Rockies Receive: LHP, Jake McGee, RHP German Marquez

Rays Receive: Corey Dickerson OF, 3B Kevin Padlo

*Marquez is a 20-year old hurler who is a couple years away from being a contributor, if he ever will be with the Rockies.

DICKERSON

Contract: He doesn’t become a free agent until 2020.

Corey Dickerson is a strong hitter who won’t turn 27 years old until May. His career numbers sparkle with a .299/.345/.534 slash line. To compare, last season Nelson Cruz was at .302/.369/.566. However, there’s a huge matzah ball in the room – Coors Field. Here are his career splits at home and on the road.

Home: .355/.410/.675

Away: .249/.286/.410

Ugh.

Back to Dickerson…

He missed time last year with a broken rib, but it was mostly the plantar fasciitis in his foot that was the biggest issue. That situation should be rectified with an offseason of rest, so his body should be healthy. As for the skills…

He has a poor 0.32 BB/K ratio.

He has a league average 1.09 GB/FB ratio.

He has an inflated 17.0 percent HR/FB ratio. How much will that mark pull back in his new home? In his career the mark has been 13.4 percent on the road, and that’s a better baseline this season than his career mark.

Dickerson has long ripped up righties (.313/.358/.577) but he struggles against lefties (.246/.299/.377).

Given all that, Dickerson is in the range of guys like Curtis Granderson, Alex Gordon, Matt Holliday types in 2016. In fact, this deal drops Dickerson’s rankings amongst outfielders more than 20 spots from where he was ranked yesterday (see the 2016 MLB Player Rankings). It also jams up the Rays situation a bit. They now have a Rockies-like issue in the outfield with four guys for three spots: Dickerson, Desmond Jennings, Kevin Kiermaier and Steven Souza. The deal apparently kills the outlook of Mikie Mahtook and it throws into open question if the team (a) believes that Jennings can stay healthy or if (b) Souza will be forced into a platoon role. Of course they have the designated hitter spot too, so perhaps Logan Morrison is the guy that will lose work. I get the sneaking suspicion that this could end up being a rotation door of six guys appearing in four spots. We shall see. 

Don’t forget to pick up your copy of the 2016 MLB Draft Guide which includes more than 600 Players Ranked, auction values, rookie reports, hitting and pitching targets as well as all the info you need if you’re ready to start playing DFS.

 

McGEE

Contract: McGee will earn $4.8 million this season. He has one more year of arbitration before he becomes a free agent.

Jake McGee will be 30 years old in August. He is a dominant arm. Over 297 career appearances he has struck out 11.06 batters per nine innings while posting a 2.77 ERA and 1.02 WHIP. The last two seasons he’s been unstoppable:  2.07 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 11.43 K/9, 1.99 BB/9. There are only a handful of lefties in baseball who can match that level of dominance. In fact, the last two seasons, minimum 100 innings pitched, amongst lefties, McGee is 6th in ERA, 3rd in WHIP, 6th in K/9 and 4th in K/BB ratio. D o m i n a n t.

The only real negative is that McGee gives up a lot of fly balls. The last two seasons the big league average for fly ball rate is 34 percent. McGee owns a mark of 43.9 percent. That’s bad when you’re gonna be calling Coors Field your home. He’s only allowed five homers the last two seasons, a remarkably low number given 108.2 innings pitched, but it’s nearly impossible to think that he doesn’t at least match that total this season given his batted ball rates. At least.

The Rockies bullpen now has McGee, Boone Logan and Jason Motte as options in the 9th inning. If I had to guess I would list them in order – Motte, McGee, Logan. Watch things closely as both Motte and McGee have issues with the fly ball. It could be a mix and match scenario in the 9th inning with Motte slightly ahead as of this writing because he has more experience in the role and is right-handed - even though McGee has the better arm, no question. I would still draft McGee first, it's a season long decision based on skills (see our rankings). 

NOTE: The move allows Brad Boxberger to go for a second straight 40-save season with the Rays.

 

Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Friday, 7 PM EDT and Friday on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 6 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).