Farewell, Tyler Colvin

Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

Think back to this time last year. Tyler Colvin had put the Rockies on notice. He was a young stud who had figured it out, and they had to find a way to create playing time for him.

Now here we are, October 8th 2013, and Colvin is not a member of the team at all. After clearing waivers, being out-righted from the 40 man roster, and pretty much hitting rock bottom, he has elected to become a free agent.

The crazy part is, the Rockies have a need that Colvin seemed an ideal candidate to fill last than 12 months ago. A glaring need. Even still, Colvin’s fall was so drastic that the Rockies let him go to pursue other options. See his .160 average with 27 Ks in only 78 plate appearances in 2013.

If ever there was a guy the Rockies should have traded high on, it was Colvin. I’m going to take a page out of the Bill Simmons playbook and quote myself now. I wrote the following on March 29th of this year:

"The case for trading ColvinEven with a woeful spring (.167 avg, 0 HR), trading Colvin now would capitalize on the opportunity to sell high. He posted a .858 OPS as a 2.3 WAR player last season, stellar numbers from a player who spent much of the year platooning in the outfield and at first base. The Rockies have a surplus of options at both of those positions, with the emergence of Eric Young Jr. as a 4th outfielder and Jordan Pacheco eager to snag spot starts at first. Because Colvin is a younger player, the Rockies might actually be able to get a decent return for him. When it comes to selling high, Colvin’s up and down career might provide extra incentive. It would give the team a chance to get something for him now in case he does regress (likely) or if his production craters as it did in 2011 (less likely, but a possibility)."

And then a not-so-funny thing happened. His production did crater , his value bottomed out, and the Rockies got nothing from him or for him. Of course if he was here and had maintained his production, this season might have been different altogether, so I guess we shouldn’t be too hard on the front office.

Good news: the Colorado Rockies still won that trade with the Cubs in a major way thanks to DJ LeMahieu. But don’t tell Ian Stewart that, because he might Twtter-yell at you.