Colorado Rockies

Coming off four consecutive losing seasons, the Colorado Rockies are trying to find answers for a quick turnaround in 2023.

Per Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post, the Rockies are interested in former National League MVP Cody Bellinger on a one-year deal.

Scott Boras, Bellinger's agent, told The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal earlier this week that his client has already received multiyear offers, but "most likely, because of his age," they will seek a one-year deal to help him rebuild his value and hit the market again after the 2023 season.

Bellinger became a free agent on Nov. 18 when the Los Angeles Dodgers declined to tender him a contract. The move came after a three-season stretch from 2020-22 in which he .203/.272/.376 in 295 games.

Prior to the 2020 season, Bellinger looked like he was going to be one of the best players in Major League Baseball and a foundation piece for the Dodgers for years to come. He was named NL Rookie of the Year in 2017 after hitting .267/.352/.581 with 39 homers in 132 games.

The 2019 season was the apex of Bellinger's career. He was named NL MVP after posting a .305/.406/.629 slash line and 47 homers in 156 games.

Bellinger is one of the most intriguing free-agent options because of his upside. He's only 27 years old and has played through injuries recently. He had offseason shoulder surgery before the 2021 campaign, suffered a hairline fracture in his leg early in the regular season and had a hamstring issue.

All of those problems combined to limit Bellinger to 95 games in 2021. He played 144 games last season but was bothered by a left adductor strain in the first half.

The Rockies have been caught between trying to compete in the NL West and rebuild. They paid Kris Bryant $182 million over seven years last offseason, but he only played in 42 games last season because of injuries.

Colorado finished last in the NL West in 2022 with a 68-94 record. The team hasn't made the postseason since getting swept in the NLDS by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2018.

Brandon Nimmo has spent his entire MLB career with the New York Mets, but the Colorado Rockies may look to change that for the 2023 campaign.

Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post reported Wednesday that the outfielder is "on the Rockies' preliminary wish list" when it comes to free agency. It won't be an easy signing, though, as Danny Abriano of SNY reported Thursday "the Mets have interest in retaining Nimmo, who has expressed a desire to return."

Saunders suggested it will take a five-year deal worth approximately $115 or $120 million, based on estimates, to land the free agent.

Nimmo is one of a number of marquee free agents for New York this offseason, as Jacob deGrom and Edwin Díaz headline the list.

It could lead to some difficult decisions for a team that will also be looking to improve after it lost its grip on the National League East down the stretch of the regular season and then lost to the San Diego Padres in the NL Wild Card Series.

Nimmo is coming off a career season that saw him slash .274/.367/.433 with 16 home runs, 64 RBI, 30 doubles and a league-best seven triples. He finished with an offensive WAR of 5.3, per Baseball Reference, which was his best mark since he started with the Mets in 2016.

The 29-year-old appears to be in the middle of his prime and will be a significant addition for whichever team ultimately signs him.

Colorado is looking to bounce back from a worse season than the Mets after finishing last in the National League West at 68-94 despite the major signing of Kris Bryant ahead of the campaign.

It continued a pattern of losing for the franchise, which finished in fourth place the previous three years and hasn't advanced past the NLDS since reaching the 2007 World Series.

The Rockies will likely need to add more than just Nimmo to compete in a National League West that includes the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants, but he would be an ideal starting point and add some left-handed pop to the lineup.

His numbers may also spike playing at Denver's altitude, which would be a welcome development for the Rockies.

Yet it seems they will have to compete with the Mets and perhaps other suitors to sign him.

Colorado Rockies outfielder Kris Bryant revealed Saturday that he will not return for the remainder of the 2022 season due to a foot injury.

Bryant said, per MLB.com's Thomas Harding:

"The goal was to end the year with striders, at about 30% with the movement -- and I'm ahead of that, which is good. I wanted to get as close to being able to play a game as I could, because then I can formulate an offseason approach that's better.

"If we were in the playoff hunt, I probably would have pushed through and got a cortisone shot. The PRP is more healing, while cortisone masks the pain."

Bryant missed time earlier this season with back soreness and a lower-back strain but has been sidelined since Aug. 1 with plantar fasciitis and a bone bruise in his right foot. He received a platelet-rich plasma injection in his foot on Aug. 24.

