Colorado Rockies GM Jeff Bridich on Wade Davis, Nolan Arenado

Last week, the Colorado Rockies officially announced the signing of free agent closer Wade Davis to replace 2017 closer Greg Holland. Shortly thereafter, the Rockies general manager Jeff Bridich spoke with the media in a conference call and had some insight on Davis and the offseason thus far.

First off in the questions was Nick Groke, Rockies beat writer for the Denver Post, and he asked Bridich what drew the Rockies to Davis. After Bridich chuckles, he had this to say:

"There’s a lot to like [about Davis]: his track record, especially as a reliever, speaks for itself, and his experience in important games–playoff games–and just the way he does it, the presence that he has at the back end [of the bullpen] is important and I think he has earned a lot of trust over the course of his career as a reliever; to be able to come into games at the end and help the team win a game. [Those things] are big things for a team with playoff aspirations."

For those who don’t know, Davis used to be a starter for the Tampa Bay Rays and for a brief period of time with the Kansas City Royals. By looking at his splits via Baseball Reference, in 88 starts in his career, he had a .275 opponent batting average and a 4.57 ERA. As a reliever, in 305 appearances, his opponent’s are hitting .171 and he has an ERA of 1.65. In the postseason, he has made 24 appearances has he has pitched in 38 2/3 innings in those games with a 1.40 ERA.