Back in December of 2017, the Colorado Rockies surprised many across the game of baseball when they signed relievers Jake McGee, Bryan Shaw, and Wade Davis each to lucrative, multi-year deals to revamp their bullpen. Davis’s deal in particular, signed on 12/29/2017, was three years for $52M dollars as a total and was one of the largest deals signed by a reliever in baseball history. Of course, over time, each of the signings ended in less than ideal fashion for the Rockies.
Paying a large sum of money to a reliever, even a top closer, is risky business.