Colorado Rockies: The David Dahl move and the logic (or lack thereof) behind it

Wednesday night’s news of the Colorado Rockies non-tendering David Dahl, effectively making him an unrestricted free agent, is only further proof that whatever Jeff Bridich is planning for the Rockies in 2021 is beyond any non-sensical neurosurgical fantasies we could ever possibly conjure up with an Ivy League degree.

That’s right. If you didn’t see the news, David Dahl is no longer a member of the Colorado Rockies.

Dahl, 26, has been injury-prone, but was one of the few Rockies who had been a solid addition to the lineup since he first debuted in 2016. Outside of a rough 2020, he put up a wRC+ of at least 110 in every season.

From 2016-2019, he was the fourth-best Rockies hitter by that measure that had been to the plate at least 200 times in that timespan. Only those who you’d expect to be better than him were (Nolan Arenado, Trevor Story, and Charlie Blackmon). His WAR/150 (WAR per 150 games) would put him right around 2.0 fWAR per season, essentially giving him the same value as Blackmon. When healthy, he was a valuable addition to the Rockies.

But because he’s been injury-prone, and was due to make around $2.6M in arbitration this year, Bridich decided it was best to move on from him. But why did they move on from Dahl?