During an offseason of unprecedented turnover for the Colorado Rockies, one thing has remained very much the same…so far.
Colorado has been a franchise that was loathe to change. From Manager to coaches, the front office, scouts, ushers, clubhouse attendants…and oh yes, players. The Rockies like to hang on to players. That’s always been the norm.
Those who work full or part time at Coors Field remain pretty safe as well. There’s new President of Baseball Operations, a new General Manager and a new Assistant GM, but the behind-the-scenes folks have decent job security.
Thus far, turnover has been at the top of the front office and with the coaching staff. While Manager Warren Schaffer was retained, the Rockies have new pitching coaches in the big league and the minors. That alone makes this offseason highly unusual.
But what appears to be business as usual in Denver is with the major league roster. There will be several new names on it of course, some from internally and some from low-cost free agent signings. You’d expect nothing less after losing 119 games last season. But the Rockies haven’t, and won’t be signing any big name free agents. At least not this year.
Would the Rockies Trade a Gold Glover?
The biggest player-related news for Colorado this off season is who they might be losing, rather than who they could potentially add. Rumors coming out of the winter meetings have several teams interested in acquiring Gold Glove center fielder Brenton Doyle. Doyle is one of the Rockies “up-the-middle” core young players, including shortstop Ezequiel Tovar and catcher Hunter Goodman. Tovar has two Gold Gloves and Goodman was the Rockies All-Star rep last season.
For the Rockies to consider trading one of the true building blocks, they would obviously need a big return that would likely include serious pitching help. Will a team like the New York Yankees or the New York Mets be a willing partner?
All three of their young cornerstone stars have very tradeable contracts, including Tovar who already signed an extension for seven years and $63.5 million in March of 2024.
The new front office, which is expected to lean far more heavily on analytics than the franchise has done ever before, has already shown a willingness to part with popular young players. They have waived power hitting first baseman Michael Toglia and traded lefthander Ryan Rollison, both former first round draft picks. The club also released highly touted draft pick catcher Drew Romo (who was quickly claimed and signed by Baltimore.) Lefthander Lucas Gilbreath was let go, and righthander German Marquez chose the free agent route. Last week, infielder Warming Bernabel, who many thought could be the starting first baseman next season, was left of the 40-man roster and became a free agent.
None of these departures fits the description of addition by subtraction.
Who’s on First?
So who, and when, might the Rockies go after as replacements? They have a hole at first base, and they don’t know who will be starting at second. Assuming Tovar isn’t traded, he will be the shortstop, Doyle will be in center and Goodman will be behind the plate again…but questions (and openings) remain almost everywhere else.
Certainly internal candidates will get first crack and the open big league jobs this coming spring. How well they do will go a long way toward determining what the Rockies might do a year from now, after the next Collective Bargaining Agreement between the Owners and the Players Association is signed. After the Rockies new front office knows what the sport’s financial landscape will look like, they may actually begin to tip their collective toe in the free agent pool at next year’s winter meetings.
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