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Transactions of the last 5 offseasons, November 20th, and other thoughts


Transactions Winter of 2011-2012

11/18 Edwar Cabrera and Christian Friedrich contracts were purchased

11/18 Andrew Brown was outrighted off the 40 man roater.

I’m going to assume this sets the roster at 40

11/20 Ty Wiggington was traded (39)

11/30 Chatwood acquired

11/30 Ianetta traded (39)

12/5 Jamie Hoffman claimed off waivers (40)

12/6 Slowey Aquired (41) not finalized

12/7 Street traded (40) not finalized

12/8 Turpen traded (39) for Slowey

12/8 Casey Weathers and Ian Stewart traded

12/8 Tyler Colvin and D. J LeMahieu acquired (39)

12/8 Lost Beau Seabury and Marco Duarte in Rule 5 draft

12/9 Nick Schmidt acquired (40) for Street

12/12 Cole Garner and Ryan Spillborghs Non-tendered (38)

12/20 Cuddyer signed as FA (39)

1/5 Greg Reynolds traded

1/5 Casey Blake signed as FA (39)

1/16 Seth Smith traded Outman and Moscoso acquired (40)

1/20 Slowey traded

1/20 Putnam acquired (40)

1/21 Mortensen traded

1/21 Scuturo acquired (40)

2/6 Hammel and Lindstrom traded

2/6 Guthrie acquired (39)

3/16 Hoffman outrighted (38)

3/27 Blake Released (37)

4/3 Ottovino claimed off waivers (38)

4/4 Moyer purchased (39)

5/4 Carlos Torres purchased (40)

Transactions winter of 2012-13

11/20 Tim Wheeler purchased

11/20 Andrew brown and Matt McBride outrighted

11/20 Matt Reynolds traded

11/20 Ryan Wheeler acquired

Assuming roster is at 38

12/4 Lopez acquired

12/4 White traded (38)

12/6 lost Cody Woods in Rule 5 later returned

12/6 Selected Danny Rosenbaum in Rule 5 (39)

12/19 signed Francis (40)

2/14 acquired Brignac

2/14 Cabrera to 60 day disabled (40)

3/24 Rosenbaum returned (39)

3/25 Jon Garland signed (40)

3/26 Jose Bautista released (39)

3/29 Ramon Hernandez DFA

3/29 Torrealba and Volstad purchased (40)

Winter 2013-14

11/20 Matzek, Parker, Sitton, Rosell Herrera, Aquino, Fernandez purchased

Assuming roster is at (37)

11/22 Hawkins signed (38)

11/27 Ortega claimed

11/27 Wheeler DFA (38)

12/2 Boggs non-tendered (37)

12/3 Fowler traded

12/3 Lyles and Barnes acquired (38)

12/10 B. Anderson acquired

12/10 Pomeranz traded (38)

12/12 Kahnle selected in rule 5 (39)

12/13 Morneau signed (40)

12/14 Logan signed

12/14 McHugh DFA (40)

12/18 Stubbs acquired

12/18 Outman traded (40)

12/18 Morales acquired

12/18 Jonny Herrera traded (40)

3/20 Matthes was waived and claimed

3/20 McKenry was purchased (40)

Offseason 2014-15

11/20 Nicasio was DFA

11/20 Anderson purchased

Assuming roster at 40

12/2 Sitton non-tendered (39)

12/11 Diaz acquired

12/11 Rutledge traded (39)

12/11 Canha selected in Rule 5 and traded

12/11 Lose Winkler, Featherston and Tago in Rule 5 draft

12/16 Descalso signed as FA (40)

1/5 Hundley signed as EA

1/5 Martin DFA (40)

1/30 Hale acquired

1/30 Aquino DFA (40)

2/4 Kendrick signed

2/4 Flande DFA (40)

3/1 Axford purchased

3/1 Chatwood to 60 day DL (40)

3/22 Chacin released (39)

4/1 Betancourt purchased (40)

Offseason 2015-16

11/20 Rosario, Axford, Kahnle, and Brothers were DFA

11/20 Story, Tapia, Senzatela, Estevez were purchased

Assuming roster is at 40

12/2 Flande, Gurka, Rosell Herrera non-tendered (37)

12/8 Qualls signed as FA (38)

12/8 Motte signed as FA (39)

12/10 Pedermo selected in Rule 5 and traded (39)

12/16 Reynolds signed as FA (40)

1/20 Parra signed as FA

1/20 Parker DFA (40)

1/28 Dickerson traded

1/28 Friedrich DFA

1/28 McGee and Marquez acquired (40)

2/18 Wolters claimed off waivers

2/18 Ottovino to 60 man DL (40)

2/23 Reyes to administrative leave (39)

3/29 Raburn purchased (40)

Conclusions:

First of all I thank rockiesroster for having this info readily available.

