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DENVER — However valid the critique was in the past, the Colorado Rockies offseason leading into the 2017 season should put to rest — at least for a while — any talk of Dick Monfort being cheap.
Perceptions of each move will vary but there is no arguing against the facts that Monfort stepped up and signed the biggest free agent deal in team history to acquire Ian Desmond and the biggest free agent relief pitcher deal in team history to bring in Mike Dunn. He also signed, for up to $14 million with incentives, Greg Holland which may end up being the biggest impact move of them all and brought in Alexi Amarista for a little over a million in order to bolster depth.
And that’s just counting players. Don’t forget about a shiny new contract for Bud Black, perhaps the most important addition.
All told, the Rockies — who are still indeed owned by the Monfort group — tied themselves to over 100 million dollars in new money to new players over the next several years. Though some of that can always be mitigated by future moves (for example, trading Desmond in year two could cut that figure more than in half) it remains true that Monfort fulfilled his early offseason promise to increase payroll in an attempt to put the Rockies in a position to compete with the big dogs in the National League West right away.
“It’s a credit to him wanting to see this organization continue to grow,” says General Manager Jeff Bridich. “Dick’s been great, absolutely. He’s a man of his word,” he continued, noting that Monfort promised to increase payroll and followed through. “We’ve been able to do that. We started this process a couple of years ago and I know Dick’s excited about this team.”
But paying for the well-known veterans who factor in immediately on the Major League roster has another positive side effect in the eyes of the GM.
“I’m happy that we were able to do the things we’ve been able to do the last couple of months and maintain our organizational depth,” Bridich added. “Keep our young players, keep our system intact. That’s an important thing for us. And that something that an increase in payroll allows you to do.”
The Rockies have added without much subtracting heading into 2017, and at least in late January, everyone is filled with optimism about what that means, not just for the upcoming season, but for the next four or five.
