MLB Trade Rumors: Fantasy value of Alex Colome to the Cardinals

The Cardinals are looking to beef up their bullpen after a disastrous 2017 season. How will Alex Colome fair in the National League should a trade happen?

The Tampa Bay Rays are not a team known for spending big money to keep their top players, save for a couple of names. As a result, most of their team is on the trade block this offseason. One of the names rumored to be on his way out his closer Alex Colome.

Colome has been linked to the St. Louis Cardinals in the early days of this offseason. With the struggles that bullpen went through during the 2017 season, this comes as no surprise. So, with a possible move to the National League Central, how will this affect Colome’s fantasy value?

Colome took on a full-time role in the Rays bullpen in 2015. In his last three full seasons, he has a 3.24 ERA, 3.35 FIP and 1.206 WHIP. Colome also had an 8.4 K./9, 2.7 BB/9 and 84 saves. He posted a league-high 47 saves last season, six more than the No. 2 closer.

The most noticeable thing from Colome was the 1.3 run increase in his ERA from 2016 to 2017. In 10 more innings, he gave up 14 more hits and eight more walks while doubling his earned runs. Despite that, he finished as the No. 8 closer on the Player Rater, between Felipe Rivero and David Robertson. As a 13th-round pick in ESPN leagues, he provided a great return on the investment.

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Looking at his possible new team, the Cardinals’ bullpen was bad, to be nice. Seung-hwan Oh had a lot of hype entering 2017 drafts but he disappointed early. He finished with 20 saves and a 4.10 ERA. Veteran Trevor Rosenthal came back strong, 11 saves and a 3.40 ERA, but ended up missing the final month and a half of the season with Tommy John surgery.

The Cardinals don’t have many other options to take over the closer role. Brett Cecil and Tyler Lyons are two good left-handed pitchers that would be better off as a middle reliever or one-time use against a lefty hitter.

While the market for right-handed relievers is deep, none of the top options are as young or have as much team control as Colome. He will be arbitration eligible at the end of next season and won’t be a free agent until 2021.

Even if Oh remains the team’s closer, Colome would provide the Cardinals with a top-10 set-up reliever to keep opponents off the scoreboard in the eighth inning before turning the ball over to Oh.

Colome has a career 5.00 ERA, 1.593 WHIP, 10.0 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9 in 27.0 inter-league innings. If he can get control of his walks, he has the makings to be a top relief pitcher, if he’s not the closer. That was a big takeaway between his last two seasons. While he can be called upon for save situations, having him in the eighth inning may take some pressure off of him, too.

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If Colome is traded to the Cardinals, I would rank him as a top-30 reliever, likely behind Chris Devenski and Robertson. If he stays with the Rays, then he skyrockets back into my top 12. The guaranteed saves and lack of competition make him a top option to draft in the mid-teen rounds.

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