Colorado Rockies rumors: Signing Michael Conforto “not a top priority”

The Colorado Rockies are in desperate need of offense. As Rockies fans know by now, the most logical place for them to address this is in their outfield as none of their outfielders with more than 250 plate appearances had an OPS+ of league average (100) or better.

Naturally, the Rockies should address that via free agency since they don’t have much to trade (a bad minor league system and a bad MLB team means few trade chips) … but, at least for Michael Conforto, it’s “not a top priority.”

Signing Michael Conforto is “not a top priority” for the Colorado Rockies

According to Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post, signing free agent outfielder Michael Conforto is “not a top priority.”

However, they have some level of interest.

Conforto should be one of a few free agent outfielder targets for the Rockies but obviously, that’s not the case. That’s fine if they decide that he’s not a fit for them … if they have some other players that are better fitting for them, like a Jorge Soler, Joc Pederson, or others.

He also may not be a great fit because he is almost exclusively a right fielder and not a great defender. But, when healthy, Conforto is one of the better of the options that the Rockies would have.

Conforto, who turned 29 on March 1, struggled with some injuries in 2021 as he only played in 125 games but he hit .232/.344/.384 with 14 homers, 55 RBI, 20 doubles, and an OPS+ of 101.

His best full season came in 2019 when he had 33 homers, 92 RBI, and a slash line of .257/.363/.494. He also had an OPS+ of 127.

Despite the relatively low OPS+ of 101, that would have been fourth on the Rockies among players with more the 250 plate appearances. One of the three players that would have been ahead of him would have been Trevor Story, who is likely leaving the Rockies via free agency.