Colorado Rockies: Getting a catcher needs to be a focus this offseason

This past offseason, the Colorado Rockies signed Chris Iannetta to help their catching situation. However, Iannetta and the rest of the Rockies platoon of catchers, which included Tony Wolters, Tom Murphy, and Drew Butera, all of them struggled offensively and, according to Baseball Reference, all but Wolters were at or below league average defensively.

This offseason, the free agent class is one of the best (if not the best) in recent memory. It includes the likes of elite players like Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Clayton Kershaw (if he opts out of his contract with the Dodgers), Craig Kimbrel, Josh Donaldson, and many others.

One position that is strong, but not as strong as some others, in the free agent class is catcher.

The Rockies had a need last offseason and they decided to do a stop gap with Chris Iannetta. However, his -8 DRS and 85 OPS+ isn’t particularly great. Nor was Drew Butera’s -8 DRS (all -8 before he was acquired by the Rockies in August, however) and 54 OPS+, Tom Murphy’s 58 OPS+ and -1 DRS.

At least with Tony Wolters, who had an OPS+ of 48, he provides the Rockies with versatility (he played at 2B, 3B, and RF this season as well as catcher) and he is one of the better defensive catchers in all of baseball (12 DRS).

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Some of the better catchers include Wilson Ramos, who was the American League’s starter in the All Star game at catcher and he had an OPS+ of 130, and Yasmani Grandal (121 OPS+ and 9 DRS).

In addition, on the trade front, the Marlins could look to trade their All-Star catcher J.T. Realmuto and the Royals may even look to trade their All-Star catcher Salvador Perez in order to get rid of some salary as well as get younger.

Offense needs to be the main thing, though, as the Rockies had one of the worst team OPS+ this past season and the Rockies catchers were one of the worst in all of baseball. They were 27th in batting average, 12th in on-base percentage, 24th in slugging percentage.

Obviously, the Rockies needs to balance some of their other needs as well but one of the things they need to address is their catching situation.