Colorado Rockies: The State of the franchise

The state of the catching situation for the Rockies is one of major concern.

Fangraphs projects the Rockies catchers to be 26th in baseball in 2019 and it’s easy to see why. Chris Iannetta appeared in 110 games, hitting a meager .224/.345/.385 (85 OPS+). Iannetta was second worst to only Charlie Blackmon on the team in DRS, according to Baseball Reference, as he had -8 last season.

Tony Wolters, on the other hand, was excellent defensively at 12 DRS, but he struggled even more than Iannetta as he hit .170/.292/.286, which was only good enough for a 48 OPS+.

Tom Murphy looks to be on the outside looking in to start the season at least as in 93 MLB at-bats hitting .226/.250/.387 and he wasn’t good defensively in limited action (-1 DRS).

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Final Thoughts

The Rockies have not improved much this offseason with the names on their roster but they need to play to their ability if they have any hope at catching the Dodgers in the division.

The Dodgers, themselves, have made a lot of moves, including trading Matt Kemp, Alex Wood, and Yasiel Puig as well as letting Yasmani Grandal, Brian Dozier, potentially Manny Machado go in free agency. However, they have signed outfielder A.J. Pollock, reliever Joe Kelly, and traded for Russell Martin. They also have shortstop Corey Seager returning from Tommy John surgery.

Other teams in the NL have improved their teams as well. The Cardinals have added Paul Goldschmidt to their lineup and Andrew Miller to their bullpen. The Mets have added closer Edwin Diaz, second baseman Robinson Cano, 2018 All-Star catcher Wilson Ramos, infield Jed Lowrie, outfielder Keon Broxton, and reliever Jeurys Familia this offseason.

The Phillies have added outfielder Andrew McCutchen, shortstop Jean Segura, and reliever David Robertson among others to their ranks and the Nationals have added Patrick Corbin, Brian Dozier, All-Star catcher Yan Gomes, Trevor Rosenthal, Kyle Barraclough, and Anibal Sanchez to their team. In addition, both the Phillies and Nationals are still in on Bryce Harper and the Phillies are in on Machado, per rumors.

They could pose a threat to the Rockies in a wild card spot.

The Rockies may have to pull off some big moves before the trade deadline in July for them to reach the playoffs but as it stands now, the state of the Rockies is not one that looks as good as it could be right now.

The Rockies could prove to be one of the best teams in baseball but they have to have a lot of players step up when in the recent past, they have not shown many signs of it.