Jeff Passan of Yahoo reports that Wade Davis has agreed to a three-year, $52 million deal with the Colorado Rockies. There’s also a fourth-year vesting option that could make the deal worth $66 million. The guaranteed average of $17.33 million is the highest per-year salary ever for a relief pitcher, surpassing the $15 million a year the Yankees are paying Aroldis Chapman.
Davis, 32, saved 32 games for the Cubs in 2017, posting a 2.30 ERA and a 79/28 K/BB ratio in 58 2/3 innings. He spent the previous four seasons with the Kansas City Royals, helping them to a World Series title in 2015, when he posted an astounding 0.94 ERA in 69 games out of the pen. Davis will take the place of his former Royals teammate Greg Holland, who closed for the Rockies in 2017 but who is now a free agent.
The Cubs had made Davis a qualifying offer, but he rejected it, meaning that the Rockies will send Chicago a draft pick as compensation.
