Colorado Rockies trade rumors: The shortstop edition

Pat Valaika

Pat Valaika has been on the bench for most of the year for the Rockies and as a whole, in 2017, he hasn’t played extraordinarily as he has a .245/.272/.510 slash line with six homers, 17 RBIs, and an OPS+ of 87. He did have a tremendous game yesterday, though, as he started as shortstop for the Rockies’ last night. He had three hits, a homer, and three RBIs in the Rockies’ 5-3 win against the Reds (the game recap from the game is right here).

Alexi Amarista

Amarista, like Valaika, has spent most of the year on the bench for the Rockies but in 49 games, he has two homers, 16 RBIs, a slash line of .257/.278/.381, and an OPS+ of 61. Given that OPS+ number, he will stay on the bench

Tony Wolters

The only way Tony Wolters would be playing shortstop regularly is if the Rockies’ acquire a catcher at the trade deadline. Wolters has played shortstop on a regular basis in the past, particularly, in the minor leagues when he was with the Cleveland Indians. In 443 career, minor league games, roughly 32.5% of those games were played at shortstop (144 games) compared to 41.5% catching (184 games). He has played shortstop in the Major Leagues, albeit in limited action. In the 126 games he’s played in the majors, he has spent a total of six innings at shortstop (all were in 2016). However, even if the Rockies’ do acquire a catcher at the trade deadline, Wolters would probably be on the bench, not playing shortstop everyday.

Given that this is the time of the year for trades to happen, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Rockies were to look for a shortstop at the trade deadline. Here are some of the options.

Zack Cozart, Cincinnati Reds

The Reds are in last place in the National League Central and the Rockies have seen Zack Cozart the past few days since they have been facing them at Coors Field. On Tuesday, he will be starting for the National League in Miami as starting shortstop and he has played well enough to earn the honor. He, in 63 games, has 75 hits, nine homers, 33 RBIs, a .315/.394/.542, and an OPS+ of 142. He also has performed well defensively as, according to Fangraphs, his UZR is 4.0 and a DRS of 5 (his career high was 19 in 2014). In comparison, Nolan Arenado‘s career high is 30 but he hasn’t been above 18 in the past four years (but he will pass that this year as he’s already at 16). He also is only under control through the end of this season which is a good thing considering that top prospect Brendan Rodgers, who’s currently playing at Advanced-A ball Lancaster, will probably be in the Major Leagues sometime next season. If he’s not, Trevor Story could then return to a starting role.

Asdrubal Cabrera, New York Mets

The Mets are 7.5 under .500 and one of the players that will be traded is Asdrubal Cabrera. He has played in 60 games in 2017 and has 57 hits, eight homers, 24 RBIs, a .260/.341/.420 slash line, and a 101 OPS+. However, defensively, Cabrera has really struggled, according to Fangraphs as his DRS is already -10 and his UZR is -5.6. However, if he were to play next to Nolan Arenado, he would probably benefit from it. He is, like Cozart, only under team control through the end of the season.

Other Options

Some other options include Freddy Galvis of the Philadelphia Phillies, Yunel Escobar of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Jose Iglesias of the Detroit Tigers, and Jordy Mercer of the Pittsburgh Pirates. However, none of them have performed particularly well offensively. Escobar is the only player of the other options that have an OPS+ above league average at 109. However, he hasn’t played shortstop since 2014.

The Rockies will be shopping for a shortstop but obviously, it remains to be seen if they can pull anything off. However, if they do acquire a shortstop to help them for the remainder of the season, it will probably be Cozart because he would help the Rockies in a multitude of ways.

He would help offensively, particularly with the average and on-base percentage. He has performed the best hitting second in the lineup so I suspect that if the Rockies were to acquire Cozart, he would hit in the second spot behind Charlie Blackmon and DJ LeMahieu (if he doesn’t have any lingering groin issues, as discussed by our own Kevin Henry in an article yesterday) would move into the seven or eight spot.

In his career, LeMahieu’s numbers are virtually identical in the second and eighth spots. In the eight spot, he has only hit 233 times compared to 318 in the two hole but that’s where the differences end. He has hit exactly .310 in both positions, his on-base percentage is slightly decreased in the eight hole (.367 down to .354) but his slugging is virtually identical (.409 hitting eighth compared to .412 in the two hole). His BABIP is actually higher hitting eighth (.366 to .357) and his OPS+ is virtually the same (103 hitting eighth to 108 hitting second).

The Rockies, in 2017, in the eight hole have a .227/.299/.303 slash line, which is 27th, 23rd, and 29th in all of baseball. By acquiring Cozart to play shortstop and hit second and move LeMahieu to the eight hole (or perhaps even seventh), the team would be better offensively.

He would also help defensively (as mentioned earlier) but, perhaps most importantly, he would bring veteran leadership and a player to Colorado who has postseason experience (in 2012 and 2013 with the Reds). Although it would probably only be for the short term, acquiring Cozart, for the Rockies, might be one of the best moves that they can make before the deadline.