Colorado Rockies: The grades for their post-lockout moves

Signing shortstop José Iglesias via free agency: C-

The Colorado Rockies addressed their shortstop situation with a stopgap shortstop in José Iglesias.

He signed a one-year deal for $5 million so, like with Colomé, it is a low-risk move. However, Iglesias is taking over for Trevor Story. When healthy, Trevor Story was putting up numbers comparable to Hall of Famers. José Iglesias is far from that.

Iglesias has shown glimpses of being great defensively but it was not in 2021. Offensively, he was a dead ringer for a bat the Rockies already have that’s not great. The Rockies downgraded from a perennial All-Star to a player that (on a playoff-contending team) is someone on the bench, if at all.

But since it’s a short-term, low-risk move, this is why we have it as a C- and not lower.

Signing Chad Kuhl via free agency: C

The Colorado Rockies signed former Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Chad Kuhl to, in all likelihood, be their fifth starter to start the season.

Kuhl’s manager with the Pirates for Pirates at the beginning of his career was Clint Hurdle, who came back to the Rockies as a special assistant this offseason.

He will be a decent stopgap for the Rockies but he is, at least to start off, replacing Jon Gray in the rotation. Gray has a carer 107 ERA+. Kuhl has a career 95 ERA+ so it’s a downgrade from that perspective. However, he is better than Chi Chi González, who was the team’s long reliever/spot starter/fifth starter through the season.

As a long-reliever/depth option, Kuhl is a better fit which he may be as the season progresses, as Peter Lambert and/or Ryan Rolison could look to slide into the rotation.

So it’s another low-risk move but he doesn’t have a very high ceiling and is replacing Jon Gray, which is why he gets a C.