Rockies earn dubious spot in ESPN offseason grades
Feb 25, 2021, 6:30 AM | Updated: 6:57 am
The Colorado Rockies will come in first place at least once this season, just maybe not in the most flattering of circumstances.
On Tuesday, ESPN senior writer David Schoenfield unleashed his thoughts about what MLB teams had the best and worst offseasons, putting Colorado at No. 1 … in the latter category
Schoenfield pointed to Colorado’s only major move — trading future Hall of Fame third baseman Nolan Arenado — as reasoning for the low grade, calling the current state of the club a “sad story.”
The ranking comes on the heels of optimistic comments from Rockies owner Dick Monfort earlier this month, who said, “We have an extremely talented team. They are built to compete.”
“So, the owner thinks his team is a possible contender … yet the Rockies haven’t done anything to improve the team, even a small move or two,” Schoenfield writes. “It’s these mixed messages that have many in the game referring to the Rockies as the biggest mess in the game right now.”
To add insult to injury, Schoenfield ranked two of the Rockies’ divisional foes — the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers — as the teams with the best offseasons heading into 2021.
San Diego signed two top starting pitchers in Yu Darvish and Blake Snell, among other moves this offseason, while the Dodgers added Trevor Bauer to an already stout rotation.