For 2022, the MLB average payroll for all 30 clubs is $145.1 million. Only 13 teams are above that line, thanks in part to four times being over $200 million. The Los Angeles Dodgers ($284.8 million), Padres ($209.8 million) and San Francisco Giants ($151.6 million)--the three teams the Rockies are trying to chase down--all sit above that aforementioned average.
The Rockies adding former Chicago Cubs’ All Star Kris Bryant for $26 million a season over the next seven years helps get them closer, but Bryant is already north of 30. Yes, I am intentionally forgetting the Giants’ two-month rental after acquiring Bryant at last year’s trade deadline. The $182 million contract also includes a full no-trade clause, which can help now that the National League has switched to the universal designated hitter. Bryant’s numbers will certainly go up at Coors Canaveral…um…I mean Field.
Hitting right behind Charlie Blackmon in a contract year will additionally see an increase in production for the Rockies over the course of the year. Blackmon, 35, is currently in the midst of a player-option 2022 campaign paying him $21 million, and he still has another player option for 2023 that would pay $18 million.
While most teams are trying to get younger, the Rockies think they are going to compete by doing the opposite. With yesterday’s controversial 6-4 win over the Texas Rangers, the Rockies are 3-1 on the young season, having six players in their lineup that were over 30. If you count DH Connor Joe turning 30 in mid-August, that leaves only 2B Brendan Rogers (25) and 3B Ryan McMahon (27) as Colorado’s “youth movement.”
There are six teams in the MLB who have never won a World Series. The Padres and Rockies are two of them. Which one is better served to contend over the next five years?
Speaking of yesterday’s victory, kudos to the MLB for finally getting technology into the game properly. With all the talk about banning the shift, pitch clocks, robot strike zones, their instant replay system is right much more often than not. Starting this year, umpires are now mic'd up to announce managerial challenges and results to the crowd, something that each of the other Big Four sports have been doing for years.
With one out in the bottom of the 10th, Adolis Garcia hit a sharp grounder right to McMahon. There was plenty of time to get the lead runner--Mitch Garver--at second. When Rogers went to turn the double play, the ball came up short to C.J. Cron, kicking well into foul ground in right field, allowing Garcia to go to second standing up.
Manager Bud Black immediately challenged that Garver interfered with the throw, which would have put two Rangers in scoring position with only one out. The gameday crew at Globe Life Field in Arlington decided to have some fun, playing the theme to “The Naked Gun” film series throughout the review.
Home plate umpire and crew chief Bill Miller then announced that Garver did indeed slide outside of the designated path, meaning that Garcia was also out and the game was over. Garver did slide directly into the base, but shifted his body to go to the right upon making contact, when the normal motion is to slide to the inside of the bag, or to the left. This caused his body to rise up into Rogers enough that the throw came up several feet shorter than intended.
Much may not go right for the Rockies in 2022, but any time you can spoil a team’s home opener on the road, you take what the opposition presents you without question.
-JC24