Five things Colorado Rockies fans should be thankful for this Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all of the Colorado Rockies fans celebrating in the United States of America or wherever else you may be celebrating. We hope that you have a great time with your friends and/or family today and this weekend as well before the holiday season comes upon us.

As a Colorado Rockies fan, times have been tough in the last few seasons as the team has not been very good but there are five different things that Colorado Rockies fans should be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

Jeff Bridich is out as the general manager of the Colorado Rockies

Colorado Rockies fans has something to be thankful for in April when Jeff Bridich resigned as the general manager of the club.

Rockies fans had been calling for his job for years due to his poor free agent signings, trades (or lack thereof when the team was in contention), and lack of franchise direction, among numerous other things.

Some Rockies fans are not happy that Bill Schmidt has been named as the new GM but anyway you look at it, at least thus far, he has been an upgrade over Bridich. That doesn’t say much but Schmidt has only been the official GM since October 2 (since he was the interim GM before). Fans should give him a little bit of time to see how he can differentiate himself from Bridich.

Schmidt did make what could be some mistakes in not offering Jon Gray a qualifying offer (and not resigning him) and not trading Trevor Story at the trade deadline. They look like mistakes now but with the way offseasons usually develop, anything could change.

The Colorado Rockies found someone to replace Nolan Arenado defensively

For most casual baseball fans, when the Colorado Rockies traded Nolan Arenado to St. Louis in February, they would have thought that if there was one area that Arenado could not be replaced was on defense. After all, most casual baseball fans that don’t pay attention to the Rockies think that every hitter becomes Babe Ruth in Denver (“you just know they’re going to hit!”). But that’s not true.

The Rockies had a difficult time replacing Arenado on offense as the Rockies had one of the worst offenses in baseball.

But defensively, they found someone that is better than Arenado on defense not just at third base but also at second base: Ryan McMahon.

By most metrics, including DRS and most important to the old school people, the eye test (if you watched all the games), McMahon was far superior to Arenado this season at two positions but Arenado took home the Gold Glove and Platinum Glove largely due to his reputation.

McMahon has definitely made some strides at the plate but he is not near Arenado’s offense yet, especially after McMahon’s power fizzled as the 2021 season progressed.

Regardless of whether the Rockies use him at second, third, or even shortstop in 2022, he will give the Rockies, arguably, the best player defensive player in baseball this past season.

Colorado Rockies fans could come to Coors Field once again

Despite some fans calling for a boycott of the team after the Colorado Rockies traded Arenado to St. Louis, it was dead in the water since the Rockies hosted the 2021 All-Star Game and they were drawing great attendance numbers for most of the season.

A lot of it is because the Rockies usually draw well regardless of how the team is but a lot it also was that the Rockies (and all MLB teams) couldn’t have fans in 2020 due to the pandemic. Most teams ramped up their capacity totals to 100 percent by June or so but started off at a smaller capacity to start the season.

Regardless of what the team looks like next season, the Colorado Rockies will draw north of two million fans at Coors Field (which they nearly did anyways in 2021, despite not being at full capacity until June) and fans can get together to celebrate the team and sport they love with the friends and family they love, just they are with friends and/or family they love this Thanksgiving.