Even though most of the decisions by the Rockies front office to not bring back their five notable free agents turned out to be the right moves, their newly signed players provided mixed results.
Davis was signed to a massive contract in which he was guaranteed $52.0 million over three seasons and he played a large role in helping the team return to Rocktober. During the first half of 2018, Davis put together a 3.72 ERA and a 1.112 WHIP alongside 27 saves through 41 games pitched. During the second half, he put together a 4.73 ERA and a 0.975 WHIP alongside 16 saves through 28 games pitched.
Although the numbers outside of the saves total may not look impressive, Davis only allowed one run to score during his final 18.0 innings of the regular season. During this time, he picked up 2 wins,11 saves, and 25 strikeouts while only allowing 7 hits and 2 walks. This was an incredible performance down the stretch of the regular season by Davis and he proved why he was worth such a large contract.
On the other hand, the signings of McGee and Shaw were large disappointments. McGee compiled a 6.49 ERA, a 4.91 FIP, and a 1.461 WHIP through 51.1 innings pitched. Shaw compiled a 5.93 ERA, a 4.92 FIP, and a 1.793 WHIP through 54.2 innings pitched. These two pitchers were both guaranteed $27 million a piece over three seasons, so they have not proven to be worthy of their contracts to this point.
Iannetta was not a large gamble for the Rockies as he is a veteran catcher that played as expected in 2018. Through 110 games played, he provided 25 extra-base-hits, a .224 average and a .730 on-base plus slugging percentage. Due to this, his guaranteed $8.5 million over two years was not a bad decision by the front office.
Gonzalez hoped to find a much larger contract prior to the start of the 2018 season, but much like Holland and Mike Moustakas, he did not have much luck as he had to settle for a one-year, $5 million contract. Although Gonzalez did not reach the 25 HR and 100 RBI mark that he reached in 2016, he was able to put together 16 HRs and 64 RBI through 132 games in 2018. Similar to Iannetta, this was a low risk signing that worked out for the Rockies.