NL West front offices: A midseason report for 2022
By Bill Felber
Colorado Rockies front office, -3.2 WAA
The big offseason news around Denver concerned who the Rockies lost, not who they got. They lost Trevor Story, who signed with the Red Sox and took a major piece of Colorado’s offense with him.
All told, Schmidt has made 23 personnel moves, nine of which have worked out in Colorado’s favor. But the overall impact has been negative and a contributing factor to the team fighting Arizona for possession of the division cellar.
Here are the five most impactful to date.
March 24: Colorado’s two most impactful moves came in tandem, and both have worked out negatively for the receiving team. The March trade sent outfielder Raimel Tapia and a minor leaguer to Toronto to Randal Grichuk and cash. Tapia has been a no-power disappointment in Toronto, his .262 batting average diminished by only three home runs, only nine walks and a resulting .654 OPS. That works out to -1.5 WAA. Grichuk isn’t much, if any, better: a .248 average, a .676 WAA and a -1.3 WAA for the Rockies. In Coors Field, one expects better.
Nov. 10: Lost to free agency one week earlier, Jhoulys Chacin re-upped for one year at $1.25 million. Used exclusively in relief, Chacin has made 28 appearances. That’s the good part. The bad part is a 6.81 ERA and -1.2 WAA.
Nov. 3: The loss of Story to free agency was widely forecast given his value on the open market. He signed in March with Boston, where he has produced a +1.1 WAA for the Red Sox. The reasons: a poor .224 batting average offset by 15 homers, 55 RBI, and a .727 OPS.
Next. Taking a look at the AL West's GMs. dark
March 16: Chad Kuhl lingered on the open market until mid-March when the Rockies offered a one-year, $3 million deal. It has paid off. Kuhl’s 4.02 ERA is good by Coors standards, he’s 6-5 in 16 starts and his +1.1 WAA is best on the Colorado staff.