Chicago White Sox put end to Colorado Rockies' slim catching hopes

Sure, maybe it was a pipe dream, but there was still a very faint glimmer of hope for the Colorado Rockies to greatly upgrade at catcher this offseason with a big free agent signing.

That was, at least, until Thursday’s announcement by the Chicago White Sox that they had inked Yasmani Grandal to a four-year, $73 million deal. The White Sox now have one of the best backstops in the game while the Colorado Rockies will continue to look for someone to platoon with Tony Wolters in 2020.

There are two positions where it’s obvious the Rockies need to upgrade in the offseason, and both are in the battery. Certainly knowing Colorado’s financial situation, it was at the very best an extremely long longshot to think Grandal might be wearing purple in 2020 and beyond. However, there was no question that Colorado was one of the teams that could have greatly used Grandal’s services as they try to get back to the postseason (and the .500 mark).

Let’s face it … it would have taken a lot of shuffling and likely some dealing of players to make something of this magnitude happen, and the Rockies weren’t ready (or willing) to do that to secure a player of Grandal’s pedigree.

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Thursday was a reminder that the Rockies, at least for 2020, aren’t going to be linked to many rumors involving high-priced players. They’re also not going to be involved in any high-priced bidding wars. Knowing the contracts that are on the books and the raises that are due to Trevor Story and others through arbitration, the money is spoken for already in Denver … for this season. It’s a tough reality, but it’s also one that we’ve known since October 1 when owner Dick Monfort and general manager Jeff Bridich met with us and other media members at Coors Field and dropped these quotes.

Next. Colorado adds four players to its 40-man roster. dark

Simply put, Grandal would have been a great fit behind the plate. He would’ve strengthened the lineup and provided a bit of a spark for Rockies players and fans desperately looking for one this offseason. However, reality hit once again on Thursday … the stark reality that the Rockies will likely be looking primarily inward for improvement in 2020.

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Chicago White Sox put end to Colorado Rockies’ slim catching hopes

By Kevin Henry | Nov 21, 2019

Sure, maybe it was a pipe dream, but there was still a very faint glimmer of hope for the Colorado Rockies to greatly upgrade at catcher this offseason with a big free agent signing.