While the rest of MLB molasses’ed through free agency, the Colorado Rockies drifted a purple-triceratops shaped bullpen cart out of the pine-tree-laden fountain and into 2018, busting the scoreboard so bad they needed to build a whole new one, committing more than $100 million on three late-inning relievers.
As the emphasis on building solid bullpens grows around baseball, the Rockies will be right there at the top. The additions of Wade Davis and Bryan Shaw and the re-signing of Jake McGee solidified a staff whose only real subtraction was Greg Holland. After the seventh inning, Colorado has lethal weapons from both the left and right side of the rubber. And they are not too old for this stuff.
But, as we ran down in a previous entry in our Positional Breakdown series, the middlemen between “Some Dudes” and the starters are just as formidable as the big names at the back, giving the Rockies one of the deepest and most potent relief corps in baseball.
THE STARTERS
Wade Davis
The shiny new closer in Coors Field enters his age 32 season as the ninth-inning man for Bud Black, and deservedly so.
His ERA hasn’t climbed above 3.00 since he was last used a starter… five years ago. 2017 was arguably a down year for him, with an astronomic mark of 2.30. Since becoming a full-time reliever in 2014, he’s averaging 11.6 K/9.
Utilizing a lethal fastball-cutter-curveball arsenal, he makes even the game’s best hitters look silly, as Jake Shapiro broke down in the inaugural Rockies Film Room last month. The Rockies are hoping he can continue to be the lights-out game ender that has only blown eight saves in 87 opportunities in his career.
Jake McGee
When Davis is indisposed or burned, Jake McGee will be next in line to lock down close games late. The southpaw seemed to be in competition for the closer role with Adam Ottavino entering 2017 before the signing of Holland, and defaulted back to a successful setup role instead. Still getting some 27th-out action, he locked up seven saves last season and had extensive success in the role dating back to his time with the Tampa Bay Rays.
Primarily relying on a fastball, but occasionally mixing in a slider and curveball, McGee was much more effective against righties in 2017, but showed LOOGY-esque splits previously in his career and likely slots into some form of that role late for the Rockies in 2018.
Bryan Shaw
The other shiny new arm in the Rockies’ three-headed monster at the backend is the workhorse arm of Bryan Shaw, whose task will be absorbing seventh and eighth innings or pick up the slack to allow handedness-matchups later in the game.
With the Cleveland Indians, Shaw led the American League in relief appearances four years in a row, while tossing at least 64 innings in every season. In that time, his worst ERA was 3.52. He gave the Tribe a reliable and persistently available bridge to closer Cody Allen, and will serve the same role in Coors.
THE RESERVES
Even is one or two late inning relievers go down, the Rockies have enough depth to compensate, at least short term. While Adam Ottavino has been wildly inconsistent, he was a premier closer in baseball for a stretch from 2015 into 2016 on either side of Tommy John surgery. Carlos Estevez and Scott Oberg, with their triple-digit fastball speeds, have end-game stuff and potential. Antonio Senzatela, despite being stretched out like a starter, has a repertoire more fit for late innings.
These players will be relegated to middle relief roles just because of the embarrassment of riches the team has. Drew Creasman went more in-depth on the middle staff in an earlier edition of Positional Breakdown.
THE LONGSHOTS
There are a few options outside the current roster looking in who may feasibly work late innings in MLB at some point in their careers.
As Drew noted, Jairo Diaz doesn’t have a place right now, and may be relegated to Triple-A. Austin House worked a 1.85 ERA for the Isotopes in 49 games, striking out more than 12 batters per nine innings. Shane Broyles had a very similar line in Double-AA Hartford, earning a one-game stint with Albuquerque at the end of the season. Free agent signee Brooks Pounders has major league experience, and could see late-game work in Triple-A and some time in Coors should he succeed there. Yency Almonte, who dominated at Hartford and saw some work in Albuquerque as a starter as well, could land in the same boat as Senzatela with a crowded starting rotation.
The Rockies come into 2018 with expectations of contention, and a big part of that is the depth they have backing up their young starting pitching staff and locking down games late.
