Who will (and who should/could) be the Colorado Rockies closer

Colorado Rockies Wade Davis and Bud Black — DENVER, CO – JULY 16: Manager Bud Black #10 of the Colorado Rockies takes Wade Davis #71 out of the game in the 10th inning against the San Francisco Giants at Coors Field on July 16, 2019 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images)

On Wednesday during his press conference at the winter meetings, Colorado Rockies manager Bud Black had this to say when asked about the closer position:

"“I’m going to let that play out I think with any bullpen set up this time of year, in December. These things have a way of playing themselves out. I think when we get to Spring Training, we’ll see how our group is. We have some veteran players.”"

This seems to be manager-speak for the fact that the closer job is wide open heading into 2020.

More from Colorado Rockies News

To recap the 2019 closer narrative for those that missed it: Wade Davis enters the year as the closer but gets hurt so Scott Oberg takes over briefly. Davis returns from injury but struggles so badly that he finally loses the job to Oberg for good. That is, until Oberg goes down for the season with blood clots in his arm. Davis is given one more shot, struggles again, and is finally demoted to middle relief for the rest of the year. Black goes with a bullpen by committee for the rest of the season, with Jairo Diaz taking the lion’s share of the save chances.

What a ride. Not a fun one, mind you, but a ride nonetheless.

Right now there are two, or maybe even three, serious candidates for the job. The obvious choices would be the two guys that spent the most time in that role in 2019, Wade Davis and Scott Oberg.

On Wednesday during his press conference at the winter meetings, Colorado Rockies manager Bud Black had this to say when asked about the closer position:

Schedule