Colorado Rockies inbox: What will be the most shocking offseason move?

Over the next few weeks, we will answer many of your questions that you have for us about the Colorado Rockies. We started yesterday with a question from a fan and today, we will answer another.

A few days ago, we asked you on Twitter for some questions that you want us to discuss in the coming weeks about the Colorado Rockies, whether it be on this season and what has gone wrong, the future, and just about anything else Rockies- or baseball-related in between.

While we will answer some of the questions that some of you asked a few days ago, there was one that piqued my personal interest.

To answer this question, much to the chagrin of Rockies fans, I don’t think that they will make any major roster moves this offseason.

That would be an extremely hard pill to swallow for Rockies fans but, until I see otherwise, I don’t think it will happen. If you think about it, the Rockies went hard after free agents in recent offseasons and what have they provided the Rockies with? Not a thing, production-wise.

Wade Davis? He’s been terrible for the Rockies, especially at Coors Field.

Bryan Shaw? Not even close.

Ian Desmond? Don’t get me started on him. However, I will say that you could argue that he’s pitched better than the other aforementioned three relievers.

Daniel Murphy? He’s probably been the best signing of all of these … but that’s not saying much, especially because Murphy has not been good in the field and for stretches at the plate.

Personally, I don’t think that the free agent avenue is necessarily the best for the Rockies. There will be some good options that will fit the Rockies needs but for the cost that they will likely be, most of them I don’t see a fit.

Some of the better options on the market for offensive players, disregarding the costs, would be first baseman Jose Abreu, outfielders J.D. Martinez and Jason Heyward (if they opt out of their contracts with the Red Sox and Cubs), infielder/outfielder Derek Dietrich, outfielders Nicholas Castellanos and Yasiel Puig, and former Rockies outfielder Corey Dickerson.

On the starting pitching front, the top pitchers on the market will be starters Gerrit Cole, Madison Bumgarner, Yu Darvish (if he opts out of his contract), Kyle Gibson, Cole Hamels, Dallas Keuchel, Corey Kluber (if the Indians don’t exercise their team option), Jake Odorizzi, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Stephen Strasburg (if he opts out), Michael Wacha, and Zack Wheeler.

Relievers on the market will include Dellin Betances, Will Harris, Kenley Jansen (if he opts out), Collin McHugh, Aroldis Chapman (if he opts out), Sean Doolittle (if the Nationals don’t exercise their club option), and Will Smith.

If money was not a factor, I would say that the Rockies should absolutely try to sign some of these players but, as we all know, it is a factor. This is especially the case when they just extended Nolan Arenado and Charlie Blackmon, are looking to extend young players like Trevor Story, and when there is a ton of money on the books for veterans who are making the team worse.

The free agent market should be utilized by the Rockies for depth signings. As anybody who studied the roster should have seen entering the season and if you didn’t, you have definitely seen throughout this season, the Rockies have *zero* depth.

As we talked about in our most recent podcast, we wouldn’t expect the Rockies to be able to replace their entire starting rotation with major league starters who are waiting in Albuquerque. Only a few teams can afford to do that, like the Dodgers.

But the Rockies have *zero* starting pitchers that should be in the major leagues right now. When your current ace of your starting pitching staff started the season working at a barbecue restaurant in Phoenix and was still in independent ball on May 1, you have a MAJOR depth issue.

If nothing is done, will the Rockies be as bad as they have been this year? No, I don’t think so. They shouldn’t have as many injuries and with the core of Arenado, Story, and Blackmon, the offense will not be terrible. It won’t be good but it won’t be terrible.

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The pitching should also not be as bad because can they really be worse than they have been? Jon Gray also took a very good step in the right direction this year before having his season cut short due to an injury.

If nothing major is done this offseason, will they be a playoff team? Absolutely not. I think that the Rockies are, realistically, around a .500 team, which to me, is actually worse than being a 100-loss team because, usually, you expect a 100-loss team to be building for the future.

If you are a meddling team, you are either wasting time by not winning or wasting time by not getting better draft picks and developing the minor league system (which the Rockies is sixth-worst in baseball) for a few years down the road.

Whether you like hearing it or not, the Rockies have been behind the eight-ball on talent evaluations for a long time now and, honestly, haven’t figured out their pitching at altitude yet either. Expecting each and every pitcher to pitch better or equivalent than they did in 2018 was asinine.

The Rockies either need to go all-in, on the trade market, for some pitching and offense as well as free agency for depth as well as hit it out of the park with their 2020 first-round draft pick (it should be a top 10 pick) and not have any bad picks, as they have in recent years (e.g. fourth overall 2016 pick Riley Pint, who has been injured and when he does pitch, he walks nearly two batters an inning) or go all-out and start selling pieces off and rebuild for 2024 or so.

However, I honestly don’t see either happening. I hope that I am proven wrong in the coming weeks and months but, at this moment, I don’t think I will be wrong.