Jeff Bridich held a conference call Friday morning with reporters, and Nick Groke among others sent a series of tweets with the most notable information. The Rockies will not make qualifying offers to impending free agents Adam Ottavino and DJ LeMahieu ahead of today’s deadline. That means both will become free agents, and if they sign elsewhere, the Rockies won’t be due any compensation. It would have been risky to make an offer to either one, as it could have added more than $30 million to next year’s payroll for positions the Rockies need some flexibility in figuring out.
In addition, Bridich indicated that “We’ll likely be a little more focused on our offense this offseason than we were last year.” As they say, big if true. The Rockies offense was the team’s weakest area in 2018, and the crew’s disappearing act in October did more than anything else to lead to Colorado’s early exit from the postseason.
Bridich also said that there have been “positive conversations” with about a long-term contract extension for Nolan Arenado. That, too, would be welcome. The Rockies have had mixed experiences with long-term contracts in the past, but each case is different, and there are a lot of reasons for the Rockies to figure something out with Arenado to keep him in Colorado for a while. Time is now running out.