Colorado Rockies to sign right-handed reliever Bryan Shaw

According to Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports and MLB Network, the Colorado Rockies will sign right-handed reliever Bryan Shaw to a deal.

The Rockies have signed agreed to sign right-handed reliever Bryan Shaw, according to Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports and MLB Network.

Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported that the sides were close to a deal earlier this afternoon.

The terms of the deal have not been reported yet and we will update this post when we hear the terms of the deal.

UPDATE: Buster Olney of ESPN reports that the deal will be for three years and around $9 million annually.

Shaw’s career

Shaw has spent the past five seasons with the Cleveland Indians and the previous two seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Shaw has proven to be very reliable out of the bullpen as he has led the American League in appearances in three of the past four seasons. In fact, he has pitched 64 or more games in every season since 2012 and he has pitched in 70 or more games each season since 2013.

Since 2012, he has averaged 74 games a season with a 3.17 ERA (or a 133 ERA+). In that span, he has averaged 7.8 hits allowed per nine innings, 3.1 walks, and 8.1 strikeouts per nine innings.

Last season, Shaw pitched in 79 games (which led the American League) with a 3.52 ERA and three saves. He averaged 8.3 hits allowed per nine innings, 2.6 walks, and 8.6 strikeouts per nine innings.

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Final Thoughts

He has never had more than three saves in a season that he had last year so he will most likely be used in a setup role for the Rockies. Last season, he pitched much better in the seventh inning as in 33 games, he had a 2.28 ERA with a .152 opponent batting average. In the eighth inning, he was not as effective as, in 38 games, he had a 3.52 ERA and a .276 opponent batting average.

He was even worse in the ninth inning (13 games, 7.00 ERA, .368 batting average) so, by looking at these numbers, he should be used in the seventh inning.

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Being somebody who has watched a lot of Bryan Shaw during his time in Cleveland (since I live in central Ohio), I believe that he will be an excellent addition to the Rockies. Cleveland’s Twitter fans would rip him apart for his pitching in high leverage situations (like in the eighth and ninth innings) but he was one of their best relievers on one of the best teams in baseball in the past five seasons. Shaw shouldn’t be the only piece that the Rockies add to the bullpen but he is an excellent start.