If you’ll forgive an overextension of a baseball pun, the Colorado Rockies appear to have struck out when it comes to free agent outfielders, but they may just be working a walk, letting offerings go by that aren’t quite over the plate.
First it was Cody Bellinger. Then Brandon Nimmo. Then Kevin Kiermaier.
Arguments could be made that Colorado could or should have gone harder after any of those players in order address their admitted need to be better specifically in centerfield. Though, each of those players came with plenty of risks and downsides.
There’s no such thing as a bad one-year deal but Bellinger at $17.5 million is pretty steep for a guy who hasn’t been worth $10 million in either of the last two seasons.
Nimmo is an incredible player… when he is on the field. But with Kris Bryant already on the payroll, and quite frankly having a much better health history than Nimmo, it just would not have been wise to commit to eight years for a guy who has one full season on his resume in recent memory.
Kiermaier has never been much of a producer on offense and his defense is declining.
So, now what? Andrew Benintendi? Make trade?
Neither are terrible options but there’s unlikely to be a perfect fit including the fact that Benintendi is more of a left fielder these days and the Rockies already have plenty of corner guys.
Speaking of what they already have, Yonathan Daza isn’t a guy too many fans or analysts get excited about, but he put up a solid 1.1 bWAR campaign last year and hit .301. Sure, he’s gonna max out at two home runs if you’re lucky and can be a little inconsistent but he’s certainly not terrible.
He’s also a plus defender in center. So, in actuality, it might be fairer to say that what the Rockies need are bats and the outfield seemed like the best place to get them, with most of their infield already set and slugging catchers are rarer than unicorns.
The Rockies need to hit more home runs. And sticking with Daza and Randal Grichuk won’t help them do that.
But taking a deeper look at the upcoming roster, you can see why the club itself keeps talking about internal improvements.
A full season from Bryant doesn’t solve everything but it does go a long way toward addressing the power outage.
Michael Toglia, and Elehuris Montero got limited playing time after making their MLB debuts last season and should be positioned to see many more plate appearances. Both boast close to elite raw power. It’s time to see it in games at this level. Ezequiel Tovar also has much more power potential that Jose Iglesias who got most of the playing time at shortstop last year.
With C.J. Cron still locked in at first base, Toglia figures to factor in right field as Charlie Blackmon makes the transition to full time Designated Hitter. Bryant is entrenched in left.
Meanwhile, top prospect Zac Veen absolutely has centerfield ability (and experience in the amateurs) but hasn’t played a single professional inning at the position yet. Part of this is preservation for legs, a tactic the team also employed over the years with Carlos Gonzalez who was always their best CF but hardly ever actually played there.
Circumstances may force them to put Veen in center if it turns out he is the best option for now. They went through a similar process with Ryan McMahon at second base, a spot he had zero experience with before making a very fast transition.
Veen has been on fire since coming into the Rockies organization and that continued most recently hitting .333 on-basing .444 and stealing 16 bases in 21 games at the Arizona Fall League.
Is keeping him in the corners, where they also have young players like Brenton Doyle and Sean Bouchard coming up, worth going out and spending money right now to do so?
If the Rockies are trying to squeeze water out of a rock, which they almost always are, it would be wise to bite the bullet for at least a year and either run with Veen out of the gate or with Daza and Grichuk until he is ready.
Get your home runs from Bryant, Cron, Toglia, Montero, McMahon, Tovar and Brendan Rodgers.
And go spend whatever money you have on pitching.