Rockies closer Wade Davis has struggled immensely of late, which has led the team to discuss whether to make changes at the back of its bullpen, manager Bud Black told Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post and other reporters Friday.
The three-year, $52MM contract the Rockies gave Davis entering 2018 hasn’t gone as hoped for the club thus far. The former Ray, Royal and Cub earned that deal with lights-out seasons over the prior few campaigns, but Davis has been shaky as a Rockie. He logged a 4.13 ERA – his highest since 2013 – with 10.74 K/9 and 3.58 BB/9 in 65 1/3 innings last season and has come back with even worse numbers in 2019.
The 33-year-old right-hander blew up Thursday against the Dodgers, allowing four earned runs on three hits and a walk in an inning of work. Davis now owns a horrid 6.00 ERA with 9.0 K/9 and 6.0 BB/9 over 24 frames this season. Black admitted Davis’ sky-high walk rate is “concerning.”
To this point, the Davis signing looks like the latest big-money acquisition that has gone haywire for the Rockies’ bullpen. Before the team signed Davis, it inked Jake McGee, Bryan Shaw and Mike Dunn for a combined $73MM in the preceding two offseasons. No one from that group has performed to expectations in Colorado, though McGee is enjoying a bounce-back season in 2019. McGee, Scott Oberg, Chad Bettis or Carlos Estevez could take over for Davis if the playoff contenders do make an end-of-game change.
Nice going Rockies! Way to invest in a bullpen!
Would you have preferred them scouring the waiver wire for a bullpen like they unsuccessfully did for the first quarter century of their existence? Shaw and McGee have both bounced back from bad 2018 seasons. Simply move Davis to a mop up role for a while and put Oberg in as closer. Either Davis gets it together or he doesn’t. But he needs to be out of high lverage situations for a while.
I just hope this bullpen expense doesn’t scare away from free agent relievers like the Hampton/Neagle contracts scared them away from free agent starters. Sure, you are going to have some guys that can’t pitch at Coors, but you can’t just stop trying. Otherwise, they should just close the doors at Coors and move to Charlotte or Oklahoma City and be done with it.
Better to draft and develop cheap young arms themselves. Sign as many as they can including UDFA. Quality through quantity. What they are currently doing isn’t working out. Definition of insanity: keep doing the same unsuccessful action and expect a different result…..
Drafting and developing cheap young arms… pretty sure every team dreams of that but it’s a lot easier said than done. Davis has been stellar prior to his Rockies contract
All four on the wrong side of thirty with 3 year deals….ugh
A pitcher has worse results after moving to Colorado? What a twist!
Davis has given up 15 runs in 12 innings of work at Coors this season, and a grand total of one run everywhere else. If the Rockies are anxious to sell low on Davis, they’d find some takers.
Not with that contract.
I guess you missed the “sell low” part of my comment.
He’s still walking 6 per 9 on the road. I mean sure someone would take wade Davis for a couple million bucks a year but that’s beyond what I’d call “selling low.” I don’t think anyone would take him for anymore than 6MM per season at this point and he’s making 17.
Sell low means little return. I’m not sure anyone would want him. I’m sure the orioles would love to sell low on Chris Davis, but he is untradable. Like his fellow Davis, Wade Davis is a contract that is unmovable, the the Rox will that have to power through it
I would not equate wade Davis to Chris Davis. A major league team would likely take a gamble for a couple million bucks on Wade. Chris wouldn’t even make a major league roster.
Wade is not even remotely as unmovable as Chris. That being said, trading him now would be beyond foolish. Unless you got a great offer, which would almost never come. But you never know. Sometimes name recognition counts for more than actual results come trade deadline time.
A great offer for wade Davis would be “hey we’ll take all of Wade’s contract and give you nothing in return.” And even that won’t happen. He’s going to have to be a Rockie. They’d have to eat a ton of money and get little to nothing back if they were to trade him. That just doesn’t make sense for them.
