The Colorado Rockies announced on Friday that they have signed free-agent closer Wade Davis to a three-year, $52 million contract, making him the highest paid reliever annually in all of baseball.
The Rockies have clearly prioritized bolstering their bullpen this offseason, as in addition to Davis they have also signed former Cleveland Indians reliever Bryan Shaw and re-signed left-hander Jake McGee to identical three-year, $27 million contracts.
Signing Davis likely marks the end of Greg Holland’s tenure in Colorado though. Holland resurrected his career with the Rockies in 2017, saving 41 games and being named to his third All-Star team in his first season coming off Tommy John surgery. He is a free agent and should command a contract similar to Davis’.
Davis spent the 2017 season with the Chicago Cubs after being traded by the Kansas City Royals last offseason. The 32-year-old had 32 saves in 33 chances, yielding a 2.30 ERA, 3.38 FIP and 1.14 WHIP while striking out 79 and walking 28 in 58.2 innings of work.
He gave up five hits and three earned runs in 6.1 postseason innings for Chicago, which included a hit and a run in three innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.
Now that he is on the Rockies, Davis will get plenty of more opportunities to face the Dodgers. He’s faced them four times in the regular season throughout his career, allowing four hits and a run in 3.1 innings.
The Rockies will once again look to compete in the NL West in 2017 with the addition of Davis. The Rockies had their best season in nearly a decade in 2017 under first-year manager Bud Black, going 87-75 and making the NL Wildcard game, although they wound up losing to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Chicago will certainly miss Davis, although they may have already found their replacement in former Dodgers reliever Brandon Morrow, whom they inked to a two-year contract earlier this offseason.
