Colorado Rockies: The grades for their post-lockout moves

Extending Ryan McMahon: A-

Extending Ryan McMahon for six years and $70 million and usurping four of his free agent years is a good move for the Colorado Rockies.

He was the best defensive player in baseball at two positions in 2021 and he was a 4.0 rWAR player so if he produces like that for six years will be well worth $70 million.

The only reason why this isn’t an A or an A+ is his offense. The Rockies need him to develop his power for a full season.

Through June 15 (67 games), McMahon was on pace for 39 HR and 104 RBI but he was hitting .261/.308/.527. After that, he was on pace for 13 homers and 83 RBI (in a 162 game season) with a slash line of .247/.343/.383 in a total of 84 games.

If he could provide the Rockies with the 39 homers, 104 RBI, the .261 average, the .343 OBP, and the .527 slugging percentage, he would be an All-Star and their best player overall, but he hasn’t shown that over a full season.

Overall post-lockout transactions grade: C+

As we said back in December, if the Rockies made no moves after the lockout, they would get a D- or an F for the offseason.

They get a C+ because they made some moves to try to fill some holes but there are still some holes and some of the replacements (Kuhl and Iglesias) are not upgrades (at least to start the season). The Bryant deal could age well but seven years is still suspect. They still need another bat, they need another reliever, and they also need some serious depth.

In other words, it’s a step in the right direction but there is still some stuff that needs to be done to be a playoff contender.