Colorado Rockies 2017 Season Preview

Additions

For much of the winter, Ian Desmond was the team’s biggest signing, and he should be an upgrade over the smattering of at-bats that went to Mark Reynolds, Ben Paulsen and Stephen Cardullo. The trio combined for a wRC+ of 83 last season, ranking Rockies first basemen 26th in baseball at the dish. In each of the last five seasons Desmond has hit at at least that mark, and in four of the five he has been well above average, which would be at least a 17% boost in production for Colorado at first. Add in his athleticism, and we could see an increase in the defensive production for the team at the position as well–once he returns from injury.

The signing that could surpass the Desmond addition would be the Rockies signing Greg Holland to a win-win deal for both the player and the team. At the very least they will have Holland’s services for one season at $6M, but if he appears in 50 games or finishes 30 (not saves necessarily), then he has a $15M option that will vest for 2018. Holland is coming off of Tommy John surgery, so his effectiveness will be in question to start the season, especially in Colorado, but if he’s anything close to the pitcher that he was before he went down, the Rockies got a steal of a deal and have greatly improved their relief options.

Mike Dunn was brought in to replace the soon-to-be-mentioned Boone Logan, and this one is another puzzling signing. Logan had been pitching well in Colorado and is somewhat of a known quantity for the Rockies. While Dunn is a year younger, he also put up worse numbers than Logan while taking the mound in a pitcher’s park. Both are fastball/slider left-handers, but Logan ended up getting less money to join the Indians than Dunn did to come to Colorado. Part of that may be due to Cleveland coming off a World Series appearance and Colorado being a launching pad. The other part may be that Logan and the Rockies just weren’t a fit. It just looks curious all things considered.

The last piece that the Rockies brought in that could have an impact, albeit not necessarily in 2017, was James Farris from the Cubs. After designating Eddie Butler for assignment, the Rockies ended up trading Butler to Chicago for Farris, a 9th round pick back in 2014. The 24-year-old righty made it to Double-A last season and has been a strikeout machine since entering the pros. For his career, he has a 10.7 K/9 rate to go along with a 2.7 BB/9. He may be one of those under-the-radar adds that has an impact later on. We’ll see how he fares when he moves to the Rockies affiliate ballparks, which tend to play a lot like Coors.