MLB Offseason Preview - Colorado Rockies

Colorado Rockies

National League	West Division
75-87	16.0 GB of Division Lead
Manager Walt Weiss (Stepped Down) – Position Currently Vacant	GM Jeff Bridich
AAA Affiliate Albuquerque Isotopes	AA Affiliate Hartford Yard Goats

2016 Rankings

Hitting	AVG – 2nd	OPS – 2nd	Runs – 2nd	HR – 10th	SB – 20th
Starting Pitching	ERA – 25th	K/9 – 21st	H/9 – 25th
Relief Pitching	ERA – 30th	K/9 – 24th	H/9 – 29th

Top Hitters

POS.	Name	AVG	OBP	Slug	HR	RBIs	WAR	SB
3B	Nolan Arenado	.294	.362	.570	41	133	6.5	2
2B	DJ LeMahieu	.348	.416	.495	11	66	5.2	11
CF	Charlie Blackmon	.324	.380	.552	29	82	4.4	17

Top Pitchers

POS.	Name	GS	Record	ERA	IP/Saves	K	BB	ERA+	WAR
SP	Tyler Chatwood	27	12-9	3.87	158.0 IP	117	70	126	3.5
SP	Tyler Anderson	19	5-6	3.54	114.1 IP	99	28	138	3.5
SP	Jon Gray	29	10-10	4.61	168.0 IP	185	59	106	2.3

No Trades Occurred During Season

Impending Free Agents

• RP Jorge De La Rosa
• RP Boone Logan
• C Nick Hundley
• 1B/3B Mark Reynolds
• 2B Daniel Descalso
• LF Ryan Raburn
• RP Brian Schlitter
• SP Jair Jurrjens
• SS Omar Quintanilla

Top Prospects

POS.	Name	Level
SS	Brendan Rodgers	A
SP	Jeff Hoffman	MLB
SP	Riley Pint	Rookie
OF	David Dahl	MLB
SP	Jon Gray	MLB
3B	Ryan McMahon	AA
OF	Raimel Tapia	MLB
2B	Forrest Well	A+
C	Tom Murphy	MLB

Team MVP

• In a lineup that was filled with good hitters, the best Rocky hitter was Nolan Arenado by far. Arenado played in all but two games this season at the hot corner, one of the most demanding positions on the diamond, and managed to bat nearly .300, hit 41 home runs, and drove in 133 runs, leading the majors in that category.  He also played stellar defense, leading the majors in defensive runs saved at his position with 20 which was also good enough for fourth overall. He has managed to fly under the radar thus far in his short career (he won't turn 26 until April) but the past two seasons have earned him a lot of attention and he has put his name into the running for the best third baseman in the majors along with Manny Machado, Kris Bryant, and Josh Donaldson.  

Success/Failure

• Success - The Rockies were expected to surpass the 90-loss mark this season pretty easily yet were just one game under .500 at the trade deadline on August 1.  Their Pythagorean record, which factors in the amount of runs a team scores and allows and converts those numbers to a record, actually had Colorado as an 80-82 team.  They managed to play significantly better than expectations, which is already an indication of a team's success, but the Rockies managed to get some of their prospects playing time in the majors this season.  These included SS Trevor Story, OF David Dahl, OF Raimel Tapia, C Tom Murphy, and pitchers Jon Gray and Jeff Hoffman.  The problem for the Rockies has been and appears to continue to be their pitching staff, as Coors Field, the Rockies' home park, has the opposite effect on pitchers as it does on hitters.  Their starters this season actually weren't bad but the bullpen left a lot to be desired, ranking in the bottom ten in the majors in all major statistical categories.  On offense, Nolan Arenado proved once again that he's one of the best third basemen in baseball, DJ Lemahieu had the best season of his career, Carlos Gonzalez had a bounceback season, and Charlie Blackmon had a solid year.  The Rockies have a good future ahead of them with the young core they have at the majors currently and they have numerous young, highly-talented prospects developing in a farm system that ranked in the top ten after the trade deadline.

Offseason Outlook

• The Rockies have their offense already pretty well figured out for next season and for the future with all of the young pieces they have.  They may want to re-sign Mark Reynolds to play first base for them next year, who brings a lot of power and whose plays up at Coors Field.  Their issue will be whether they can attract any free agent pitchers to Colorado for next season, something they have had problems with since they became a team in 1993.  They do have several young pitchers at the major league level and their 2016 1st round draft pick, Riley Pint, should develop into a solid starter in the next few years.  The problem is that expectations for Rockies pitchers have to be checked a bit because of the altitude, but they have to find better pitching than what they have had in recent seasons.  For next season, they will have Trevor Story back healthy after his spectacular breakout season this year before he got hurt.  The NL West seems to be somewhat open for them to take the next step as the Giants are getting old and the Dodgers are questionable.

*All stats and information come from baseball-reference.com, fangraphs.com, espn.com, rosterresource.com, baseballamerica.com, sbnation.com, and spotrac.com