Reacting To The Colorado Rockies' Moves At The Trade Deadline

Jun 28, 2015; San Francisco, CA, USA; Colorado Rockies shortstop

Troy Tulowitzki

(2) makes a play to first to end the eighth inning against the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob Stanton-USA TODAY Sports

The Colorado Rockies were busier at the trade deadline in 2015 than they’ve been in the past, but what should we think about their player movement?

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Ok, I’ll be honest — the Colorado Rockies messed up at the trade deadline. Not by trading Troy Tulowitzki; I think they actually got back a really nice haul for Tulo, and the trade was something that should’ve happened.

Considering their motivations to move him, getting three very good prospects and a shortstop (who may not be around long!) from the Toronto Blue Jays — a team which took on Tulo’s entire contract — is not too damn bad of a deal for Jeff Bridich.

It’s everything but that — er wait, nothing but that — which is the problem. The Rockies never made another move besides Tulo at the deadline. What?

Matt Gross at Purple Row has a phenomenal angle on this, and you should read his piece about the Blue Jays and one aggressive general manager as the only thing that separated the Rockies from making no moves this week. If the Blue Jays hadn’t wanted Tulo in 2005 when they passed him up in the draft, over the winter, in July, at the All Star Break, and again this week, would Bridich have even sought out that move?

There were so many guys to move other than Tulo — Carlos Gonzalez, being the most obvious, but you could also make legitimate cases for Boone Logan, Charlie Blackmon (sell high), DJ LeMahieu (sell high), Nick Hundley (sell high), Wilin Rosario (because come on), John Axford (last week, not this week), Kyle Kendrick (really!), Jorge De La Rosa (no trade clause, but they’ve tried to ship him before), Jose Reyes (why not flip him?), Drew Stubbs (DREW STUBBS!! The fourth-highest salary on the team!), and fill-in-the-blank-here.

Listen, there’s something to be said for not making a move just because you think you should make a move. When you make a trade only because everybody is talking about it, or Twitter is chirping about it, or other teams keep calling you about so-and-so, that’s a terrible reason to make a trade.

Perhaps there wasn’t really anybody around to take CarGo and give the Rockies a fair market return. I have no problem believing that, that’s fine with me. But you’re trying to tell me there’s no one out there around baseball who could’ve used one of the other ten players listed above (or somebody else)? Hmm…

I don’t know, maybe it’s just an initial trade deadline knee-jerk reaction (those are never good), but I see a club that made one massive, decent trade — they gave away their franchise player — and did nothing else. The Rockies stayed in that weird limbo between good and terrible. If you’re terrible, at least you can rebuild. Get terrible! But if you’re the version that thinks you’re good, what happens next year?

Will the Rockies sign another “veteran” bullpen arm or two that implode? Another “innings-eating” starting pitcher that just flat out sucks? Another fourth outfielder who spends time in AAA while making millions of dollars? When you’re in that limbo, that middle ground between getting better and getting worse, you’re fooling yourself about being in “contention” every February, only to find out by May you’ll suck again.

On Tuesday morning, I was shocked — and pleased — that Bridich pulled the trigger on Tulo. And I knew what needed to happen next. When ~~that didn’t happen by Friday~~ nothing happened by Friday… Why? You’re not going to contend in the next year or two with CarGo. Sorry, unless you sign five completely unforeseen free agent starters/relievers, you’re not going to contend. Why not ship CarGo (and some veterans) out for the chance to deepen an already stacked farm system to make a legitimate run in three years?

Jeff Bridich traded the most difficult piece to move when he shipped Tulo to Toronto — the homegrown, elite, once-in-a-generation franchise player. Why stop there?

Hey, Bridich knows better than I do. Maybe CarGo will get traded in August, or over the winter. Maybe when the clock isn’t ticking towards a deadline in November, the Rockies can milk a better deal for him. Maybe there’s a plan in place and some moves to be made in the next six months. Fine. But right now, did Jeff Bridich make one massive, gutsy trade, get halfway into the rebuild, and then get cold feet?

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Reacting To The Colorado Rockies’ Moves At The Trade Deadline

By Bobby DeMuro | Aug 1, 2015

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