Bryan Shaw signed with the Colorado Rockies at the Indians endorsement

One of the newest relievers to the Colorado Rockies, Bryan Shaw, signed with the team for a few reasons but, according to Shaw, in an interview with Fangraphs’ David Laurila, it was partially due to an endorsement from the Indians.

Colorado Rockies reliever Bryan Shaw recently spoke to Fangraphs’ David Laurila (as a part of this article) on why he signed with the Rockies in December and Shaw said that his former manager, Terry Francona, played a role in him signing with the Rockies.

"“I talked to Tito a little bit about the teams that had interest in me,” said Shaw. “I got his opinion of the organizations — the managers and others with roles within those organizations. He had nothing but good things to say about Bud Black and the guys who are here.”"

According to Shaw (h/t again to Laurila), Indians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti and their general manager, Mike Chernoff, also played a role in him signing with the Rockies.

"“Chris Antonetti, Mike Chernoff, and all the guys over there in the front office wished me well,” said Shaw. “They told me that if there was anything they could do to help, if I wanted any insight into different organizations — how things are run in certain places — to just give them a call and they’d do whatever they could.”"

The reason that he did not resign with the Indians was financially motivated. After all, if you look at their offseason, they let reliever Joe Smith, outfielder Jay Bruce, first baseman Carlos Santana, and outfielder Austin Jackson go while only signing first baseman Yonder Alonso to a 2-year deal for $15 Million and a team option for 2020.

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Final Thoughts/Anecdotes

It should be noted that Rockies manager Bud Black and Terry Francona were teammates on the 1988 Cleveland Indians, a team that had five future MLB managers on the team (Black, Francona, Charlie Manuel, Ron Washington, and John Farrell).

All of them managed at the same time in the 2011 and 2013 (check out the Wikipedia page right here if you want to learn about that team with some fascinating coaches and players right here).

Another anecdote is that Jack Corrigan, current Rockies radio broadcaster, was one of the team’s two TV broadcasters then. Also, current Rockies director of pitching operations, Mark Wiley, was the team’s pitching coach and the Indians director of player development was future Rockies GM Dan O’Dowd.

Overall, in the case of Shaw, it shows how highly regarded that the Rockies are held in Major League Baseball. Also, it shows the class of the Cleveland Indians organization in that they were willing to help Shaw find an organization that would be most beneficial for him and most helpful to him.

Next: Raimel Tapia's future is in his own hands

For both teams, that’s something that they’ve earned over a long period of time and it’s something that I know that they don’t take lightly. There are only a handful of organizations with the respect that both organizations have in all of baseball.