Colorado Rockies Rundown: Flande, Bridich, Weiss, Winter

May 10, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; J. Kellogg, the Colorado Rockies vice president of community and retail operations clears the remaining snow from Coors Field before the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

Purple Row’s nuclear winter

(via Purple Row)

This right here is a very smart piece from Purple Row. It’s long, and I’m not going to rehash the whole thing here, but here are a few brief highlights (and yes, you should go read the whole thing):

"The Tulowitzki trade is the single most important trade in franchise history. Not just because of what it means when it stands by itself, but because of how it has to be measured as part of a domino effect that it either will or will not set off this winter. Or to put it another way, I don’t believe the  Tulowitzki trade is justifiable by itself, so it better be the signal that it’s the first in a series of moves that can be packaged together … So knowing this, the Rockies have to go all in with the idea that surplus value in the short term, particularly in 2016, is irrelevant to the club. Their focus now must be on exchanging the short term surplus value they do have for as much potential surplus value down the road as possible, and unfortunately, this means trading away more favorites."

[ Related: Chad Bettis is baseball’s most unlikely #2 starter ]

I personally would like the Colorado Rockies to keep Nick Hundley for one more year, and I am absolutely sentimentally attached to Jorge De La Rosa (but I understand he’s probably going to be gone at some point in the next eight months), but the general premise here is spot-on.

You don’t trade one of the best players in all of baseball away (Troy Tulowitzki) only to think you’re a couple minor moves away from being a great team. You trade one of the best baseball players away because you need a vast overhaul (just use the word “rebuild,” y’all), and you need to get worse to get better.

We’ll have lots lots lots lots more on this over the winter.

Next: Jeff Bridich talks Rockies, Weiss