Colorado Rockies make move to show end of Trevor Story era

The Colorado Rockies have finally made a move on the free agent market. It’s actually, two moves but neither move is something that Rockies fans were hoping to hear, at least with the gravitas of name. The two moves were reported on within moments of each other but one is more significant than the other.

The biggest move of the two is the signing of shortstop José Iglesias. Iglesias will sign a one-year deal with the Rockies, according to Mike Rodriguez of Univision. MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand has confirmed this.

The other move was a deal reported by Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The Rockies have agreed to terms with outfielder Scott Schebler.

Unfortunately, for Rockies fans, no, that’s not “Kyle Schwarber.” The two outfielders may be close in last name but not in production.

The Colorado Rockies adding José Iglesias means the Trevor Story era is over.

José Iglesias has spent parts of 10 seasons in the majors and he spent the 2021 season with the Los Angeles Angels and Boston Red Sox. He is a significant downgrade at shortstop over Trevor Story for the Colorado Rockies.

In 2021, he played in 137 games in the majors and he hit .271/.309/.391 with an OPS+ of 90. He had 27 doubles, nine homers, and 48 RBI. He is a few notches below Story defensively.

Iglesias, 32, had a staggering -22 Defensive Runs Saved in 2021. For comparison, Trevor Story had +9. But other stats, like OAA, suggest that Iglesias was better than Story defensively in 2021.

Fortunately for him either way, he will be flanked on his right side by Ryan McMahon at third base. McMahon was tied for the MLB lead in DRS in 2021 at 22 and had 11 OAA.

Iglesias did have 5 DRS for the Reds in 2019 so the Rockies are hoping it’s closer to that rather than his 2021 season.

Schebler, 31, used to be teammates with the Cincinnati Reds in 2019 and he has shown glimpses of being a good offensive player but unfortunately, it hasn’t been any time recently in the majors.

In the last three seasons, Schebler has only played in 45 games in the majors with a 17 OPS+. However, in 2017 and 2018, he had 400+ plate appearances with the Reds and his OPS+ was 104. His best season, arguably, was in 2017 as in 141 games, he had 30 homers, 67 RBI, a .233/.307/.484 slash line with an OPS+ of 102.

Neither one of the moves are Earth-shattering but for Iglesias, it all but slams the Trevor Story-era window shut.

To improve upon their 2021 season, the Rockies will have to make more moves than these two as, ideally, these two deals are depth moves but, particularly with Iglesias, it may be as good as the Rockies get.