Sage said this date is always November 20 and I trust him but I’ve seen a conflicting date of November 18.

Though there may be FA signings and trades before November 20 it is that day that rosters become more set. The Rule 5 draft is important but the effects that it has on November 20th is more important. A player has to be on the 40 man roster on November 20th to be protected from the Rule 5 draft. Now the Rule 5 draft generally only affects a handful of players of which the majority is sent back to the original teams, so therefore, in of itself is relatively insignificant. But it’s how the teams set up their roster for the offseason that is intriguing. If a team decides to keep close to the 40 man limit on November 20th and this is in conjunction with the non-tender deadline (which is December 2 this year) then they have relatively limited their offseason moves . An example of this is in The Rockies offseason of 2014-15 when after the November 20th date and the non-tender deadline there were 39 spots filled on the roster so there was 1 free move to be made and any others would have to come with a DFA or trade. As it happened that year there were few moves made and the ones that were removed players from the bottom of the roster. Sometimes a team will do this if they might have a player that they want to try to sneak by other teams by DFAing them at an odd time. Like what Cleveland did with Tony Wolters last year and it took an astute scout to catch it or Cleveland may have gotten away with it. But if a team feels it needs to add talent from outside the organization they will have a roster in the mid 30’s after these two dates. Such as last year when the Rockies were at 37 and space to add 3 free agents before having to start DFAing players.

Of the 5 offseasons that we see here there were 2 that were particularly bad in my opinion. The first was in the offseason 2011-12. O’Dowd didn’t give himself a lot of flexibility for roster construction so much of it came with trades. The other issue was that it is good to have a roster pretty set by Christmas. A lot of O’Dowds wheeling and dealing came after that to the detriment of the team. The other bad year was in the winter of 2013-14 when O’Dowd had a lot of roster flexibility and chose to protect 3 players that would start their next season in Modesto in Herrera, Aquino, and Fernandez. This is unwise because a team will be using 7.5% of precious 40 man roster space for players that cannot help at the Major League Level in 2014. A few injuries and your team is devastated. In addition Herrera and Aquino had a little prospect shine at the time but not enough to elevate them from Asheville to the majors. Fernandez was not even on that level and Sitton was a fringe reliever at best. The Rockies would have been better served to have a few AAAA ST invites that year. Having these players on the team also cost the Rockies Colin McHugh which was a huge mistake in hindsight.

The best offseason in my opinion was last offseason. Bridich identified the type of players that he wanted to go forward with. He could have non-tendered some of the ones he DFA on November 20th but I think by putting them out there early allowed for trades to be made and the ones that were seem to be paying off. Then the additional non-tenders opened up space for roster flexibility. Three of the four players that he protected from Rule 5 played for the Rockies and I’d imagine if Senzatela was healthy he would have also. I’m also OK with the Friedrich DFA because Bridich could have put Ottovino on the 60 man roster then but the way it turned out it allowed the Rockies to claim Wolters and I’d make a Friedrich for Wolters trade any day.

So now whether it is Friday or Sunday that the Rockies need their 40 man roster set it will be worth noticing. Rockies have relative roster flexibility as it stands with 6 open spots. As we’ve discussed here many times already, Yency Almonte is the only sure player to be added to the 40 man roster. As Sage will tell you, it is not always about the player but it also has to do with Organization depth in certain areas that determine if a player is protected. For example: Kent Matthes was not an exceptional player, he was AAAA at best but he was one of the few RH bats that the Rockies needed so he was protected. This year that player is Sam Moll. He has been oft injured and has shown flashes of being the real deal but is he protection worthy? That can be debated but the fact that he is a LH reliever gets him saved I believe. The other player that has risen to the occasion is Rayan Gonzalez who has the power arm that Bridich likes but did not always have the command but his showing in the Arizona fall League gets him saved. There are others that might be considered, Alex Balog (when healthy has pitched well), Shane Carle (converting from a starter to a reliever), Matt Flemer (doesn’t have great stuff but has pretty good results), Zach Jemiola (he may be a AAAA guy), Noel Cuevas (defense first CF), Rosell Herrera (is he reaching his potential?). If they do save some of these fringe guys, Bridich can open up some more flexibility with potential non-tenders in Eddie Butler, Jordan Lyles, or Jake McGee.

The conclusion is, Bridich has the roster flexibility he needs to make good moves this offseason whether it trading prospects for veterans or signing free agents or 1 for 2 trades. He can increase the talent on the major league squad.

What conclusions do you get from looking at this? What do you think Bridich will do?

Eat. Drink. Be Merry. But the above FanPost does not necessarily reflect the attitudes, opinions, or views of Purple Row's staff (unless, of course, it's written by the staff [and even then, it still might not]).