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Rockies sign Jake McGee, apparently want all the relievers

Mike Oz

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The Colorado Rockies seem to have made their offseason agenda clear: They want all the relievers.

They’ve reportedly struck a deal with free-agent lefty Jake McGee, who pitched the last two seasons in Colorado and was considered one of the more sought-after bullpen arms on the market. He ranked ninth on Jeff Passan’s free-agent reliever list and No. 33 overall. They also signed Bryan Shaw, ex of the Cleveland Indians, on Tuesday to better arm their bullpen.

According to Jon Heyman of FanRagSports, McGee is getting a three-year deal with an option for a fourth year. The contract is believed to be “in the range of $27 million” per Heyman. Shaw also reportedly got $27 million over three years. Those aren’t the huge numbers we saw for last year’s star closers, but that’s still a significant amount of money and contract length. McGee, 31, has some saves in his career — including 15 in 2016 — but last year Greg Holland was the Rockies’ closer.

Holland is a free agent and — guess what? — the Rockies still want to bring him back too. That’s per Heyman too:

Rockies reportedly bring back lefty Jake McGee on a three-year deal. (AP)
Rockies reportedly bring back lefty Jake McGee on a three-year deal. (AP)

The Rockies’ strategy last year was to load up on bats and that seemed to work out for them, as they were a surprise wild card team coming out of the National League West. Now, they’re attacking another important part of the team — the bullpen, an area where we’ve seen teams devote more money in recent years.

This isn’t a Yankees-quality bullpen, but if the Rockies can sign Holland too, they’ll be much more formidable in the NL. Last year, they ranked 20th in bullpen ERA and when you’re a playoff team looking to take that next step, assembling a top-notch bullpen trio is how you do it.

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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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