3 free agents the Colorado Rockies should already be targeting

The Colorado Rockies were the only team at the 2022 MLB trade deadline that did not make a trade. Despite not doing anything at the trade deadline, the club has to do something this offseason to indicate whether or not they still have confidence in their core right now.

From the outside, it’s obvious that the club needs help if they plan on getting into playoff contention because they are far from it right now. Their 51-65 record entering Sunday is indicative of their talent.

To get to that playoff level, they will have to sign some free agents if they don’t want to trade their prospects, especially to get to contending level in 2023 or 2024. Here are three players the Rockies should already be targeting to sign this offseason.

Rockies: 3 impending free agents they should already be targeting

1) Left-handed reliever Taylor Rogers

The Rockies have only had one consistent left-handed reliever on the season in Lucas Gilbreath so they need a lefty reliever. They also need relievers, in general, with relievers Alex Colomé, Carlos Estévez, and Jhoulys Chacín all becoming free agents. Taylor Rogers would be a perfect fit for them.

Rogers, who turns 32 in December, is a Colorado native (from the Denver suburb of Littleton) who has closing experience so he could be a great setup option. In 45 games this year between San Diego and Milwaukee (who traded for him at the trade deadline), he has a 4.26 ERA in 45 games with 28 saves but he has had a lot of bad luck this year. His FIP is only 2.24, which is very similar to what he had last year when he was an All-Star with Minnesota (2.13 FIP, 3.35 ERA). He’s also walking only two batters per nine innings in comparison to 10 strikeouts per nine innings.

He also has a low fastball spin rate, which is one of a few things that has led to success of pitchers at Coors Field. Another one is a high groundball rate and Rogers has a moderate groundball rate.