Colorado Rockies: 5 interesting Winter Meetings quotes from Jeff Bridich

"“For us, we are at some point going to have to figure out if it’s better for that 13th position player, is it better to go with a younger grouping of guys that we’ll rotate through. Is it better to go with a veteran off the bench who maybe can do a little bit less positionally, or the skill set is different than the outfielders and infielders that we can rotate through depending on what our needs are for an upcoming series, or upcoming week or month or whatever. Those are the sort of questions that we’re talking about now.”"

Translation: With the changes in the active roster next season and the Rockies (and other MLB teams) adapting to having 13 position players and 13 pitchers on the roster, what will Colorado do in two regards?

First, the Rockies won’t be allowed to have more than 13 pitchers on the roster. That means Bud Black and his staff may have to think more about bullpen usage in some high-scoring games in order to keep pitchers active for upcoming games. If a position player goes down, the Rockies can’t sneak an extra arm into the mix as they have at previous times.

Second, what purpose will that 13th position player serve? In the past, the Rockies have had a power bench bat (think Matt Holliday in 2018) who had a limited role. But knowing Colorado’s love of “versatility,” does this open the door for players such as Garrett Hampson who can plug in at multiple positions defensively. Will Colorado choose to have a big bat over versatility? It’s a question that will be interesting to see answered in spring training.

There will be plenty more to come from San Diego and some of the things we discussed with Bridich so stay tuned for more articles coming soon.