The Rockies “remain in contact” with free agent first baseman Mark Reynolds, Jon Morosi of MLB.com tweets. Reynolds, who hit 30 homers for Colorado in 2017, is the best free-agent first baseman available on the market, and a reunion between the two has long seemed like a solid fit in theory. However, Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports recently contacted Reynolds’ agent, Jeff Boris, who tells him that the Rockies haven’t made any type of offer to Reynolds this winter. The 34-year-old carries a .274/.354/.471 slash line across two seasons with Colorado, but graded poorly among first baseman in quality of contact statistics like hard contact rate, average exit velocity and barrels per plate appearance last season.
Other small news items out of the NL West…
- In other Rockies news, Nick Groke of the Denver Post writes that the team is in a bit of a bind following news of injuries to utilitymen Pat Valaika and Shawn O’Malley. Valaika is expected to miss 2-3 weeks with an oblique strain, while O’Malley is expected to be out 4-6 weeks due to a broken right hand that will require surgery, according to Groke. He also notes that Desmond is capable of playing multiple infield positions, while top prospect Ryan McMahon has experience at second and third base. Beyond that, Colorado’s best options are minor-leaguers Daniel Castro, Garrett Hampson and Brian Mundell, and none of those players are on the club’s 40-man roster.
- The Dodgers aren’t in a rush to add a pitcher following the news that right-hander Tom Koehler could miss “extended time” with an anterior capsule strain. Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register quotes president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, who says that the team is “no more likely” to add a pitcher through trade or free agency in the wake of Koehler’s injury. “I don’t think it necessarily changes the thought process in terms of deals that made sense 3 days ago will still make sense,” says Friedman. “And I don’t think the opposite is true. I don’t think something is going to make more sense right now than it did 3 days ago.” The Dodgers reportedly like their in-house options and the depth they have in spring training camp.
Free Mark Reynolds! always been a fan.
I really do believe he’s changed as a hitter with the Rockies. Back-to-back years with .350 OBP or above.
He picked a year that’s kryptonite for his type.
Same hitter, just added Coors. Huge splits.
He’s a 250 18 homerun guy any other Park
What the hell is barrels per plate?
It is a Statcast data term.
According to MLB.com To be Barreled, a batted ball requires an exit velocity of at least 98 mph. At that speed, balls struck with a launch angle between 26-30 degrees always garner Barreled classification. For every mph over 98, the range of launch angles expands.
It’s not exactly encouraging for a franchise to “be in a bind” when Shawn O’Malley and Pat Valaika are hurt.
Valaika was one of the best bench players in the NL last year.
My thoughts exactly. This is what happens when a franchise tries to do basically nothing in the offseason. There was a story here a few days back about former big leaguers in camp on minor league deals. The Rockies only had 3. The next lowest was 6 and most were around 11-12. The Rockies have a good chance this year, but they have almost zero depth. And it is their own fault. Last year they got lucky with injuries for the most part. That doesn’t happen most years.
NL West news and not one mention of the Padres murdering pitchers this spring training. Christian Villanueva is the truth!
Wasnt that long ago the Astos were in a similar feeling situation…2014, then look at there 2015 record and well the rest is history. Aj is a baseball genius, nobody did it this fast.
AJ hasn’t done it yet. Ahem…..
Aj had to blow everything up to make this happen after failing once. He hasn’t proven anything. If the White Sox didnt hand them a lopsided trade the Padres future does not look nearly as bright.
Preller blew up an overrated farm system to try and make a contender.
For every trea turner and yasmani grandal there are matt wisler jordan paroubeck jace peterson jesse hahn rj alvarez zach eflin etc.
This time around preller is relying on players he chose and developed.
Hahaha! Padres win spring training! Dream Big! What a joke!
The Dodgers rotation doesn’t look that good. Kershaw and Alex Wood only….
R. Hill is a true #3 as well as Maeda, Ryu is a question mark but is well passed a year recovering from injury. Font, Stewart & Stripling provide great depth too. And then there’s our emerging phenom W. Buehler. Dodgers should be fine waiting till the trade deadline to solidify their rotation barring injury…
Whether he’s a true #3 or not most likely Hill is going to be #2, ahead of Wood. After that, some combination of Maeda, Ryu, Stewart, Stripling and maybe Buehler, with Font as the dark horse candidate. Pretty much the same as last year.
Dodgers 3-5 rotation options are better than any giants starter after Cueto and even thats if Cueto was a fluke last year
Bum?
He said after Cueto, Bumgarner goes ahead of Cueto.
I like samardzija Stratton Blach. Or Suarez. Don’t count ur chickens yet kf74
If you think Stratton , Blach Shark are better bottom 3 than Hill, Ryu and Maeda you need your head examined.
Stratton holds one of the nastiest curve balls in the mlb don’t count him out. Also rich hill might get injured again, he’s proven that he can’t pitch more than 130 innings a year. Plus the dudes 38 years old. This year be an abrupt regression. Alex wood is a solid pitcher, I like this guy (I’m a giants fan) if I had to critique him it would be 2 seasons in a row with arm injuries and like wood he hasn’t proved to be durable enough to pitch 150 innings. Maeda is a solid 4th starter. Ryu is a good 5th starter. Bumgarner is arguably among the top 5 starters in the mlb. im not very optimistic about cueto going back to ace form. I believe he’ll be a decent pitcher 3.30-3.90 era but I’m optimistic he’ll pitch round about 200 innings. Samardzija was really good at the second half. I expect a 3.85 era with 200 innings and 190-200 Ks. Stratton showed some great bursts of dominance in his 13 games. It’s hard to judge but I believe he’ll be from 3.70-4.30. I think he’ll be 3.90 with a 170 IP and 155K. Ty Blach has a great control but his lack of Ks gave him little margin for eror. He has really good control though and a good changeup. If he can improve his strikeout rate I think he’ll be a 3.95-4.00 era dude. Solid 5th starter
He’s counting, and so is every other Dodger fan. Giants are garbage, they’ll be lucky to compete with the Madres this year.
You are kidding right? It’s spring training! Hahahahahaha! That’s hilarious!
Dodgers have the best bullpen options in the game.
No. Yankees do?
Jansen and Kimbrel may be the best Closers in MLB, however.
They’ve got a good bullpen, but Yankees are better. They’ve got at least 3 guys who would be closers on a handful of other teams, but because they have Chapman, they’re set-up guys.
The Dodgers have tons options, but options don’t necessarily make it the best bullpen. After Jansen all the options are good, some maybe even pretty good, but not great.
This is so wrong. A lot of them are simply “decent” or very much “unproven”. And anytime a starter is faltering and Baez hasn’t pitched the previous day we will all be sitting there with our fingers and toes crossed that he has a sore pinky and can’t be called on. Wish there would have been a way to hold on to Morrow, he was the only reliever I trusted to bridge to Kenley.
Most Dodgers fans don’t even like Baez… I’m hoping Yimi finally stays healthy. He could be a huge arm this year for them. (Morrow type)
That is funny Melj. Lol
Dodgers bullpen took a step back.
Reynolds was terrible the 2nd half of season, no thx. Bring back Cargo and use Desmond as utility guy.
Thats a really expensive utility guy