck for whatever is over the horizon.

Mutual Interest Between Rockies, Jacob Stallings In Reunion

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The Rockies are carrying three catchers for September. Colorado promoted prospect Drew Romo in conjunction with last month’s release of Elias Díaz. He joins fellow rookie Hunter Goodman and veteran Jacob Stallings in Bud Black’s catching corps.

Colorado probably won’t want to commit fully to the unproven duo of Romo and Goodman next season. It seems the club will look to keep Stallings in the fold. MLB.com’s Thomas Harding suggested last week that Colorado could try to bring him back. Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post wrote similarly in a reader mailbag this morning that there’s mutual interest.

Stallings signed a $2MM deal with the Rox last offseason. He’s playing on a $1.5MM salary and due at least a $500K buyout on a $2MM mutual option for next season. While the simplest course of action would be for both sides to exercise the option, that’s exceedingly rare. Stallings figures to decline his end even if he hopes to stay in Denver. There’s a $1.5MM difference between the option value and the buyout. The 34-year-old backstop (35 in December) has played well enough to pursue a larger sum.

In 77 games, Stallings is hitting .260/.353/.450. He’s not likely to replicate a .319 average on balls in play, but he has a personal-high nine homers in 267 plate appearances. Stallings has roughly league average strikeout and walk numbers to go with that slight uptick in power.

Any kind of offensive production from Stallings is a bonus. His primary value lies in his defensive acumen. Stallings won a Gold Glove with the Pirates in 2021. He has a strong game-calling reputation and seemingly works well as a mentor to the team’s younger catchers. Stallings has thrown out a solid 22.5% of baserunners and remains one of the sport’s most sure-handed defenders. He has only been charged with one passed ball this season and has committed all of four passed balls since the start of 2021. Stallings doesn’t grade well as a pitch framer, but he’s otherwise a solid option behind the plate.

Stallings will probably be limited to one year but should earn a raise. Colorado signed him coming off a rough two-year stretch in Miami, where he hit .210/.287/.290 with lesser defensive grades. This year’s production could push his salary closer to guarantees secured by Luke Maile ($3.5MM), Austin Hedges ($4MM) and Martín Maldonado ($4.25MM) last winter.

Goodman and Stallings have taken the majority of recent playing time. Romo, 23, has been pushed into a third catcher role after starting his MLB career with a .174/.208/.239 slash through 13 games. Saunders writes that the Rox could send Romo back to Triple-A to start next season and rely on a Stallings/Goodman tandem if they re-sign the veteran.

Rockies Activate Antonio Senzatela

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September 16: The Rockies have made it official, with Senzatela reinstated and right-hander Jake Bird optioned as the corresponding move.

September 14: The Rockies are planning to activate right-hander Antonio Senzatela from the 60-day IL for his season debut on Monday against the Diamondbacks, as noted by Manny Randhawa of MLB.com. The Rockies’ 40-man roster currently stands at 39, meaning a corresponding 40-man move will only be necessary to activate Senzatela if the vacancy is filled before his return.

The 29-year-old righty is poised to suit up for his eighth season in the big leagues, all of which have been spent in the Rockies organization. Senzatela was limited to just two starts in 2023 due to an elbow sprain before ultimately undergoing Tommy John surgery last July. Prior to that, the righty had emerged as one of the club’s better pitchers since a breakout 2020 season where he posted a 3.44 ERA in 12 starts. In 59 starts from 2020 to 2022, Senzatela pitched to a solid 4.38 ERA that’s actually 10% better than league average by ERA+, a stat that adjusts for park factors to account for the inflated offensive environment at Coors Field.

What’s more, the righty actually sported an even stronger 3.96 FIP over that same time frame. While he struck out just 14.4% of batters faced over those three seasons, Senzatela’s ability to limit walks to a clip of just 5.3% and keep the ball on the ground (50.6% grounder rate) to limit home runs allowed him to post solid peripherals that gave the Rockies enough confidence to extend him following the 2021 season on a five-year deal worth $50.5MM that includes a club option for the 2027 season. Unfortunately, the contract hasn’t exactly gone well to this point as Senzatela’s 2022 season was cut short by an ACL tear, and his last two campaigns have been more or less wiped out by Tommy John surgery and the subsequent rehab process.

