Colorado Rockies fantasy draft: Five different all-franchise teams

So what happens when five members of the Rox Pile team are allowed to draft their own fantasy squad filled with past and present members of the Colorado Rockies? Well, for one thing, you get some very interesting mixtures of players.

For this Colorado Rockies all-time draft, we allowed each person to draft their starting lineup of eight position players and 13 pitchers before moving on to the next person. It was the easiest way to do it with social distancing and schedules that didn’t mesh for a virtual draft.

After everyone had picked their first 21 players, the draft went around again so each team could pick five additional position players to bolster their bench.

Additionally, each person could only pick two players who had the top bWAR at his position. That meant there were 10 “top players” up for grabs (eight position players, one starter, and one reliever).

In the random order drawing, I was given the first pick. Here’s my team.

Euan Leith’s team

Catcher – Jeff Reed

First Base – Andres Galarraga

Second Base – Eric Young Sr.

Third Base – Nolan Arenado

Shortstop – Clint Barmes

Right Field – Larry Walker

Center Fielder – Dexter Fowler

Left Field – Corey Dickerson

Bench – Terry Shumpert, David Dahl, Nick Hundley, Willy Taveras, Garrett Atkins

Starting Pitcher – Jon Gray

Starting Pitcher – Kyle Freeland

Starting Pitcher – Jeff Francis

Starting Pitcher – Pedro Astacio

Starting Pitcher – Bruce Ruffin

Reliever – Manny Corpas

Reliever – Matt Belisle

Reliever – Curt Leskanic

Reliever – Brian Fuentes

Reliever – Taylor Buchholz

Reliever – LaTroy Hawkins

Reliever – Rex Brothers

Reliever – Huston Street

You can nickname my team the ‘Blank Ink Squad’ because that is all you see when you start with Nolan Arenado and Larry Walker in your lineup. You could spend a whole afternoon marveling at their Baseball-Reference pages and YouTube highlights. That’s precisely what I did when we were picking these teams.

After already establishing a dominant offense with Walker and Arenado, I needed to shore up the defense a bit. Getting Clint Barmes up the middle will help, but in today’s environment, his bat just wouldn’t play. A rare defensive specialist in an offensive-minded game. Eric Young and Dexter Fowler will get me plenty of steals. And if they weren’t fast enough, then I can just pinch-run Willy Taveras. I am in love with my offense.

What I gain in batting, I sacrifice in pitching. I felt like that honored the teams that have played at Coors Field. I don’t think I’ll ever give up on Jon Gray while he still wears purple, and Kyle Freeland’s 2018 is the single-best season for a Rockies’ pitcher when it comes to Wins Above Replacement. Plus, when you look at my bullpen, the starters would only need to get through the opposing lineups twice before I lock it down with a combination of peak Matt Belisle, Rex Brothers, and Huston Street.

Noah Yingling’s team

Catcher – Charles Johnson

First Base – Todd Helton

Second Base – DJ LeMahieu

Third Base – Jeff Cirillo

Shortstop – Trevor Story

Left Field – Dante Bichette

Center Fielder – Juan Pierre

Right Field – Michael Cuddyer

Bench – Tony Wolters, Denny Hocking, Todd Zeile, John Vander Wal, Ron Gant

Starting Pitcher – Aaron Cook

Starting Pitcher – Jorge De La Rosa

Starting Pitcher – German Marquez

Starting Pitcher – Jason Jennings

Starting Pitcher – John Thomson

Reliever – Adam Ottavino

Reliever – Rafael Betancourt

Reliever – Jerry DiPoto

Reliever – Scott Oberg

Reliever – Jose Jimenez

Reliever – Darren Holmes

Reliever – Chuck McElroy

Reliever – Chris Rusin

With only being able to have two players at the top of each position, I took Todd Helton and DJ LeMahieu as my #1 picks. Admittedly, I don’t have a ton of power in my starting lineup but what the lineup lacks in power, they have in on-base abilities.

If you just consider their Rockies career, the lowest OBP comes from Charles Johnson, who had a .334 OBP as a Rockie. The average OBP for the starting eight is .361, which is very. Helton, Story, and Bichette have the most power on the team and would likely be the 3,4, and 5 hitters (or 4, 5, 6) if it was an actual lineup with Pierre and LeMahieu at the top. Pierre and Story would be the fastest players on the team and LeMahieu, Helton, and Story would be the best defenders.

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For my bench, I was looking for a mixture of versatility, contact, power, and pinch-hitting ability. Wolters can catch and play the middle infield spots. Zeile mainly plays third but could play first and be a third catcher in a pinch and he would provide some power.

Vander Wal is one of the best pinch-hitters of all-time and MLB Network’s Prime 9 agreed with me as they ranked him as one of the “prime 9” pinch-hitters in baseball history in 2011. He can play first base and the outfield spots.

Gant was best known for his time with the Braves but he was a good power bat. In a pinch, he can also play in the infield, as he did early in his career. Hocking is not a good hitter and an average fielder but he played every single position but pitcher and catcher in his career (at least 153 innings at all of them, as well).

