Colorado Rockies: 3 Mistakes Almost as Bad as the Oscars

In Colorado’s inaugural season of 1993, the Rockies made a trade that is still head-scratching to this day.

Making a deal within their division, the Rockies sent pitchers Andy Ashby and Doug Bochtler as well as catcher Brad Ausmus to the San Diego Padres in exchange for pitchers Bruce Hurst and Greg Harris. As it turns out, Hurst and Harris were both at the end of their careers when they arrived in Denver.

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When Hurst was sent to the Rockies, he had made two starts in San Diego and compiled a 12.46 ERA. He would make just three starts with Colorado. Although the stats were better (5.19 ERA), his stay was very short-lived. He ended up retiring the next season after eight games with the Texas Rangers.

Harris, meanwhile, never clicked in Denver. He went 1-8 in his 13 starts with the Rockies after coming over from San Diego in 1993 and followed that by going 3-12 with a 6.65 ERA before being released. He pitched in just seven games the following season with the Minnesota Twins before his career was over.

On the other hand, Ashby would go 70-62 with a 3.59 ERA in eight seasons in San Diego while Ausmus would become a solid catcher once his career took off in Detroit.

Needless to say, we’d ask for the envelope back here and hit the pause button on this trade.

When the person who makes a bad deal later admits that it was a bad deal, you know it’s a bad deal. Such was the case with Dan O’Dowd and the trade that sent minor league infielder Chone Figgins to the Anaheim Angels for outfielder Kimera Bartee in July of 2001.

O’Dowd, then Colorado’s general manager, took a chance on Bartee solving Colorado’s need for a left fielder. We’ll let Thomas Harding of MLB.com explain from this article just how bad this trade was for the Rockies.

Figgins would earn a World Series ring in 2002, appear in six postseasons, go to the All-Star Game in 2005 and four times finish in the top 24 in American League Most Valuable Player voting. Bartee would appear in 15 games, make 19 plate appearances and go 0-for-15 — though he walked twice — in Purple Pinstripes. After 133 games in Triple-A with the Cubs the following year, Bartee would finish his professional career in independent ball and in Mexico.

Ouch.

It’s certainly a trade that took a young player who could’ve helped the Rockies in numerous ways and sent him to another team. It’s also a trade that, much like the swap with San Diego we discussed on the previous page, we wish had never happened.

Don’t hand over the trade envelope to Anaheim. We’ll keep Figgins here in Denver and be just fine.

The year was 2006 and the Colorado Rockies had the second overall pick in the Major League Baseball June Amateur Draft. After the Kansas City Royals took hurler Luke Hochevar with the top overall pick, the Rockies followed by also drafting a pitcher, Greg Reynolds out of Stanford University.

Colorado Rockies

Reynolds never panned out for Colorado, sporting a 2-8 record and 8.13 ERA in 14 games in 2008 and a 6.19 ERA in 13 games in 2011. That would be all of the time the right-hander spent with Colorado in the Majors. He would once again reach the Majors in 2013 with the Cincinnati Reds, going 1-3 with a 5.52 ERA.

Last year at the age of 30, Reynolds saw action in just five games for San Diego’s Triple-A team in El Paso.

So who was taken right after Reynolds? With the third pick, the Tampa Bay Rays selected Evan Longoria as their third baseman. He was named Rookie of the Year in 2008 and has two Gold Gloves and three All-Star Game appearances in his nine seasons with the Rays.

Sure, the Rockies have Nolan Arenado patrolling third base now, but what if Longoria had been around for the year before Arenado’s arrival? It’s an appealing thought, much more than having Reynolds struggle on the mound.

Next: Grading and Analyzing Colorado's 2016 Rotation

Oh if the envelope read on MLB’s draft day had only contained Evan Longoria’s name and not Greg Reynolds. Surely that was a typo we can go back and fix, right?

What’s your biggest cringe-worthy Rockies moment? Let us know below.