Colorado Rockies trade rumors: catching and bullpen updates

As expected, the Rockies are interested in improving their catching situation and their bullpen, according to reports from MLB.com

According to T.R. Sullivan and Thomas Harding of MLB.com (who cover the Texas Rangers and Rockies) have recently reported that the Rockies are interested in making a move at the trade deadline at catcher and in the bullpen.

Catching

The Rockies have gone through many catchers in the season and they have not done well. They have a slash line of .234/.313/.310, which is particularly bad considering that they play half of their games at the best hitter’s park in all of baseball.

Sullivan reports that the Rockies are interested in Rangers catcher Jonathan Lucroy and Harding reports that the Rockies are interested in Braves backstop, Kurt Suzuki, and Tigers catcher Alex Avila.

We previously have mentioned that Lucroy and Avila could be targets of interest for the Rockies (in these two articles) but Suzuki is someone that we have not mentioned before.

In 2017, Lucroy has a terrible season as he only has a .240/.293/.339 slash line with an OPS+ of 66 (100 is league average) and he only has four home runs and 26 RBIs. He has also been terrible, defensively, this season as he has a -7 Defensive Runs Saved. His WAR is also below replacement value as it is -0.3.

He, however, has been much better in past seasons as in 2016, he had 24 HRs, 81 RBIs, a .292/.355/.500 slash line, a 1.5 WAR, and three Defensive Runs Saved. Lucroy is a free agent as the end of the season.

Avila, however, has had a much better season than Lucroy as he has had 11 home runs, 32 RBIs, a .280/.402/.488 slash line, and an OPS+ of 139. Defensively, he hasn’t played well (-6 DRS) but it is better than Lucroy. He will also be a free agent at the end of the season.

Suzuki has been in a platoon with Tyler Flowers in Atlanta so Suzuki has only played in 45 games but he has eight home runs, 27 RBIs, a .255/.340/.468 slash line, and an OPS+ of 109. He, like the other two, is a free agent at the end of season.

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Bullpen

Entering today’s action, the Rockies have a 4.55 ERA, which is 25th in baseball. This is nothing new and if the Rockies plan on getting to and win the World Series, the bullpen must  be better (as we mentioned in this article).

Harding, in the same report as the catching article, reports that the Rockies are looking at relievers. The relievers that Harding mentions are Justin Wilson of the Detroit Tigers, Brad Brach and Zach Britton, both of the Baltimore Orioles, and AJ Ramos of the Miami Marlins. We have mentioned all four of these relievers as potential targets before (in these five different articles).

Britton, on Sunday, converted his 55th consecutive save without blowing a save (going back to Spetember 20, 2015).

Final Thoughts

Of the catchers, Avila would be the best to help the offense and he could potentially be a part of a package deal including Justin Verlander and Justin Wilson.

For the relievers, any of the four would be excellent additions to the bullpen. All four of them could be a part of a package deal. We aleady covered the potential package for Wilson. For the others, Britton and/or Brach could be in a deal along with starters Kevin Gausman and/or Dylan Bundy. For Ramos, he could be with one or more outfielders (e.g. Christian Yelich or Marcell Ozuna).

Next: Carlos Estevez recalled from Triple-A

Between the two areas, the bullpen will definitely be addressed with catching being a lesser priority. However, both very well could happen in the next six days before the trade deadline.