What is Matt Holliday going to do for the Colorado Rockies?

On July 29th the Colorado Rockies signed MLB veteran Matt Holliday to a minor league deal. Many Rockies fans were very elated to see an old face be signed. Others were happy to see the Rockies just make a move as the trade deadline approached. Then there were people, like me, who were just plain confused. 

Once hearing the news of this signing, I immediately thought back to the signing of Chris Iannetta, which I go into great detail here. Matt Holliday isn’t really the move that I was looking for the Colorado Rockies to make. The reason being, first and foremost, he’s 38 years old and well out his prime. He’s also missed a significant amount of time this season, so is there really an end goal here for how much playing time he’s going to get? 

Looking back at his stats, of course, I can see how the Rockies and their fans alike love this guy he put up monster numbers during his four years in Denver but, in reality, his last good years that mimic those numbers was back in 2012 and 2013.

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His 2017 season wasn’t that bad with the New York Yankees, but those are the stats I’d expect from a top prospect coming into the majors. Holiday had a slashline of .231/.316/.432 with 19 home runs and 64 RBI. For comparison, Jordan Patterson is putting up numbers better that in Triple-A right now (.274/.373/.530 in 95 games entering Wednesday). Let’s not forget about the that high amount of strikeouts for Holliday too, 114 in 105 games to be exact. That’s a Trevor Story level amount of K’s.

If the Colorado Rockies front office was serious about this team going to the postseason, then this wasn’t the correct move to make. It’s, of course, wonderful to see Matt Holiday especially since this is the 25th anniversary, but that’s about it. He’s a throwback to a different era of the Colorado Rockies. They currently have so much depth in the outfield that not everyone has gotten an adequate amount of playing time. Last year, the Yankees used Holliday as a DH and he played eight games at first base. Is there truly space for him to have playing time? 

The Rockies were smart for only signing Matt Holliday to a minor league so that if there is blow back from this decision it will only be minor. However, it does make me wonder what exactly was the point in signing him at all? It almost appears that the front office doesn’t firmly believe in their prospects enough to be the outfield depth. As he plays in Triple-A, though, there are some seriously deserving players that should be called up before Holliday does get that call. 

The NL West is in a highly competitive pennant race and the Colorado Rockies are right in the middle of it. Having a guy like Matt Holliday on the roster poses question marks especially about what his position will be. Along with that comes the very likely possibility that Holliday isn’t the player he used to be and can’t contribute the way the Rockies thought he would. Signing him may have been a low-risk move, but he could also be a threat to the Rockies getting to the postseason.