2 players the Rockies will regret not acquiring this offseason, 1 they won't

The Rockies may regret not acquiring these 2 pitchers

Will Smith - Signed one-year, $5 million with the Kansas City Royals

Will Smith has been with the World Series Champion the last three years. What more reason do you need to sign him? It's a guaranteed World Series ring. In all reality, that streak will most certainly end this year, as Smith signed with the rebuilding Kansas City Royals (or will the team that acquires him at the deadline win it all?).

Smith has been a really solid middle reliever over his career, with a 3.67 career ERA and a very impressive 10.6 strikeout rate per nine innings. Smith regressed a little bit in 2023, pitching in the hitter-friendly confines of Globe Life Stadium. His ERA jumped to 4.40, while his strikeout rate dipped to 8.6 K/9. Impressively, he put up one of the lowest HR/9 rates of his career, at just .8 HR/9, showing an ability to limit home runs in hitter-friendly parks. He did throw 57.1 innings in 2023. right on par with his career average.

Smith would've been a valuable bullpen arm for the Rockies, a team that used 26 different relievers in 2023, proving that they could use some stability back there. Smith's contract wasn't exactly a prohibitive one, either, and the Rockies could've used the same approach that they did with Brad Hand last year. Sign a guy to a one-year deal, let him prove he is going to be a valuable reliever and flip him to a contender at the deadline for prospects. This could be a move that the Rockies come to regret when they get into the dog days of summer and are thin in their bullpen (and have nothing to dangle at the deadline).

Marco Gonzales - Traded to Pittsburgh Pirates from ATL

We have touched on it before, but the Rockies' lack of pitching really hurt them in 2023. As things currently stand, their No. 4 and No. 5 spots are pretty big question marks. They will definitely need to add someone to the back of the rotation that can eat some innings to help a young and inexperienced staff get through the full year. This is where I think Marco Gonzales would have been a perfect fit.

Gonzales is a local kid, having grown up in Fort Collins, CO. He was actually drafted by the Rockies in 2010. Instead of signing, he decided to go to college, where he played in Spokane, WA at Gonzaga University. After he was traded to the Mariners in 2017, he became an anchor for a rebuilding team that needed leadership. He spent the next seven seasons there and led a lot of really good pitching staffs, aiding in the growth of a lot of their young pitchers like George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, and Matt Brash.

From 2018 to 2022, minus the COVID-shortened year, Gonzales averaged just over 174 innings pitched per year, something the Rockies would love! He wasn't a front of the rotation pitcher, but he could eat innings, work deep into the game and limit damage. These are all things that the Rockies could desperately use.

The price to acquire Gonzales wasn't expensive either, considering that the Mariners sent him and Evan White, along with young outfielder Jarred Kelenic, to the Braves in nothing more than a salary dump. Gonzales was then sent to the Pirates along with cash for a player to be named later. The lefty was due to make $12 million in 2024, and I think that the Braves are going to have to pay a decent chunk of that down for the Pirates to take on that contract. This was a player the Rockies should have been very active in trying to acquire. He could have been a very valuable piece to a rebuilding rotation.