Colorado Rockies: Could they pick up Mark Reynolds through trade waivers?

The 2017 season Colorado Rockies was dominated by three main men offensively: the always notable Nolan Arenado and Charlie Blackmon, but the third man was outlier Mark Reynolds. With July done and gone, there is still a chance for the Rockies to get Reynolds on the team. How you may ask? Trade waivers. 

Mark Reynolds played a very important role with the 2017 Colorado Rockies. Not only was he an amazing defensive first basemen, but he was also an offensive threat to opposing threats. Reynolds had a slashline of .267/.352/.487 while bolstering 30 home runs and 97 RBI. He was basically rubbing shoulders with both Arenado and Blackmon. He even got the Rockies an RBI during the Wild Card game. Mark Reynolds was an all round good player which lead many to wonder why he wasn’t resigned by Colorado. 

A guy puts up those monster numbers and yet he doesn’t get even an offer it’s a bit odd. The 35 year old just sat out for quite some time while Spring Training was underway. That was until the Washington Nationals offered him a minor league deal despite him being deserving of something better. Reynolds being a minor leaguer wouldn’t pan out due to injuries on the Nationals big league team. It got his foot in the door and he became a starter while also helping the Nats stay on top of the NL East for a good bit of time. 

As of now, Reynolds isn’t getting all too much playing time with Matt Adams and Ryan Zimmerman being healthy and giving the Nats serious depth at first. He entered Thursday with a slashline of .269/.359/.537 with 11 homers and 28 RBI.

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However he barely gets playing time on the field nor at-bats as his role has seemingly changed to being a pinch hitter and nothing more. A guy like Reynolds deserves adequate playing time and getting in some at-bats. He’s shown to the Colorado Rockies that he’s able to perform well when put in a role. Also, with the way the offense is playing currently, they could use some help if they want to have a postseason run. 

Be that as it may, August trades are a bit different from those that occur in July. Here’s how it works a team places a player on waivers. While the player is on waivers team can put forward a claim, teams in the same league however get priority. After the player is claimed his former team can either keep him, negotiate a trade with the team that claimed him within 48 hours, or let him go to the claiming team. 

Now that we’ve gone over that, let’s discuss who the Colorado Rockies would have to trade for Mark Reynolds. From the major league roster, the Rockies have a treasure trove of relievers that could easily be dealt and have one to replace the ones traded away. Along with relievers, the Rockies have serious outfield depth and while there’s not a very strong chance that Bryce Harper will be leaving, adding some young outfielders would most likely interest them as well. 

The Colorado Rockies only made one trade in all of July which could easily equate to nothing. Picking up a guy like Mark Reynolds would be a smart and logical move by them. Not only is everyone familiar with him, but he’s verified to the coaching staff and front office alike that he can get the job done and have some quality at-bats. Getting Mark Reynolds is a low risk move that the Rockies should seriously take into account if they want to get serious about a playoff run.