Colorado Rockies: There is a free agent rumor?

It may be hard to believe, but a free agent rumor does currently exist regarding the Colorado Rockies that doesn’t involve trading Nolan Arenado.

Despite a hot stove that has burned its hottest in at least the last three years, the Colorado Rockies have apparently decided to sit the 2020 offseason out as seemingly every other team in baseball has made additions.

Hold up… I’m sorry, the Rockies did in fact sign right-hander Jose Mujica back in late November, a 23-year-old who didn’t even pitch in 2019, thanks to a year-long recovery from Tommy John surgery. He got a one-year deal.

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That’s it.

Other than Mujica, the Rockies have literally made zero major-league signings this offseason. What about a trade?… nope… none of those, either (though there are significant rumors regarding third baseman Nolan Arenado).

The only transactional activity the Rockies have participated in this winter has come by way of minor league contracts and arbitration-player business, with the latter not even that significant as the team’s highest arb-eligible player (shortstop Trevor Story) wound up not settling this past Friday.

The ‘rumor’

But just as the clock struck midnight on Sunday, MLB Trade Rumors revealed that there is in fact a possible free-agent signing for the Rockies, relaying Colorado’s interest in 33-year-old catcher Jonathan Lucroy.

Eh… not exactly that Jonathan Lucroy.

It’s true the name ‘Lucroy’ doesn’t quite carry the same weight it once did, as he’s definitely no longer the 7-WAR player he was in 2013 (the season in which the walk-off homer above originates); although, he could possibly assist Tony Wolters, the Rockies other arb-eligible player that didn’t settle on Friday and current starting catcher. In 2019, Wolters posted a middling 62 wRC+ and dreadful -0.5 fWAR in 121 games. However, adding the two could very well wind up just a big mess, considering Lucroy’s also pitiful numbers this past season: a 77 wRC+ and -0.5 fWAR as well.

Lucroy at least could offer the Rockies a tinier version of his mostly-departed power, hitting 8 home runs in 2019 and 24 as recent as 2016, while Wolters has just four combined homers in the last three seasons combined. This certainly isn’t a potential star duo in the making by any means, but the Rockies’ unwillingness to do anything this offseason has left them with a need behind the plate and a catcher market that’s all dried up.

There are at least some nice memories that come with Lucroy, who helped the Rockies to the NL Wild Card game in 2017, after being traded there from the Rangers. He only contributed to 46 games in Denver that season, but Lucroy hit a robust .310 and an overall 80 wRC+ in ’17 season (a mark he hasn’t bested since).

With Wolters, though, the Rockies do at least have a solid glove behind the plate, as he was one of baseball’s best pitch framers in 2018 (though below average last season).

Regardless, for a team that hasn’t seemed to show any interest in much of anything this offseason, at this juncture almost any addition would most likely feel like a win. Lucroy wouldn’t necessarily be an improvement at catcher, but on a cheap deal he could serve as at least a body that can split the workload.

With the offseason now going into the fourth quarter, that’s really all the Colorado Rockies can hope for, barring an Arenado trade. And since they chose to sit in the corner while everyone else did everything…  really that’s all that they probably deserve.