Warning: The Colorado Rockies are about to become irrelevant, again. And unless their pitching gets better, sports fans in Denver will be talking about Peyton Manning rather than a home team that is in last place.
The Rockies have no pitching, and the last time I checked, pitching still wins the World Series. So what can the Rockies do to fix their pitching woes? They could hope their young pitchers Alex White, Drew Pomeranz and Christian Friedrich turn out to be aces. But, I have my doubts.
These pitchers might be young, but so far this season they have looked more bad than strong. So, what can the Rockies do to win the National League West and a World Series title? I have a solution: trade Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez.
Now, I get it. Trading the faces of the Rockies organization might be too much for loyal fans, but I have a question for them. Would you rather watch a team with two superstars that only wins 75 games a season, or a team that might not have a lot of star power but is a lock for 92 victories and a shot to win the NL West and World Series?
That’s what I thought.
Here is the way the trade would work: Tulo would get sent to the Tampa Bay Rays for two young pitchers and a top shortstop prospect. The Rockies would get Chris Archer, a lefty who can strike people out and become a ground-out type of pitcher. Then, the Rockies would get another lefty, Matt Moore, although Moore’s record with Tampa is only 2-5.
Moore has been plagued with poor run supports and has been battling the tough American League East hitters.
The third piece of the trade would be shortstop Tim Beckham, the first overall pick in the 2008 draft. Beckham has all of the makings to become a great shortstop. He might not have the bat power like Tulo, but he can use his speed to become a force on the bases and his bat is starting to wake up. However, Beckham is serving his second suspension with the minor league drug prevention program for testing positive for marijuana.
As much is I enjoy watching Carlos Gonzalez play the outfield, he has been inconsistent when it comes to batting. Gonzalez can go from hitting four homeruns in four at bats to hitting four homeruns in 122 at-bats. However, he has the potential to be a star in this league, so that is why he would be perfect trade bait to fix the back end of this rotation.
I think CarGo should be traded to the Miami Marlins for Chad James – a young lefty who has a high strikeout ratio and good command of the strike zone. I also think the Rockies would want another outfielder who isn’t a streaky hitter.
That is why I think the Rockies should get Giancarlo Stanton. I like Stanton’s game. He is more of a constant hitter compared to Gonzalez and has more power.
Yes, I understand trading two players who are talented and adored by Rockies fans is risky. And yes, I also understand these prospects are unproven, but we have already seen what the Rockies’ scouting department has done. It’s been average to below average at best. I have more faith in the Rays and Marlins organization to find a good pitcher than I do in the Rockies.
If the trade was to be made, one argument against it is that the Rockies would become offense-challenged like the San Francisco Giants. All I have to say is this: Coors Field is a hitters ball park.
The Rockies can still score four runs with this new lineup. They might not have the homerun power, but you can still manufacture runs from hitting singles and doubles. Another argument is that the Rockies would have no “star power.” But remember, everybody was a no-name at one point in their career. Before 2007, nobody had heard of Troy Tulowitzki. Before 2009, nobody had heard of Carlos Gonzalez. These new players might be no names at first, but if they can produce, Rockies fans will be talking about Chris Archer, Tim Beckham and Giancarlo Stanton in no time.
The sirens are loud, the warning signs are blinking. The Rockies are at a crossroads. Continue this path toward irrelevancy, or take a more controversial path that I believe will lead to them to a brighter future.
The thing that’s unfortunate about MLB trades is that is usually works in the following format: “star” player(s) for prospects. All a team (especially Colorado) can really do with prospects, assuming they’re on that side of the deal, is hope for the best out of them long term. For the Rockies, prospects they’ve received via trade have generally seen limited professional action (with less than satisfactory results) or didn’t make it to the big stage at all. That’s my concern with having to trade Tulo and/or CarGo. Why trade two proven guys for what could end up being virtually nothing?
Those two guys have proved they can make a significant difference for a ballclub. Prospects are just trying to work their way up to the majors, and management can only do so much to help them grow and possibly reach that level down the road.
My solution is one of two options: 1. stop believing in the idea that prospects are the ultimate long-term key to success at the end of the day and be willing to fork up extra $$ for legitimate MLB players whenever its truly necessary. 2. Find a way for the Monforts and O’Dowd to leave (especially the Monforts) and replace them with individuals who actually know what it takes to construct a contending team over a 2-5 year period.
There’s no doubt in my mind that the Monforts and O’Dowd are the reason why CO has almost entirely been a “losing” franchise for the past 10-13 years. Before then, CO wasn’t “great,” but they at least showed they had some big potential in the not-too-distant future with Helton, Walker, Castilla, Bichette, etc.
But the way I see it now, the current Rockies management isn’t willing to change their way of thinking for the best interest of the team. The last thing they want to do is pay a big-name player $50-60 million over five years (or a similar type of deal), even if that type of player could very well end up being the best thing that’s ever happened to the Rockies.
I do believe in patience. However, there are some situations where that’s true, but only to a certain degree.
Long story short, there’s a difference between being financially limited and just being flat-out cheap. When CO management isn’t willing to pay guys like Matt Holliday and Ubaldo Jimenez to stay long term, I bet one can’t help but think “Wow, these guys are cheap”