Colorado Rockies: Charlie Blackmon’s contract keeps them from full-on rebuild

The Colorado Rockies are discovering what a mistake it is to have a long-term contract on its payroll for a player in his 30s that is backloaded.

The Los Angeles Angels learned that mistake the hard way with Albert Pujols by owing him $30-plus million a year in the twilight of his career. This squandered a handful of seasons for the Angels to build around the best player in the Majors (Mike Trout) in the prime of his career.

The Colorado Rockies are not in the same position as the Angels as they are definitely not a couple of pieces away from a World Series run. However, they are also dealing with a bad contract that is keeping them from a full-fledged rebuild.

Charlie Blackmon’s contract is a problem for the Colorado Rockies

The Colorado Rockies have already shed a ton of payroll as the horrible contract of the Ian Desmond era has ended, Trevor Story returning to a huge deal is not happening, and some of Nolan Arenado’s contract is off the books after last year’s trade debacle (sorry for the reminder).

That leaves one player remaining with a large contract before the Rockies can really start turning things around: Charlie Blackmon.

In 2018, coming off a record-setting season for the most RBI by a leadoff hitter in a season (103), the Rockies gave the-then-31-year-old Blackmon a six-year, $108 million deal.

Early on, he lived up to his contract by helping the Rockies reach the playoffs in 2018 and consecutive All-Star appearances in 2018 and 2019. However, since then, his skills have slowly diminished. He will be entering 2022 coming off the worst season in his career where he slashed .270/.351/.411 with 13 home runs, 78 RBI, and 76 runs scored in 150 games. His OPS+ of 96 is the lowest of his career in a season where he has played in more than 50 games.

Those slash numbers aren’t terrible. However, when they are from a player who will be making $21 million this season and will turn the ripe old age of 36 in July, it is hard to imagine that they will improve.

The Rockies will already have a payroll that will be in the bottom half of the league but paying $20-plus million for an average, at best, player is just wasteful spending, but what else would be expected from this front office?