Colorado Rockies: Will they be able to trade any of their large salary relievers?

Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post published his first mailbag of the new decade yesterday and one of the questions he fielded was about the Colorado Rockies veteran relief corps.

The Colorado Rockies “super bullpen” that never came to fruition is actually an albatross for the franchise, an albatross that has partially prevented the team from doing anything this offseason.

Saunders reports in his mailbag that the Rockies are “investigating trades” involving Jake McGee and Bryan Shaw, who are two of the three members of the bullpen that has vastly underperformed and is, therefore, vastly overpaid.

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One of the best things that would happen to the Rockies is that they would be able to trade at least one of McGee or Shaw to a team that is willing to take on all of their salary.

The Rockies would obviously not get much of anything in return but, as Saunders noted, the Rockies are likely not going to just cut ties with either of them.

One notable reliever that was not mentioned as a part of trade talks is Wade Davis. That’s partially because he is owed the most money between the trio of relievers and, at least in 2019, he was the worst of the three.

Honestly, with the salaries that each of the three are making, I highly doubt that either will be able to be traded and I would bet just about anything that all three of them will be on the Rockies 2020 Opening Day roster (barring injury).

Between the three relievers and including buyouts for next season, the Rockies owe the trio $40.5 million dollars, which before arbitration salaries for the arb-eligible players, would be about 1/3 of the Rockies entire payroll.

I would also bet that Drew Butera will be on the 2020 Opening Day roster, like Nick Groke of The Athletic predicted on Monday, even though the Rockies desperately need a serviceable catcher.

In other words, don’t hold your breath on any moves happening this offseason.