Colorado Rockies interested in super-utility man Marwin Gonzalez?

According to Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post, the Colorado Rockies are interested in super-utility man free agent Marwin Gonzalez.

The free agent season is underway as the GM meetings are currently being held in Carlsbad, California. With the offseason always comes rumors and one of the first that has been reported is that the Colorado Rockies seem to be interested in free agent Marwin Gonzalez, according to Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post on Twitter.

In the past two seasons for the Houston Astros (who won the World Series in 2017), Gonzalez has averaged 140 games played per season and has averaged 130 hits per season with 30 doubles, 20 home runs, 79 RBI, a .274/.349/.467 slash line, and an OPS+ of 124.

Defensively, he has played every single position except for pitcher and catcher for the Astros in the past two seasons. The positions that he has played the most are left field (120 games), shortstop (77 games), and first base (55 games). He has played center field (2 games), right field (3 games), and third base (22 games).

In defensive metrics, in 2017, he had -4 Defensive Runs Saved according to Baseball Reference but he had 4 DRS in 2018 (which included 6 DRS in left field, which is his best position).

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Final Thoughts

Gonzalez will turn 30 years of age in March and as mentioned by Saunders in the above tweet, it is “early scuttlebutt” and with the offseason just underway, a deal is almost definitely not close.

According to MLB Trade Rumors, Gonzalez is ranked as the 16th best free agent this offseason. They also predicted that he will get a four-year deal for $36 million. If he were to sign for the Rockies, they would probably utilize Gonzalez in left field the most as it is the position that they have empty. It is also his best position.

However, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him occasionally utilized at first base and second base with some degree of regularity too, depending on how Ian Desmond does at first base or how whoever the Rockies pick to play second base primarily does. That could be Garrett Hampson, Ryan McMahon, Brendan Rodgers, or even somebody else outside of the organization currently.

With Gonzalez, though, he could provide the Rockies with some versatility as well as some good offense as well as defense.