Bill Schmidt and the Colorado Rockies front office: An interim grade at the 2023 midway point
By Bill Felber
Acquired or traded
Dealings with other teams since the conclusion of the 2022 season have brought Schmidt just four major league players, all of them second-line pitchers. That’s not much of a surprise given the Rockies’ perennial search for pitching depth.
Three of those four have played significant roles in 2023.
Connor Seabold came over from Boston in January for a Player to be Named Later. The Rockies have given him 10 starts and seven relief appearances, good for a 1-4 record and 5.98 ERA. That works out to a -0.5 WAA, which in Denver is about average for a pitcher.
Chase Anderson was picked up from Tampa Bay on a May waiver claim. Inserted into Colorado’s rotation, he’s made eight starts with an 0-2 record and 6.57 ERA.
Reliever Brent Suter arrived from Milwaukee in a November waiver claim. Assigned to the Colorado bullpen, he’s 4-0 with a 2.81 ERA in 41 innings over 31 appearances and a +0.5 WAA. So it’s pretty obvious which of those three moves has yielded the most benefit.
Schmidt dispatched four players in deals with other teams, the most impactful of those being the trade of Connor Joe to Pittsburgh for a minor leaguer. Joe got off to a hot start, as did the Pirates, but both have since cooled badly and Joe’s WAA sits at -0.8.