Colorado Rockies and a look at the National League West

Over at MLB.com, Richard Justice and Anthony Castrovince discussed their ranking of each division as it stands at this point in the off-season. Castrovince has the National League West in second behind American League East. Justice put the National League West in first place. So, let us do a little dive into why the National League West, home of the Colorado Rockies, will be the toughest division in baseball in 2018.

Full disclosure, one of Rox Pile’s faithful leaders, Kevin Henry, and I hashed out the idea of this article a few weeks back. I just kept sitting here and waiting for the cascade of free agent moves that I would have thought were coming at some point. However, with less than a week until pitchers and catchers report, the last bit of the offseason has turned into a staring contest between teams and free agents … and it appears that teams are content at holding steady for now.

The National League West hasn’t been without its moves this winter, though. David Hill over at Call to the Pen gave his thoughts on Padres signing Allen Craig to minor league deal. Dodgers Way’s Michael Wittman discussed the surprising trade Dodgers pulled off a little over a month ago to unload salary. Jake Mastroianni wrote on Around the Foghorn whether or not the Giants are done making moves after their loud off-season. Yours truly wrote an article here on Rox Pile boldly declaring the Rockies’ bullpen best in the National League after all their off-season signings. Mark Brown from Call to the Pen, highlighted the Arizona Diamondbacks agreeing to terms with Alex Avila.

So let’s dive in and look at each of Colorado’s division foes and some of their moves from the offseason … and how they could impact the Rockies.