Colorado Rockies All-Time Team: Position players completed

They say that you are only as strong as your weakest link. Time to find out if that is true.

In the first two parts of this series, we named the all-time starting rotation and lineup. But many of you have noted that this leaves out quite a few phenomenal faces of the franchise.

As we all know, though, baseball games are not just won and lost by the nine men who take the field at the beginning of the game. It is a full effort from up to 25, now 26, competitors who need to bring their unique skill sets to the table.

As such, we need to think hard about which five players make the most sense to compliment the starters and bring a spark off the bench.

Let’s begin with the two players who were closest to making the starting lineup.

Charlie Blackmon

Blackmon was the toughest omission from the starting core and I would vehemently argue against anyone who would slot him in over Matt Holliday in left. It essentially boils down to whether you have a deeper appreciation for the elite level that Holliday played at for a shorter time or the well-above-average level that Blackmon has played at for about twice as long.

Blackmon is the more indelible Rockie, but Holliday achieved more on a plate appearance by plate appearance basis.

The Bearded One can easily claim, however, to be the best leadoff hitter in franchise history and one of the most consistent performers the club has ever seen. His best year came in 2017 when he finished fifth in MVP voting (splitting votes with Nolan Arenado) after leading the National League in runs, hits, triples, batting average, and total bases. He also set a new MLB record for RBI hit out of the leadoff spot.

Including Blackmon in the starting lineup would actually create a slightly more natural L-R-L-R situation for the opposition. You could slide Tulowitzki up to the fifth spot to protect Helton and have Chuck right behind Tulo. With Holliday, the bottom half of the lineup is full of righties.

But I especially like Blackmon off the bench for his ability to take a different kind of at-bat based on the situation. He can use his leadoff skills to start an inning and try to kick off a rally or come into a run producer spot and try to lean on one. His mind for hitting makes him a perfect weapon to employ in multiple scenarios.

Trevor Story

If you were to poll only current Rockies fans, you’d probably have the current shortstop, Trevor Story, on the all-time team. This would also be the way to go if you were especially concerned that our Field of Dreams might contain the same terrible injury luck for Tulowitzki that the real world did.

While Story has been fantastic and should overtake everything Tulo accomplished by the time he is done, so far staying on the field is the only area where you can give him the clear advantage.

But he still easily makes the team. Sure, his high strikeout totals might not be great coming off the bench but you’ve also got a speed/power combo you aren’t going to find in too many places. He can pinch-hit or pinch-run and of course he is ready to step in and play excellent defense should something happen to the starter.

He destroys left-handed pitching so can be unleashed in situational at-bats and could be super useful in double switches since he can also play third and second base. At least, he did in the minors.

In fact, if you wanted to get creative, you could start him at second over LeMahieu giving yourself a higher ceiling player in the starting lineup and an insane contact weapon off the bench.

Either way, with Trevor Story on the roster, you have a plethora of tools to unleash at your displosal.

Ellis Burks

This one may raise a few eyebrows as I give the nod to Burks over his more-celebrated Blake Street Bomber brother, Dante Bichette.

Like Tulowitzki, Burks’ case is helped immensely by the fact that we are taking peak production and assuming general health. At his best, Burks was an absolute beast in every facet of the game.

Also, this team needs some defensive versatility. With Holliday or Blackmon patrolling left, it would be nice to have such a talented outfielder available to step in late in games if the Dream Rockies are up in the game. Burks takes over in center and Carlos Gonzalez moves over to left to give Colorado their best potential defensive outfield.

He is also still incredibly valuable as either a bat or a runner off the bench.

His best campaign, when he came in third in NL MVP in 1996, saw Burks put up a 7.9 bWAR, the fourth-best individual season in team history according to that stat. Nolan Arenado’s career high is a 6.7.

There may not have ever been a better all-around athlete to wear a Colorado uniform.

Andres Galarraga

With Blackmon and Burks we have our outfield covered. With Story, we have the infield taken care of. That leaves us needing a backup at first base and there is only one man for the job.

Before Todd Helton there was Andres Galarraga.

He has the third-highest slugging percentage (.577) in team history after Walker and Burks. He averaged 39 home runs a season over a five-year peak. He also averaged 120 RBI during that span.

Sounds exactly like the kind of right-handed bat off the bench you want to compliment Helton and put the fear into the heart of any late-game reliever.

Tony Wolters

If you wanted to lean hard into the magical side of this exercise, you could forgo having a backup catcher at all and put Bichette or Vinny Castilla in this final spot to properly honor their places in franchise history.

But if we are trying to build an actual baseball team to compete and be semi-realistic about it, we need two backstops.

With apologies to Jeff Reed, the only options here were Chris Iannetta or current catcher Tony Wolters. Neither have numbers that are going to get anyone excited. Iannetta brings a bit more pop, Wolters brings more mobility and steadiness behind the dish.

Since we aren’t relying on this spot for much, I figured go with the better defender who would also have the stamina to stay through games that extend long into extra innings, when you often need your backup catcher.

His bat doesn’t scare anyone, but he has an underrated contact tool and is a better platoon option as a lefty. If the bases happen to be loaded, you can always bring him in to somehow draw a walk.

Also, if you were to start Blackmon over Holliday and take Iannetta, the bench would have zero lefties.

***

So there you have it. We’ve got all our position players and our rotation set on the lineup card.

Apologies to Bichette, Castilla, Iannetta, and Brad Hawpe.

Stay tuned for the next installment of this series when we put together the All-Time Colorado Rockies Bullpen.