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Colorado Rockies: Three fits for a Jon Gray trade

By Noah Yingling |
ARLINGTON, TEXAS - JULY 25: Jon Gray #55 of the Colorado Rockies throws against the Texas Rangers in the first inning at Globe Life Field on July 25, 2020 in Arlington, Texas. The 2020 season had been postponed since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
ARLINGTON, TEXAS - JULY 25: Jon Gray #55 of the Colorado Rockies throws against the Texas Rangers in the first inning at Globe Life Field on July 25, 2020 in Arlington, Texas. The 2020 season had been postponed since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
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DENVER, COLORADO – JULY 29: Starting pitcher Jon Gray #55 of the Colorado Rockies throws in the fourth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Coors Field on July 29, 2019 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
DENVER, COLORADO – JULY 29: Starting pitcher Jon Gray #55 of the Colorado Rockies throws in the fourth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Coors Field on July 29, 2019 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) /

Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Jon Gray is entering his final year of arbitration in 2021 and before hitting free agency next offseason, the Rockies may trade him.

The Colorado Rockies have a few players that are arbitration-eligible this offseason and one of them is starting pitcher Jon Gray. He is slated to make about $6.25 million in arbitration and the Rockies could look to shed his salary this offseason or during the upcoming season.

With his low salary (comparatively speaking), the chance that he is traded could even be higher than that of his teammates Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story since he would be affordable for an acquiring team. Also, there are plenty of teams that are in need of starting pitching. That’s part of the reason why he is definitely a candidate to be traded. Today, we’ll go through the three teams that would be the best fits for Gray in a trade.

The main things we considered is the need for each team and whether or not the team was in contention in 2020 or if they have shown they are making other moves this offseason in order to contend next year.

Let’s dive in with team number one.

The Texas Rangers

The Texas Rangers were one of the few teams that were worse than the Colorado Rockies in 2020 as they both had a worse offense and worse starting pitching staff.

To put their starting pitching in perspective, Jordan Lyles was their *third* starter last year. Yes, *that* Jordan Lyles. To make it even worse, they lost their best starter in Lance Lynn when they traded him to the White Sox this offseason so now, Lyles, who pitched to a 1-6 record with an ERA of 7.02 last season, is slated to be their number two starter. Here’s their entire starting rotation.

  1. Kyle Gibson, SP
  2. Jordan Lyles, SP
  3. Kohei Arahara, SP (who they signed from Japan this offseason)
  4. Dane Dunning, SP
  5. Kolby Allard, SP

So it’s no surprise that the Rangers had a starter’s ERA of 5.32 in 2020, which was 24th in baseball.

While that doesn’t scream of a team that is close to contention, the Rangers have made other moves to get some recent Rockies, including signing David Dahl and Drew Butera. It would also put Gray closer to where he was born, raised, went to college, and still lives: the state of Oklahoma.

DENVER, COLORADO – AUGUST 05: Starting pitcher Jon Gray #55 of the Colorado Rockies throws in the first inning against the San Francisco Giants at Coors Field on August 05, 2020 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
DENVER, COLORADO – AUGUST 05: Starting pitcher Jon Gray #55 of the Colorado Rockies throws in the first inning against the San Francisco Giants at Coors Field on August 05, 2020 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) /

The Los Angeles Angels

Death, taxes, and the Angels don’t have any pitching. Those seem to be the three constants in the world. Outside of Jered Weaver, they really haven’t had any starter that should be above a fifth starter in the majors and/or been healthy or consistent enough to show that they are a quality MLB starter for nearly a decade. That’s a big reason why they have been to playoffs once since 2009 and haven’t won a playoff game since ’09.

You could even contend that they haven’t had a consistent pitching staff since Rockies manager Bud Black left the team after spending seven seasons as their pitching coach to become the Padres manager before the 2007 season.

Last season, they had the same record as the Rockies (26-34) and their starters were a big reason why they did so poorly as they were 29th in majors in starter’s ERA at 5.58.

Currently, the Angels starting pitching looks like this with a six-man rotation that they will likely employ.

  1. Andrew Heaney, LHP
  2. Dylan Bundy, RHP
  3. Griffin Canning, RHP
  4. Patrick Sandoval, RHP
  5. Jaime Barria, RHP
  6. Shohei Ohtani, RHP

Of the six, Ohtani is far and away the best but they have the six-man rotation for him since he would be playing in the field or DH’ing most of the time. In other words, Gray would be the clear ace of the Angels staff.

They are one of a few teams that have already made some moves to be better in 2021 as they traded for shortstop Jose Iglesias and Cincinnati Reds closer Raisel Iglesias (no relation), among other players.

DENVER, CO – AUGUST 16: Jon Gray #55 of the Colorado Rockies bats against the Miami Marlins at Coors Field on August 16, 2019 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images)
DENVER, CO – AUGUST 16: Jon Gray #55 of the Colorado Rockies bats against the Miami Marlins at Coors Field on August 16, 2019 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images) /

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The Toronto Blue Jays

The Toronto Blue Jays were a bit of a surprise last year as they made the playoffs as a Wild Card team but with all of their young offensive talent that all seem to have siblings or father’s that played in the majors (Biggio, Guerrero, Gurriel, Bichette, Roger Clemens’ kid is in the minors), they showed that they were a bit lacking the pitching department.

They have shown a willingness to add to their team this offseason as they were the runner up’s for Francisco Lindor and linked to Rockies shortstop Trevor Story.

Their bullpen needs addressing more than their starting pitching, as their starter’s ERA was 17th in the majors at 4.55 and their bullpen ERA was 4.71 and 24th in the majors, but one of those starters could easily move to the bullpen.

  1. Hyun-jin Ryu, LHP
  2. Robbie Ray, LHP
  3. Nate Pearson, RHP (their top prospect and MLB.com’s #6 prospect)
  4. Tanner Roark, SP
  5. Ross Stripling, SP

As you may remember in his time with the Dodgers, Stripling has spent plenty of time in the bullpen. In fact, more than half of his MLB appearance are from out of the bullpen so if the Blue Jays were to acquire Gray, Stripling could help out their bullpen.

And who knows? If the Rockies trade Trevor Story too, Gray might be packaged with him and they could send both to Toronto, like the Indians did when they traded Lindor and Carlos Carrasco to the Mets.

Rockies fans probably wouldn’t like that both of them would be traded but if the Rockies don’t believe that they will be able to extend either player, it could be an option for the Rockies so they at least get something to replenish their major league and/or minor league teams.

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