The starting rotation wouldn’t win dozens of Cy Young Awards in their careers but for a Colorado team, it’s a serviceable rotation with Marquez likely being the ace. I think the bullpen would actually be a strength on paper as a number of those guys have the ability to be closer. With all being at their best, I would have Ottavino close, though.

Kevin Larson’s team

Catcher – Yorvit Torrealba

First base – Justin Morneau

Second base – Kaz Matsui

Shortstop – Troy Tulowitzki

Third base – Vinny Castilla

Left field – Matt Holliday

Center field – Ellis Burks

Right field – Carlos Gonzalez

Bench – Yonder Alonso, Ryan Spilborghs, Quinton McCracken, Ryan McMahon, Miguel Olivo

Starting Pitcher – Jhoulys Chacin

Starting Pitcher – Tyler Chatwood

Starting Pitcher – Jason Hammel

Starting Pitcher – Tyler Anderson

Reliever – Armando Reynoso

Reliever – Alex White

Reliever – Dave Veres

Reliever – Steve Reed

Reliever – Carlos Estevez

Reliever – Greg Holland

Reliever – Jairo Diaz

Reliever – Pat Neshek

Reliever – Ian Desmond

If this roster makes you think, “Hey, I think they’d actually probably compete for the playoffs,” well then that’s because they basically did. Behind guys like Troy Tulowitzki, Matt Holliday, Yorvit Torrealba and Kaz Matsui, there should be no doubt this team would compete in a World Series. I mean we’ve also got Vinny Castilla, Ellis Burks and CarGo flanking this lineup. Not to mention Justin Morneau just chillin’ there at first base holding a batting title like, “What’s up guys? Remember me?”

And that lineup’s offensive prowess is needed. As with most Rockies rosters, we’re not going to be all that reliant on pitching. This staff’s headlined by guys like Jhoulys Chacin (85 ERA-) and Tyler Chatwood (87 ERA-). No one’s going to overpower you, but they’ll hang in there long enough.

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The bullpen’s a little stronger than you think with some pretty surprising ERA- numbers. Gabe White checks in with an ERA- of 75. Dave Veres at 73. Steve Reed’s sitting pretty at 74. Holland’s our closer sitting at 72. For what Neshek did in the Wild Card game because that ERA- is at 49! You know Diaz (87) and Estevez (94).

But the real highlight of this bullpen? Holding the best ERA, and therefore ERA-, in Rockies’ bullpen history is Ian Freakin’ Desmond. That’s right. Big fat goose eggs in those columns. So what if it was only one inning in L.A. during a blowout? He deserves a spot because everyone loves a position player pitching. And hey, the stats back him up.

The bench is nothing to look over either. Yonder Alonso can give Morneau days off without much power being missed at the plate. Ryan Spilborghs owns one of the highest wRC+ as a pinch hitter in Rockies history (119) and also created one of the most memorable Rockies moments ever. Quinton McCracken’s going to light up the basepaths late in games. Ryan McMahon will provide versatility in the infield and Miguel Olivo will be a good fill-in for Torrealba.

This roster will compete and is too much fun. How is any roster better? The answer is they can’t be. This roster destroys and you know it.

Kevin Henry’s team

Catcher – Chris Iannetta

First base – Mark Reynolds

Second base – Clint Barmes

Shortstop – Royce Clayton

Third base – Ian Stewart

Left field – Seth Smith

Center field – Jeromy Burnitz

Right field – Jeffrey Hammonds

Bench – Ben Paulsen, Trent Hubbard, Joe Girardi, Mike Kingery, Daryl Boston

Starting Pitcher – Josh Fogg

Starting Pitcher – Juan Nicasio

Starting Pitcher – Marvin Freeman

Starting Pitcher – Darryl Kile

Starting Pitcher – Butch Henry

Reliever – John Axford

Reliever – Boone Logan

Reliever – Bruce Ruffin

Reliever – Chad Qualls

Reliever – Jake McGee

Reliever – Mike DeJean

Reliever – Ryan Speier

Reliever – Vic Darensbourg

Sure, I might have had the final picks of the draft, but there were still some nuggets to be found … and I threw in some players just for fun.

Pitching is where I might be the most concerned about this team, but glad to roll out the “Dragon Slayer” as the top starter. Marvin Freeman certainly made Rockies history with his strike-shortened 1994 season so I’d slot him as the number two guy with Darryl Kile at the third spot.

Having Boone Logan on the team gives me all the LOOGY feels and Chad Qualls brings me a smile every time I think about the enthusiasm he brought to the mound.

Sweet Swinging Seth Smith gives my team the edge in the alliteration race I believe. And I’ll take the combined backstop of Joe Girardi and Chris Iannetta at their Rockies bests.

And, of course, glad to have the recently retired Sheriff holding down first base … with Ben Paulsen as his underrated mustache able to provide backup there as well as play the outfield.