The 30-year-old signed a seven-year, $182 million deal with the Rockies in March after spending most of his career with the Chicago Cubs. He was traded from the Cubs to the San Francisco Giants during the 2021 campaign.

Bryant has been mostly healthy through his eight-year career, appearing in at least 144 games in five seasons.

However, the four-time All-Star appeared in just 42 games this season. When healthy, he played well, though, slashing .306/.376/.475 with five home runs and 14 RBI.

With Bryant sidelined for much of the season, the Rockies have turned to Connor Joe and Yonathan Daza in left field.

The Rockies are 65-86 and sit in fifth place in the National League West. Should they contend next season, Colorado will need a healthy Bryant.

The Colorado Rockies placed Kris Bryant on the injured list with plantar fasciitis in his left foot.

The Rockies provided one of the bigger shocks of the MLB offseason when they signed Bryant to a seven-year, $182 million contract that included a full no-trade clause.

Things haven't gone according to plan for Colorado. The team is fourth in the National League West at 46-57.

At least the Rockies' marquee signing is delivering. Through 42 appearances, Bryant is batting .306 and slugging .475 with a 128 OPS+, per Baseball Reference.

Back problems have dogged him throughout the year and limited his availability.

The Rockies placed the 2016 NL MVP on the IL in April because of a back injury. He missed nearly a month and played in just two games before he went back on the IL with a lower-back strain.

Colorado's postseason odds were already long coming into the season, so Bryant's contributions—or lack thereof because of his back trouble—haven't changed much in the grand scheme of things. His arrival was also part of a long-term vision, one that won't hinge on what he delivers in 2022 alone.

Still, this probably isn't how the Rockies envisioned their partnership with Bryant getting started.

Colorado Rockies first baseman C.J. Cron "is a candidate to be traded" before the Aug. 2 deadline, according to the New York Post's Jon Heyman.

Heyman cited the New York Mets as a possible landing spot for the 2022 MLB All-Star.

By signing Kris Bryant to a seven-year, $182 million contract, the Rockies showed they want to contend at some point soon, but that point isn't right now. Colorado is fourth in the National League West at 43-50.

Cron is signed for next season, and his $7.3 million salary is a relatively modest sum given his performance at the plate.

Rockies general manager Bill Schmidt told the Denver Gazette's Danielle Allentuck the franchise won't be a big seller at the deadline.

"I believe in these guys," he said. "We realize some of our young guys are coming and are going to eventually help us. We have some guys here who are going to be with us going forward. People want us to trade guys, but the people they want us to trade are the guys that want to stay here."

Cron is obviously an attractive target for a contender. Through 90 games, he's slugging .552 with 21 home runs and a 138 OPS+. His 2.4 WAR is already a career high, per FanGraphs.

Trading Cron would help the Rockies replenish a farm system that Bleacher Report's Joel Reuter ranked 21st in May.

Based on Schmidt's comments, the team may not be too keen to move the veteran slugger, though, and it wouldn't make a ton of sense if Schmidt is confident Colorado is primed for a turnaround in 2023.

The Colorado Rockies announced they placed left fielder Kris Bryant on the 10-day injured list with a lower back strain.

The start of his IL stint is retroactive to Monday.

Bryant is hitting .270 (.676 OPS) with four RBI for the Rockies in 2022. He already missed nearly a month because of back soreness. The Rockies placed him on the injured list retroactive to April 26, and he returned to the lineup on May 21.

Bryant received a cortisone injection on May 8.

The 30-year-old hit .265 (.835 OPS) with 25 home runs and 73 RBI for the Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants in 2021. He signed a seven-year, $182 million contract with the Rockies during the offseason.

He spent his first six-plus seasons with the Cubs, earning four All-Star Game appearances, the NL Rookie of the Year award and the 2016 World Series title.

Bryant will forever be a legend in Chicago after helping the Cubs win their first World Series in 2016. They weren't able to maintain that success through the rest of the decade and into the early 2020s, and the bottom fell out in 2021 with the team languishing under .500 in July.

