Who are some non-tendered position players that could help the Colorado Rockies?

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BOSTON, MA – SEPTEMBER 19: Kevin Pillar #1 of the San Francisco Giants hits a two RBI double in the eighth inning against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on September 19, 2019 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Kathryn Riley/Getty Images) /

Monday evening was the non-tender deadline and while the Colorado Rockies tendered contracts to all of their arbitration eligible players, there were a lot of players who became free agents last night that could help the Rockies.

On Monday, there were a lot of players that were non-tendered by their respective teams.

Obviously, these players are not players like Mike Trout and Nolan Arenado, they could provide teams, like the Colorado Rockies, will some relatively cheap depth for the upcoming season.

There are a lot of them so today, let’s start out by taking a look at some of the position players that the Rockies could be interested in.

Kevin Pillar

Kevin Pillar, who will turn 31 in January, was non-tendered by the Giants and he won’t be the first Giants player we discuss.

He is known for being a good defender but not good at the plate. Therefore, with his projected $9.7 million salary in arbitration, the Giants decided to cut ties with him.

The problem with him is that while he has always been a poor hitter (he has never had a full-season OPS+ be north of 93), his defense has also slipped significantly.

Between 2015 and 2017 for the Blue Jays, he had 58 fDRS (for comparison, in that span, Nolan Arenado also had 58 fDRS). Since 2018, though, he has had -5 fDRS (rDRS is similar in both accounts too).

I wouldn’t be surprised if the Rockies were interested if the price is much lower but considering that his defense is slipping and with sub-par offense, he might not be a great fit.

Joey Rickard

Joey Rickard, 28, was another player non-tendered by the Giants. You probably haven’t heard of him but he joined the Giants in June of last year as one of their back-up outfielders after spending some time with the Orioles.

He is a light-hitter (82 OPS+ in parts of 4 MLB seasons) but he could provide the Rockies with some outfield depth. In the past three seasons, he has had 13 fDRS and while he hasn’t stolen a lot of bases, Statcast has him in the 83rd percentile for sprint speed so he could be a good defensive replacement late in games for the Rockies.

MLBTR’s Matt Swartz projected that he would make $1.1 million in arbitration but I suspect that the Rockies could get him for less than that, perhaps even a MiLB deal with a spring invite.

Travis Shaw

The Milwaukee Brewers non-tendered a lot of players to free up some payroll space and one of them was Travis Shaw.

Shaw, 29, had an awful 2019 season. In 86 games, he hit .157/.281/.270 with a 45 OPS+. That coupled with the fact that he was projected to make $4.7 million in arbitration is why the Brewers let him loose.

However, in both 2017 and 2018, he was a key offensive cog for the Brewers as he averaged 32 home runs and 94 RBI with a .258/.347/.497 slash between the two seasons (296 games).

His primary position is third base and he’s obviously not displacing Nolan Arenado but he has played more than a combined 60 games at first and second base in the past two seasons so he could provide the Rockies with a platoon at either position or a powerful bench bat.

Domingo Santana

Domingo Santana, 27, was non-tendered by the Seattle Mariners after they picked him up from the Brewers in a trade last offseason. He was projected to make $4.4 million in his second arbitration eligible year this offseason so he could provide the Rockies with a relatively cheap, power bat in the outfield.

In 2019, he hit 21 home runs and had 69 RBI with a .253/.329/.441 slash line with an OPS+ of 108. In 2017 (the only other MLB season in which he has played in 100+ MLB games), he hit 30 home runs and had 85 RBI with a .278/.371/.505 slash line and a 126 OPS+.

His problem is defense as in 2019, he had -17 fDRS and -5 fDRS in 2017 but he also had 6 fDRS in 2018 (the numbers are the same with Baseball Reference too) so his defense is a bit inconsistent.

Also, he is more of a corner outfielder so he is not a great fit for the Rockies but, like Shaw, he could be a good powerful bench or platoon option.

C.J. Cron

Unlike some of the others previously mentioned, the Rockies do need to improve at first base and C.J. Cron could help with that.

He was non-tendered by the Twins after hitting 25 home runs and 78 RBI with a slash line of .253/.311/.469, which amounted to a 103 OPS+. In 2018, with the Tampa Bay Rays, Cron hit 30 homers and had 74 RBI with a slash of .253/.323/.493 and an OPS+ of 123.

Defensively, in the past four seasons, he had 7 fDRS so he is also a slightly above average fielder.

MLBTR projected him to make $7.7 million next year in his last arbitration eligible year so he would be bit more expensive.

Next. IS Charlie Blackmon actually a trade candidate?. dark

Tomorrow, we will go over some of the pitchers that were non-tendered that the Rockies could be interested in.

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