Is the Rockies' biggest rival conceding 2018?

A tale of two Winter Meetings experiences should have Colorado Rockies fans feeling confident about their team’s outlook for 2018.

While the Rockies were busy building a dominant bullpen, committing upward of $50 million on Bryan Shaw and Jake McGee in addition to producing what Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports called a ‘nice’ offer to Greg Holland, their National League West rivals, the Arizona Diamondbacks stood pat. What was figured to be the beginning of a multi-year competition between the two squads, along with the Los Angeles Dodgers, at the top of the division may be a two-horse race in 2018.

While the Rockies ponied up, the D-Backs’ Meetings rumors circulated around offloading salary and restructuring for sustained competition rather than commit to next season, as the Rockies have.

Perhaps the best exemplification of this is the quote Arizona general manager Mike Hazen gave to Nick Piecoro of Arizona Republic: “I think we’re semi-open-minded to (the fact) that we’re going to have to be creative for the long-term. That means we may have to consider some things that you wouldn’t necessarily consider if you were putting all your eggs into 2018.”

Make no mistake, the D-Backs are not entering a rebuild, nor are they necessarily punting 2018 altogether. But, again per Piecoro, they will likely carry the same payroll as last season, which is an issue for a team with an MLB-high 13 players that are arbitration-eligible.

They traded for Brad Boxberger, whose $1.9 million contract next season will give them cheap production out of the bullpen to back Archie Bradley. Additionally, they showed interest in Shohei Ohtani and Marcell Ozuna and engaged in a discussion on a reunion with Fernando Rodney, before all three found homes elsewhere. The team has a strong, young core, centered around Paul Goldschmidt, and they’re well aware of that. But they may feel that longevity, at the expense of 2018, is in their best interest.

While the other wild card contenders, the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers, acquired essential talent or had begun talks with necessary editions in Orlando, the discussion around the D-Backs came back to moving salary, be it in the form of ex-All-stars A.J. Pollock and Patrick Corbin or 2009 AL Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke. Nothing has yet to materialize, but Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic called the Greinke discussions with the Texas Rangers “real.” They watched their most used catcher, Chris Iannetta, sign with the Rockies and Rodney ink a modest $4.5 million deal with the Minnesota Twins. J.D. Martinez, their deadline acquisition that carried them through the second half, is almost certainly not returning. These aren’t the kinds of pieces you discuss relocating or watch leave if you’re trying to win now.

What this means for the Rockies, is the team that outpaced them to clinch the home field advantage in the wild card and proceeded to eliminate them, are potentially bowing out of the race next season. As Colorado shoots for another trip to October, they may have one less competitor for the wild card, and potentially the division. On the flip side, it may indicate even more trouble for the team in 2019 and beyond, but for a team that has added two relievers on the wrong side of 30 and is keying in on one more, it is clear they are going for it now.

While the Dodgers are still far and away the favorites, this may provide the Rockies a window to make a run for their first division pennant run. The D-Backs were the only NL West team to have a winning record against the Rockies, so taking them out of the equation puts Colorado at an advantage over their competition. The San Diego Padres are on the upswing but are still not there yet, and while the San Francisco Giants are always a threat to spend big, they have too many issues to correct in one season. Without Arizona, the division will come down to the Dodgers or the Rockies, so it may be time to capitalize on that and avoid the one-game playoff that brought their season to a swift end in 2017.

As are many things, the MLB offseason is volatile and plans change, but every indication to this point has been that the Arizona Diamondbacks are not 100 percent committed to 2018, potentially taking one of the Rockies’ bigger threats out of the fold.