That led to a midseason fire sale, with former franchise cornerstones Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Javy Baez being shipped elsewhere. Bryant helped the Giants earn the MLB's top record at 107-55.

The Colorado Rockies and left-handed starting pitcher Kyle Freeland have reached an agreement on a five-year, $64.5 million contract extension that includes a sixth-year player option, per ESPN's Jeff Passan.

Freeland, who was scheduled to become a free agent after the 2023 season, has played all six of his MLB campaigns with the Rockies.

The 28-year-old's best performance was in 2018, when he went 17-7 with a 2.85 ERA en route to finishing fourth in National League Cy Young voting.

Freeland and the Rockies were headed for arbitration before reaching an agreement that will keep the pitcher in Denver through 2026. Per Nick Groke of The Athletic, Freeland was looking for $7.8 million. The Rockies offered him $6.4 million.

Freeland was born and raised in Denver before going to the University of Evansville in Indiana. The Rockies selected Freeland eighth overall in the 2014 draft. Three years later, Freeland made his MLB debut.

The southpaw hasn't been able to replicate his 2018 success, but he's still a serviceable pitcher. He went 7-8 with a 4.33 ERA in 23 starts last year.

Freeland pitches half of his games in the hitter-friendly Coors Field, but Groke noted that he's been up to the task.

Since he debuted in 2017, Freeland has the lowest home ERA among Rockies starters, at 4.53. And his overall park-adjusted ERA+, according to FanGraphs, is the same as [Germán] Márquez’s, representing the best on the team.

His pitch arsenal seems built for the extreme environment of Coors Field, more dependent on guile, placement and mix than on high spin rates, which can die in the thin air.

He'll be pitching Tuesday when the Rockies welcome Bryce Harper and the Philadelphia Phillies to town for an 8:40 p.m. ET game. Right-hander Kyle Gibson will take the mound for the opposition.

After finishing the 2021 season with the San Francisco Giants, Kris Bryant is reportedly on the move. 

Per MLB Network's Jon Heyman, Bryant agreed to a seven-year deal worth $182 million from the Colorado Rockies.

Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported the contract includes a full no-trade clause.

As the Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers were in the midst of their battle atop the National League West last season, both teams made blockbuster moves before the July 30 trade deadline. 

The Dodgers struck first by acquiring Trea Turner and Max Scherzer from the Washington Nationals. 

San Francisco responded by sending Alexander Canario and Caleb Kilian to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for Bryant. The 2016 NL MVP played well with his new team, posting a .262/.344/.444 slash line and seven homers in 187 at-bats. 

Bryant's entire 2021 season was a nice return to form after a down 2020. He hit .265/.353/.481 with 25 homers, 73 RBI and 10 stolen bases in 144 games between the Cubs and Giants. 

Even though he's not back at the level he was during his peak in 2016 and 2017, Bryant has been a consistently above-average offensive player over the past four seasons. The four-time All-Star has a 122 OPS+ in 427 games during that span. 

Durability hasn't been a significant issue for Bryant throughout his career. He did miss 60 games in 2018 and 26 games in 2020 but has played 144 games in each of his five other seasons.

The Giants are in a potential transition period this offseason. Buster Posey has already announced his retirement after a fantastic 12-year career.

Meanwhile, Bryant gets a fresh start with a team that he chose. The 30-year-old will be an anchor in the middle of the Rockies' lineup as he attempts to help them return to relevance. 

The Rockies remain fascinating because it's not at all clear what they are trying to do. 

After trading Nolan Arenado last offseason, it seemed to make sense that Colorado would go all-in on rebuilding. Instead, the front office held on to Trevor Story and Jon Gray rather than move them before the trade deadline. 

Gray signed with the Texas Rangers as a free agent. Story remains a free agent.

Their pitching staff remains a mess. None of their returning starters posted an ERA under 4.33 in 2021. Carlos Estevez is their projected closer after having a 4.38 ERA and allowing 71 hits in 61.2 innings last season. 

Adding Bryant certainly helps the Rockies, but their overall roster talent still isn't at a point where they are going to be able to compete with the Dodgers, Giants and San Diego Padres in the NL West.