5 things the Colorado Rockies must do to contend again

Retool the bullpen

Let’s face it … the super bullpen experiment has been a dud. Veterans Bryan Shaw, Jake McGee and Wade Davis have not lived up to their contracts and, outside of Carlos Estevez and Jairo Diaz, manager Bud Black has very few dependable options when he needs to go to his bullpen.

More from Colorado Rockies News

• A Colorado Rockies Thanksgiving
• Colorado Rockies: Charlie Blackmon out for the season
• Colorado Rockies: Injuries shift look of roster ahead of Dodgers series
• Colorado Rockies: 3 things we appreciated from Tuesday in San Francisco
• What Bill Schmidt’s comments mean for the Colorado Rockies in 2023

Additionally, young relievers such as Yency Almonte and Jesus Tinoco have struggled. There is much to be said about learning on the job and taking something from the tough lessons while you do. However, it’s still unsure if they can step up consistently in 2020.

The Rockies have had little to celebrate with the veteran trio mentioned at the top of this page. However, that doesn’t mean that the Rockies shouldn’t try to bring in a veteran face or two in the offseason to try to give Black some other bullpen options.

Am I saying spend a lot of money on bullpen pieces like general manager Jeff Bridich did two offseasons ago? No. But there are pieces that can be added at a lower price and shorter contract who could potentially make a difference.

The Rockies will also need to see if they can do anything with the contracts of Davis or Shaw in the offseason and if any teams might be willing to take a chance on them. That leads us to our next thought.