Rockies News: Troy Tulowitzki trade talks, front office troubles, and the second half

The Colorado Rockies finally have a chance to breathe. The question is, did they make things too difficult on themselves during a horrid June to have any hope left for the second half of the season?

The answer is likely yes, of course. They are double digit games out, fighting with the Diamondbacks and

Astros

Rangers to try and avoid the worst record in all of baseball, and still have a number of key players hurt. Even with good health elsewhere, the best version of their 2014 bullpen is probably too atrocious for this team to matter anyway.

So what does that mean? Trade rumors, that’s what. It’s a seller’s market this month, and the Rockies have desirable pieces to sell. They have a candidate for a modest trade in Jorge De La Rosa and a candidate for a ground-shaking trade in Troy Tulowitzki. It is the interest in the latter that is likely to take over the Rockies’ news cycle in the coming weeks and months.

With that in mind and the All-Star Game behind us, let’s check out today’s links.

From Jonathan Bernhardt: BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE (Sports on Earth)

"Perhaps unfortunately for Tulowitzki, though, there’s almost no good baseball reason to trade one of the top five players in baseball at his peak — and Tulowitzki, a generational talent at age 29, is very much at his peak. The Rockies have certainly been a bad team this year, but moving a player of Tulo’s quality opens up another gaping hole on the roster. It essentially signals that the front office is burning the team, selling everything off for parts, and starting the contention cycle over."

From Ryan Hammon: Dick and Dan and Accountability at 20th and Blake (Rockies Zingers)

"By every measure other than “making the World Series,” O’Dowd’s teams have done poorly. That’s interesting to me, because it lines up quite well with some common anti-O’Dowd narratives I often hear: “If not for that one fluky year, he’d be gone by now!” That may or may not actually be true – only Monfort knows – but I wouldn’t be surprised if it is. The other performance measure that comports with an oft-cited criticism: the Rockies are one of only six teams that haven’t won a division title during this period. Not good."

From Steven Pianovich: Bucs, Rox look for fresh start in second half (MLB.com)

"Meanwhile, the Rockies are also hoping to put the first half in the rear-view mirror. They went from being eight games above .500 and tied for first in the NL West on May 7 to 14 games under and within a half-game of the last-place D-backs after falling, 13-5, to the Twins on Sunday."