The Forgotten Member Of The Colorado Rockies' Trade, LaTroy Hawkins

Jul 24, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Rockies relief pitcher

LaTroy Hawkins

(32) pitches in the eighth inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

The Colorado Rockies may have shipped their superstar shortstop out to the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday night, but another important player left for Canada, too.

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Here’s a fun fact: in LaTroy Hawkins‘ 20-plus year big league career, he’s only been traded one other time before Monday night’s blockbuster deal.

On May 28, 2005, the Chicago Cubs defeated the Colorado Rockies 5-1. Byung-Hyun Kim took the loss for the Rockies, and LaTroy Hawkins was at the time, a member of the Cubs’ bullpen. After the game, he was traded to the San Francisco Giants for David Aardsma and Jerome Williams.

Ten years and two months later, the Rockies and Cubs meet again at Wrigley Field. And ten years and two months later, after a game between the two clubs, LaTroy Hawkins leaves Wrigley — and his old team — for a new team, in a new town. How bizarre.

As you know, the Colorado Rockies traded LaTroy Hawkins last night.

I know, the real story is Troy Tulowitzki and the six-player deal with the Toronto Blue Jays that sent Tulo to Canada for Jose Reyes and some exciting prospects that we’ll learn more about very shortly.

But LaTroy Hawkins, a man with 1,024 big league appearances to his name, a 42-year old playing out the swan song of his career in Denver with just 60-ish games to go left in the season, is now heading to another team (another country!) to play baseball and maybe make a playoff run.

The Jays needs some quick bullpen help, so LaTroy is going to fit in over there for two months and then head off into the sunset. And he’s no stranger to how any of this works, being in the game as long as he’s been able to stick around.

He posted on Instagram last night, showing his true class like he always does:

He was with the Rockies in 2007 for the historic Rocktober run, he’s been everywhere and back since then in his career, and even though he hasn’t been here the longest of any of his stops, Denver has become something of a home to him and his family.

Truth be told, I hope the Blue Jays win everything this year. Maybe that’s the emotional side of me getting out, but I’d hope that intelligent Rockies fans are rooting like hell for the Blue Jays this year; it goes with saying that Tulo deserves to win for as hard as he plays. And that other guy in the trade — the one that will be the trivia question one day (“who’d the Rockies trade along side Troy Tulowitzki?”) — he deserves to win, too.

LaTroy Hawkins is a class act, and Rockies fans everywhere ought to miss him. At least for this season, in this situation, with these guys: go Blue Jays!

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The Forgotten Member Of The Colorado Rockies’ Trade, LaTroy Hawkins

By Bobby DeMuro | Jul 28, 2015

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