Colorado Rockies: Making sense of a Chicago Cubs-Nolan Arenado trade

Garrett Hampson

I won’t lie, it hurts to type that up.

But the Cubs have needs at 2B and in CF, both which we know Hampson can play. The Rockies, for the most part, have that solved between McMahon at 2nd (with Rodgers in the wings) and Dahl or Hilliard in CF (not to mention the logjam that includes Desmond and Tapia, who will both be fighting for time as well). That logjam creates a bit of complication for the speedy Hampson (whose Sprint Speed ranks in the 99th percentile).

His 2019 was largely unimpressive from an offensive perspective (wRC+ of 63), but his mechanical adjustments he made in the 2nd half of the season (adding in a toe tap to his batting stance) saw his wRC+ jump from 18 in the 1st half of the season to 96 in the 2nd half (including a 119 wRC+ in September).

Defensively he’s a better fit in Center Field than he is at 2nd in terms of UZR/150 (1.6 vs -5.4). Almora Jr, the Cubs’ primary Center Fielder, showed regression in terms of UZR/150 (1.7 in 2017, 2.9 in 2018, -4.1 in 2019). If he’s not at second base, though, that does open up more time for Brendan Rodgers to get more opportunities at second.

FanGraphs projects Hampson to have a wRC+ of 76 in 2020 while putting up an fWAR of 0.2 in 75 games. That’s largely uninspiring, but it’s mostly a result of not having as much of an opportunity with the Rockies. If given more opportunity in a starting lineup while putting up similar defensive numbers and offensive production similar to his 2nd half of 2019, he could be of value to a team that could find more time to use him.

Hampson will be eligible for arbitration in 2022 and would be eligible for Free Agency in 2025. He’s slated to make $583,500 in 2020.