I didn’t mean to compare the two, I just used it as an example. Wade is still playable as maybe a 7th inning guy for a team like the Nats, will Chris couldn’t get a job washing jerseys
Any contract can be made totally irrelevant if the trading team is willing to buy it down to an attractive price in order to move the player. I’m not saying the Rockies will want to do that but in the case of Davis it’s pretty clear that his ugly numbers are very much about pitching at Coors.
I don’t think that the Rockies would want to eat a large portion of the contract and get a minimal return. It’s better to keep him and hope he rebounds
I’d already said pretty much the same thing, so I guess I agree.
Not sure how Coors Field would affect his walk rate which went up last year and skyrocketed this year.
I presume that it has mirrored his overall production,which has been much much better evidently away from Coors Field.
Afraid to throw a strike
Curves don’t “curve”” and sliders don’t “slide” in the altitude. Hitters know this. ChicagoFan is probably right, he’s afraid to throw a strike.
Exactly!
I totally agree. That’s why ground ball pitchers like Mike Hampton could never make it at Coors. His sinker never sank and it just stayed up in the middle of the zone. I would think one pitching benefit in Denver would be that fastballs actually travel faster in the thin air. Imagine how fast Aroldis Chapman would have been clocked at during his prime if he was a Rocky. A 106 mph fastball with thin air velocity added on to it? I would love to see hitters try to get around on that. I don’t see why the Rox don’t just go after hard throwing guys like that as long as they throw strikes and rarely ever walk anyone. Aside from that, they need to focus on just drafting homegrown pitching talent that grew up pitching in the thin Colorado air. That way they are used to it. I wouldn’t even worry too much about drafting offense if I were the Rox GM. That place turns slightly above average hitters into MVP caliber superstars. Vinny Castilla was a .270 hitter with about 20 or so home runs every year with the Braves. During his stint in Denver he became a .330 45 homer guy. Then, of course there was Preston Wilson. That guy led the league with over 140 RBI’s one year with the Rox. He was a good player but nowhere near THAT good. If players like that can hit that well at Coors field then the pitchers are going to be terrible because they are turning every other teams average players into superstar hitters as well. That is, of course, unless the pitchers grow up learning how to pitch in that climate or they can flat out throw the ball too fast for anyone to hit. The latter only counts if they can pitch that hard for strikes without walking anyone though.
Man… Once a closer strings a season or two (or dare I say three?) decent seasons together, DO NOT SIGN HIM AS A FREE AGENT!!! You have a VERY small percentage chance of that contract paying off!!!
This is why you can’t give bullpen guys this kind of money. They always flame out.
Exactly! A very risky investment. When Kimbrel came out with his 5 year $100 million dollar contract demand last winter I busted a gut laughing!
Sadly Davis might be cooked. He lasted longer than other relievers who usually dominate for a year or two before flaming out 🙁
He led the league in saves last year. Outside of a terrible night in Texas last year, he had a decent year. This year for the most part he has not been good.
When will the Rockies stop throwing big dollars at their bullpen? It very rarely works out…..
You mean when will the Rockies stop wasting money on any pitchers who might implode as so many pitchers have in the thin mountain air. It’s only been a problem since the beginning.
Why is this surprising to anyone? Until they start playing in a pressurized dome I would surmise, this will never change. Pitcher is attracted to play for bigger dollars so that he may ignore the risk inherent pitching so far above sea level, followed by heartache, disgust, and an unceremonious exit for the player. Rinse, lather and repeat: it’s the life of the Rockies.
Oberg (closer)
Shaw (setup)
Diaz (setup)
McGee (middle relief)
Estevez (middle relief)
Davis (middle relief)
Howard (middle/long relief)
Bettis (long relief)
And cut Dunn and Oh already. If they send down Diaz or Estevez for either I’ll lose my mind. They’ll have Tinoco, Bowden, and Alexander Guillen to call upon for injuries.
Robinson Cano for Davis and every other contract the Rockies want to move from their bullpen.