Colorado gives reliever Bard 1-year, $4.4 million contract
With a lockout by Major League Baseball owners looming Wednesday night, the Rockies took care of some business Tuesday, signing right-handed relievers Daniel Bard and Tyler Kinley to one-year deals to avoid arbitration.
Bard’s deal is worth $4.4 million, while Kinley will get $1.025 million, a source confirmed.
Bard, 36, whose comeback to the big leagues has been well documented, got the first big payday of his career in his third and final year of arbitration eligibility. His 67 appearances were the secondmost on the Rockies and his most since pitching in 70 games with Boston in 2011. His 20 saves and seven wins were both career highs.
However, his eight blown saves this past season tied for the most in the majors and he was scored upon 11 times in 30 appearances in the second half, going 3-3 with six saves in nine opportunities while posting a 6.75 ERA.
Interestingly, Bard was very good at Coors Field (3.48 ERA in 41L innings) but struggled on the road (8.14 ERA in 24L innings).
Kinley, 30, has been hot and cold for Colorado, posting a 4.88 ERA in 94 innings over the past two seasons, including a 4.73 mark in 2021.
Tuesday was the deadline for major league teams to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players. The Rockies did so to lefthanded starting pitcher Kyle Freeland, right-handed starter Peter Lambert, right-handed relievers Carlos Estévez and Robert Stephenson, third baseman Ryan Mcmahon, outfielder Raimel Tapia and infielder/outfielder Garrett Hampson. Colorado chose not to non-tender any players.
Meanwhile, the frenzy of freeagent signings that exploded on Sunday and Monday — the Texas Rangers added $561 million in salary commitments, including a four-year, $56 million deal with former Rockies starter Jon Gray — quieted Tuesday.
While the Rockies are still hoping to land a power-hitting outfielder such as Kris Bryant, general manager Bill Schmidt acknowledged that any major moves by the Rockies will likely have to wait until a new collective bargaining agreement is in place.
The current CBA expires at 9:59 p.m. MT on Wednesday, at which point the owners are expected to lock out the players. That means no trades involving big-league players, no free-agent signings, no major league portion of next week’s winter meetings and no contact between the clubs and their players. The hope is that a new CBA will be agreed upon at some point this winter and that spring training will begin on time.