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Colorado Rockies: Is this season a case of addition by subtraction?

By Aaron Hurt

DENVER, CO - JULY 14: The sun sets over the stadium behind the scoreboard as the Milwaukee Brewers face the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on July 14, 2011 in Denver, Colorado. The Rockies defeated the Brewers 12-3. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
DENVER, CO - JULY 14: The sun sets over the stadium behind the scoreboard as the Milwaukee Brewers face the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on July 14, 2011 in Denver, Colorado. The Rockies defeated the Brewers 12-3. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images) /
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The Colorado Rockies will be replacing three of the eight everyday starters from last year’s team.  Even with the departures of Carlos Gonzalez, Mark Reynolds, and Jonathan Lucroy, the Rockies believe that they have the offensive pieces to compete in 2018. But did the Rockies really make addition by subtraction?

Let’s start with CarGo and the outfield.  We all know the struggles of Gonzalez last year. As painful as it is to see him move on, it was even more painful to watch him fail at the plate time and time again last year.

As I wrote last week, the Rockies are going to give Raimel Tapia every opportunity to take over the job in right and so far he living up to expectations. They are also giving David Dahl (who has struggled early after missing all of last season) and Mike Tauchman a chance to add production in the outfield.

Speaking of production, they also will be hoping that Ian Desmond finally lives up to his contract after a miserable injury-plagued season. It will be hard for Charlie Blackmon to improve upon his record-setting numbers of last year. However, I expect his possible move to the middle of the lineup will increase his RBI along with a slight drop in average and home runs will be likely.

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If Desmond plays well this year, the Rockies should see improved numbers from the outfield with the subtraction of CarGo from the everyday lineup.

At catcher, letting Lucroy go may hurt offensive production. Even though the signing of Chris Iannetta has slowly grown on me, it is hard to see Iannetta matching Lucroy’s capabilities at the plate. Iannetta is coming off one of this better years of his 12 year career after hitting .254 with 17 home runs and 43 RBI, but at the age of 34, it will be hard to live up to the two-time All-Star Lucroy.

At first base, not re-signing Reynolds may be a good thing for the offense. Losing 30 home runs and 97 RBI would typically not sound like a good thing but the last half of the season was not kind to Reynolds. Post All-Star break, Reynolds hit .243 with 11 homers, 36 RBI and struck out 34 percent of the time.

The Rockies are rolling the dice on rookie Ryan McMahon to take over first base. He is unproven, but the top prospect will get every chance to show he is ready for the big league. He has played well early this spring but even if he struggles, his numbers couldn’t be much worse than Reynolds posted in the second half.

Next: Predicting Colorado's Opening Day roster

As long as Arenado, LeMahieu, and Blackmon remain consistent, and the Rockies receive much-needed improvements from Trevor Story and Desmond, the Rockies may have gotten better by subtraction.

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