Colorado Rockies news and links for Wednesday, January 29, 2025
One of the notable pieces of information to come from Rockies Fest last weekend was the reveal that should the team make more signings, it would likely come in the bullpen. Folks in the comments of Tuesday’s Rockpile were quite vocal about their opposition to this idea and understandably so. The Rockies have a number of young arms that showed plenty of promise in the final months of the season and should be the foundation moving forward. Additionally, the team has veteran Tyler Kinley along with waiver pickup Jimmy Herget and familiar faces Jake Bird and Justin Lawrence all vying for a spot.
The Rockies have plenty of bodies to sift through, including the minor league deals of Diego Castillo and Jefry Yan, that will make the bullpen one the highly contested spots in spring training. Still, if the team is aiming to add more names to the pile, what arms are available that could be a decent fit?
JT Chargois
Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images
A former second-round pick by the Minnesota Twins in 2012, JT Chargois has crafted a solid career since debuting in 2016. The definition of a low-leverage journeyman reliever, Chargois has bounced between the Twins, Dodgers, Mariners, Rays, and Marlins throughout his big league tenure. He also spent a season with the Rakuten Eagles in Japan. Injuries have always been a concern as he’s never thrown more than 53 2⁄3 innings in a season, but when healthy he has produced a career 3.35 ERA over 231 1⁄3 innings.
Last season with the Marlins and Mariners, he delivered a 2.23 ERA in 36 1⁄3 innings. The righty owns a league-average 23.3% career strikeout rate and 9.3% walk rate, but is also known for ground balls with a 50.3% career rate. He just turned 34 in December and was released by the Mariners at the start of the offseason. Due to his health concerns, he could likely be signed on a minor league contract or a relatively cheap one-year deal between $1.5-2 million and should he stay healthy and productive could be a nice trade chip.
Dillon Tate
Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images
Should the Rockies be looking for a relatively cheap veteran who is still youthful, Dillon Tate could be another attractive option to look into. Drafted fourth overall by the Texas Rangers in 2015, Tate was traded to the New York Yankees in 2016 and would once again be traded in 2018, this time to the Baltimore Orioles. He finally debuted in 2019 and would finally establish himself as a regular piece for the O’s bullpen. From 2020-22, Tate pitched 158 innings with a 3.65 ERA, 19.1% strikeout rate, 6.8% walk rate and huge 57.9% grounder rate.
Unfortunately injuries have set back the 30-year-old as a flexor strain wiped out his 2023 season and he struggled upon his return in 2024, where he was tagged for a 4.59 ERA in 33 1/3 innings with the Orioles with a lesser strikeout and groundball rate. He was picked up by the Toronto Blue Jays but appeared in just four games, giving up two runs in 3 1⁄3 innings. He always had the makings of a backend bullpen arm and had success in Triple-A this season with a 2.08 ERA in 21 2⁄3 innings. He was projected to earn $2 million in arbitration so the Rockies could look to get him on more of a bargain or minor league deal.
Andrew Chafin
Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images
If the Rockies are searching for a reliever who looks like he just strolled out of the mountains to pitch than look no further than Andrew Chafin. A former first-round pick by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2011, Chafin has made a career out of being a durable and generally reliable middle-reliever for a decade. He’s pitched for the Diamondbacks, Chicago Cubs, Oakland Athletics, Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers, and Texas Rangers with multiple stints among a few of those teams.
He split his time with the Tigers and Rangers last season, posting 3.16 ERA with a near-31% strikeout rate into late July before being traded to Texas at the deadline. He allowed a 4.19 ERA with the Rangers and saw his strikeout rate fall to 24% while his walk percentage nearly doubled to an uncharacteristic 17.9% clip. Despite middling velocity, Chafin has still managed to find ways to miss bats, including on 15.4% of his pitches last season. The command comes and goes but what makes Chafin even more valuable is his availability.
Chafin has topped 50 innings in seven of the last eight full seasons. (He threw 49 1/3 frames in 2018.) His only injured list stint in the last four years was a two-week stay in April 2022 for a groin strain. At 35 years old he would be a durable veteran innings eater from the left-side that has success against both sides of the platoon. Additionally, he owns a 1.89 ERA in 19 innings at Coors Field.
Admittedly this would be a more significant investment for the Rockies. Chafin had a $6.5 million option declined by Texas and has signed one-year deals valued at $6.25 million and $4.75 million in the last two winters. The Rockies could try to snag him somewhere between $3-6 million range and look to flip him much like they did Brad Hand in 2023.
Options options
Should the Rockies be set on adding to the bullpen, there are plenty of options of various degrees of experience and quality for them to approach. In the interest of allowing their young arms to develop and gain experience another major league signing isn’t prudent but there are plenty of cheap minor league deals for depth the team could turn to continue to build up support because you are always going to need options for one of the game’s most volatile positions.
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