Despite the right-hander now being set to make less than 25 starts over the first three years of the contract, however, it’s not hard to imagine him being a valuable piece for the Rockies headed into 2025. After all, Senzatela’s grounder-heavy game plays quite well at elevation and it’s not hard to imagine a rotation that pairs him with some combination of German Marquez, Cal Quantrill, Kyle Freeland, Ryan Feltner, and Austin Gomber finding some level of success, at least by the standards of a Rockies franchise that has struggled to find consistent pitching results even in its most competitive years. With a rare rotation surplus in Colorado and other young arms like prospect Carson Palmquist currently at the Triple-A level, it’s even possible to imagine the Rockies having enough arms available for their 2025 rotation that they could listen to trade offers involving a pitcher like Quantrill or Gomber, as they reportedly did prior to this summer’s trade deadline.

As the Rockies head towards the finish line of what could be their second consecutive 100-loss campaign, dealing an arm from the rotation could allow them to address other areas of the roster and supplement the club’s core pieces like Ryan McMahon, Brenton Doyle, and Ezequiel Tovar on the positional side. For now, though, Senzatela and the Rockies figure to focus on getting the right-hander some starts at the big league level down the stretch as he looks to shake off the rust and head into his first healthy offseason since he signed the aforementioned extension.

Matt Adams Announces Retirement

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Veteran first baseman Matt Adams has announced his retirement from baseball. The 36-year-old penned a lengthy farewell to the sport he loves and thanked his teammates, coaches, clubhouse staff, fans and family in a statement you can read in full on Adams’ social media accounts (X link and Instagram link). Adams will sign a ceremonial one-day contract with the Cardinals next week, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, giving him the opportunity to retire as a member of the organization that first selected him in the 23rd round of the 2009 draft.

The 6’3″, 260-pound Adams made his big league debut just three seasons after being drafted, getting a May/June look during his age-23 season and hitting .244/.286/.384 in his first taste of the majors. By 2013, he’d establish himself as a fixture in the Cardinals’ lineup, hitting .284/.335/.503 and popping 17 homers in just 319 plate appearances. “Big City” went on to produce solid offense in the middle of the order from 2013-17, hitting a combined .272/.317/.473 with 73 homers, 97 doubles and six triples in 1762 plate appearances from ’13-’17.

After moving Matt Carpenter to first base for the 2017 season, the Cardinals no longer had regular at-bats for Adams at first base, however. An early-season injury to Freddie Freeman in Atlanta created an opportunity, and the Cardinals flipped Adams to the Braves in exchange for then-prospect Juan Yepez. Adams caught fire in Atlanta, hitting so well early in his time there that Freeman even briefly moved across the diamond upon his return from the IL and played 16 games at third base as a means of keeping both lefty sluggers in the lineup (prior to the NL’s implementation of the designated hitter).

Adams hit free agency that offseason and signed with the Nationals on a one-year deal. He hit well as the Nats’ primary first baseman (.257/.332/.510), and when the Nats wound up embarking on a late-August sell-off that year, Adams found himself on the waiver wire, where he was claimed — by the Cardinals. His return to St. Louis didn’t go as well as his original stint, however. He slashed just .158/.200/.333 in 60 plate appearances over the season’s final six weeks.

Adams became a free agent again at season’s end, and almost one year to the date of his original deal with the Nationals, he re-signed in Washington on another one-year contract in D.C. It was a fateful return, as although Adams hit only .226 with a .276 on-base percentage, he provided a key source of lefty power and big bat off the bench in what wound up being the Nationals’ Cinderella season. Adams belted 20 homers for manager Davey Martinez’s club as the Nats embarked on a near-unfathomable rebound from a 19-31 start to win the 2019 World Series.

That 2019 season marked the last in which Adams saw even semi-regular action in the majors. He returned to Atlanta for a brief spell in 2020, appearing in 16 games but struggling at the plate. He had a similarly brief run with the Rockies in 2021, logging 22 games and again finding it difficult to recapture his form. Adams spent the 2022 season with the Kansas City Monarchs of the independent American Association and returned to the Nationals organization in 2023, though he spent the entire year with their Triple-A club. He’s been playing with the Mexican League’s Toros de Tijuana this season (.272/.309/.491, 13 homers) but will now formally call it a career just two weeks after turning 36.

Adams doesn’t sound like someone who plans to be away from baseball for long. In his retirement statement, he expressed an eagerness to travel down a new path within the game.

