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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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Jon Gray of the Colorado Rockies
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.

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