In the slowest of offseasons, and with the Rockies still seemingly in need of offensive improvements to make a competitive team even better, the Rockies will reportedly make a free agent add. According to Thomas Harding, they will, uh, sign Mark Reynolds to a minor league contract – with an invite to Spring Training.
Better than nothing!
The 35-year-old Reynolds – also known as the Sheriff of Swattingham and, apparently, also as Skeletor and Forrest Gump – played for the Rockies during the 2016 and 2017 seasons, proving to be a pretty valuable bat. In 2018 he played for the Washington Nationals and didn’t have a bad year overall. Reynolds hit .248/.328/.476 in 86 games and 235 plate appearances. The Nationals didn’t rely on him though, as he started just 42 games, 36 of them at first base.
My guess is that the Rockies aren’t bringing Reynolds back with the hope that he’ll get a lot reps in the majors. My hope is that Reynolds is going to be an emergency option in the event of an injury. My fear is that he’ll take playing time away from Ryan McMahon. My curiosity wants to know where the Skeletor sobriquet came from.
Spring Training isn’t too far away, so we’ll gain some clarity on these important matters soon enough.