Colorado Rockies: Jon Gray is not the only one at fault

He had this to say about Gray to Morosi:

“When he’s been good, he’s been really good. When he’s been bad, it’s been tough to watch,’ Bridich said. ‘We need him to step up. This is his third full season at this level. There are still lessons he’s learning. But he’s no longer a young kid in this league, at this level. He needs to step up, and we need to help him find a way to become more consistent.” “I’m not sure there’s a ton left for him — if anything — [to learn] at the Triple-A level. If at some point it becomes obvious he would need a mental breather, physical breather, or both, that would be an option. But the hurdles are here. He’s got to figure this out at this level. That’s just the way it is. It’s where he’s at in his career.”

Should they be more consistent like they are capable of? Absolutely. Jon Gray looks like he isn’t confident in his pitching as after last night’s loss to the Phillies, he drops to 6-7 with a 5.68 ERA. Bryan Shaw still has not shown any signs of being able to consistently record outs.

Granted, the Rockies have suffered numerous injuries to players like DJ LeMahieu, Adam Ottavino, David Dahl, and Mike Dunn, among others, but that still doesn’t excuse the whole team being so inconsistent.

But who is the person who believed that the Rockies starting pitching staff would be a playoff worthy rotation and expected Jon Gray to anchor that rotation? Jeff Bridich.

Obviously, it would be nice to believe that Jon Gray could develop into an ace but he has shown with his results that he can’t. He doesn’t look he is confident enough to be an ace either. Really, you could see it when he started for the Rockies in the Wild Card game last year.

Also, if you just look at this year’s group of players, or roster composition of the current Rockies, there are many questionable moves by Bridich.

Who resigned Carlos Gonzalez after a bad season in 2017, who has improved lately but still playing well below league average?

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Who signed Ian Desmond to play a position that he had never played in his life for five years and $75 million?

Who signed Bryan Shaw?

Gerardo Parra?

Mike Dunn?

Resigned Jake McGee (who has been doing better than the other relievers but that’s not saying much)?

Chris Iannetta?

Who didn’t get another starter, one that was a veteran?

Who didn’t sign somebody to help out the bench, particularly a veteran, instead relying on Pat Valaika, Tony Wolters, Mike Tauchman, and Ryan McMahon?

All were Jeff Bridich.

Let’s look back even further, though. In fact, let’s look back to Bridich’s entire tenure as general manager.

In his first season as manager, in 2015, Bridich traded LaTroy Hawkins and the Rockies franchise player, Troy Tulowitzki, for Jesus Tinoco, Miguel Castro, Jeff Hoffman, and Jose Reyes. Only Tinoco and Hoffman are still in the Rockies organization.

Tinoco is 18-20 with a 5.55 ERA between Single-A, Advanced-A, Double-A. Hoffman has had limited success in the majors thus far between parts of three seasons (including this year).

Tulo has been injured for most of his tenure with the Blue Jays but I think that it’s safe to say that, as of now, neither team has been successful with that trade.

He drafted Brendan Rodgers in the 2015 draft so, obviously, the jury is still out on that. There are some players in that draft who came after Rodgers that have been successful in the majors already but they have all been college players and Rodgers was not, as he was in high school.

Bridich also traded away Tommy Kahnle for Yency Almonte. Kahnle has struggled this year but in 2016 and 2017, he had an ERA of 2.60 in 98 games split between the White Sox and Yankees.

Betwen 2015 and 2016, Jason Motte signed as a free agent and that didn’t work out (4.94 ERA). He also signed Chad Qualls, who also didn’t work out (5.29 ERA).

He did sign Mark Reynolds, which was a pretty good signing (2.4 WAR in two seasons).

He also traded Corey Dickerson for German Marquez and Jake McGee, which was a pretty good trade.

He later picked up Tony Wolters off waivers from the Indians.

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In 2016, he drafted Riley Pint, who has been a bust in the minor leagues already. Granted, he has been injured this year but he has not fared well in the minors (3-17 with a 5.59 ERA in 34 starts).

Before last season, he signed Mike Dunn, who hasn’t done well in a Rockies uniform (0.2 WAR, 5.56 ERA). He also signed Greg Holland, who did fairly well even though he did have his struggled (particularly in the month of August).

He did acquire Pat Neshek and Jonathan Lucroy last season but he did not resign either of them. Not resigning Neshek was probably a good idea as he hasn’t even pitched this year but Lucroy has done well (0.5 WAR for a one year contract for $6.5 million) especially in comparison to Chris Iannetta (-0.2 WAR, two year contract for $8.5 million and a 2020 team option).

This past offseason, Bridich signed Wade Davis who, despite his recent struggled, has been pretty good for the Rockies this season.

Final Thoughts

Bridich has had some good moves in his tenure as general manager but he has made a lot of bad moves too.

Is he right about Jon Gray needing to step up and be an ace? Absolutely. However, he isn’t the sole reason why the Rockies have struggled. Bridich signed/resigned a bevy of players that are not pulling their weight on the team.

If the Rockies continue down the path that they are right now, there could be a scapegoat to come. That could potentially be Bridich (who’s contractual status is not public knowledge and is obviously under some heat from the Monforts as shown by his comments to MLB.com), Bud Black (which I would highly doubt), or a member/members of the coaching staff.

Next: Will a big trade really be worth it in 2018?

Hopefully, it won’t have to come to that but the pressure is on the Rockies and Jeff Bridich, especially with the high expectations that were set coming off a playoff berth last year.