Should the Colorado Rockies take a flier on Jake McGee?

The Colorado Rockies bullpen has not been great by any mark in 2022 and it also hasn’t been particularly great in recent years in general. In 2022, they have a 4.71 ERA, which is 28th in baseball and their 4.14 FIP is 22nd in baseball.

One area that they have had some issues with is getting some decent left-handed relief help. For each of the last two seasons, Lucas Gilbreath has had a few bad appearances to start the season but has improved later. In 2022, Gilbreath allowed nine earned runs in his first five appearances but he has allowed only one earned run in his last 22 appearances.

Outside of Gilbreath, the only other left-handed pitcher in the bullpen is long reliever Ty Blach, who has a 5.89 ERA on the season and a 6.97 ERA in his last eight games (20 2/3 innings).

The San Francisco Giants just designated former Rockies left-handed pitcher Jake McGee for assignment so could the Rockies sign him?

Should the Colorado Rockies sign Jake McGee?

On the 2022 season, former Colorado Rockies left-handed reliever Jake McGee struggled with the San Francisco Giants but some of his peripheral stats suggest that he would be better.

In 24 appearances, he had a 7.17 ERA. However, he only averaged 2.5 walks per nine innings and his FIP is 4.13. That FIP is lower than Blach and fellow relievers Jhoulys Chacín, Carlos Estévez, and Robert Stephenson. His hard hit rate is also lower than it has been since 2017.

There are still some things that raise some red flags, though. His hit rate of 11.4 hits per nine innings is the worst of his career and his strikeout rate is also the lowest of his career.

He also saw little success at Coors Field. In 112 games at Coors Field, he had a 6.25 ERA with an opponent slash line of .312/.362/.548.

The Rockies could claim him or sign him if he reaches free agency. If they do the latter, they could sign him for as little as a pro-rated portion of league average. If they did the former, they’d owe McGee about $1.25 million, or roughly half of his $2.5 million salary for the 2022 season.

He’s not a perfect fit for the Rockies but, depending on the cost, he could be a fit for the Rockies for the rest of the season.

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