“I’m excited to seek out opportunities in coaching, where I can continue to contribute to the sport I love,” wrote Adams. “Over the past few years, I’ve had the privilege of taking on a mentoring role as a veteran player. Through that experience, I’ve found a new way to love the game — one that allows me to share my knowledge and help guide the next generation of athletes. That’s the direction I’m eager to explore. … I look forward to the chance to keep competing and winning, this time from a different vantage point.”

With his playing days now formally in the rearview mirror, Adams will turn the page on a career that saw him bat .258/.306/.463 in 2614 major league plate appearances. Along the way, he totaled 624 hits, including 118 home runs, 130 doubles and six triples. Adams scored 297 runs in his career, plated 399 of them, and participated in three different postseasons (2013, 2014 and that 2019 World Series season). He suited up for four major league teams and earned nearly $15MM in salary while accruing more than eight years of big league service. Best wishes to Matt as he takes the next step in his baseball journey.

Rockies Outright Ty Blach

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The Rockies announced this morning that Ty Blach cleared outright waivers. Colorado had designated him for assignment on Sunday. Blach has the right to elect free agency, though there’s no indication he’ll do so.

In either case, the 33-year-old southpaw will likely be a free agent during the offseason. Blach has more than enough service time to qualify for minor league free agency after the season even if he reports to Triple-A Albuquerque for the time being. If the Rox were to call him back up in the final couple weeks, they’d likely waive or non-tender him at the start of the winter.

The sides might work out another minor league deal going into next season. The Denver native has spent the past three seasons bouncing on and off the roster. He has started 12 of 20 appearances this year, allowing an earned run average near 7.00. Blach has yet to post an ERA below 5.54 in any of his three seasons in Colorado. Still, the organization has valued his willingness to work out of the rotation or in long relief and has retained him as a depth arm. He owns a 6.13 ERA across 193 2/3 innings in a Rox uniform.

Blach has pitched well this year in a limited stint in Albuquerque. He has managed a 2.48 ERA through 32 2/3 innings despite the extremely hitter-friendly setting. While he’s never going to miss many bats, Blach throws a ton of strikes and has kept the ball on the ground at a strong 54.2% clip in Triple-A.

Rockies Designate Ty Blach For Assignment

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The Rockies announced this morning that they’ve activated right-hander Victor Vodnik from the 15-day injured list. In a corresponding move, left-hander Ty Blach was designated for assignment. Colorado’s 40-man roster now stands at 39 players.

Blach, 33, now wraps up his second stint on the big league roster with the Rockies this season. He’s generally performed poorly in 71 1/3 innings of work with the club this year with a 6.94 ERA and 6.28 FIP in 20 appearances, 12 of which were starts. A fifth-round pick by the Giants back in 2012, Blach found some success as a decent swing man with San Francisco early in his career. Over his first three seasons in the big leagues from 2016 to 2018, Blach pitched to a 4.36 ERA (93 ERA+) with a 4.14 FIP in 299 1/3 innings of work spread across 85 appearances and 39 starts. Overall, Blach posted a 4.56 ERA and 4.23 FIP in a Giants uniform but suffered through five disastrous starts with the Orioles after being shipped to the club in 2019. Those wound up being the last appearances he’d make at the big league level until he resurfaced with the Rockies back in 2022.

When the lefty signed a minor league deal with the Rockies back in 2022, that kicked off a string of what has now become three seasons where the veteran journeyman has bounced between Triple-A and the majors for the club. While he generally hasn’t pitched well for the Rockies, with a career 6.13 ERA (78 ERA+) and 5.46 FIP that are below average even for a hurler who calls Coors Field home, he’s served as a veteran depth option that has allowed the Rockies to avoid rushing young, promising pitchers to the big leagues amid the club’s number of rotation injuries in recent years. Going forward, Blach will have the opportunity to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency should he clear waivers.

Blach’s departure from the active roster makes room for the return of Vodnik. The 24-year-old hurler made his big league debut in Colorado last year as he struggled through a six-game cup of coffee, but quickly entered the club’s late inning mix this year. In 64 2/3 innings of work this year, Vodnik has impressed with a respectable 4.04 ERA (115 ERA+) and 3.91 FIP while collecting nine saves. Though Vodnik sports a strikeout rate of just 20.2% this year, he’s generated grounders at an impressive 52.9% clip that’s left him with a 4.19 SIERA, third-best among all Rockies pitchers with at least 40 innings of work this year. The hard-throwing right-hander was sidelined late last month by a bout of biceps inflammation but now that he’s returned, he figures to slot back into the club’s late inning mix alongside closer Tyler Kinley.

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