Colorado Rockies: Trade Charlie Blackmon to the St. Louis Cardinals?

The Colorado Rockies enter a critical offseason this year. Following the rise to relevance with the franchise’s first postseason appearance since 2009, the Colorado Rockies are forced to look at the long-term futures of All-Star center fielder Charlie Blackmon and All-Star, Gold Glove-winning second baseman DJ LeMahieu.

Both players have been long-time franchise cornerstones, and in an offseason where they are both in their final years of arbitration eligibility, the franchise must make a serious decision – will it be Blackmon or LeMahieu that is offered a long-term contract extension?

Since they can not re-sign both long-term (not if they plan to sign Nolan Arenado to a monster deal), what do they do with the two of them?

While the Rockies organization has a somewhat barren farm system, currently ranked number 18 in all of MLB by one publication, they have several internal pieces in place, ready to take over a full-time Major League role if the Rockies were to let one, the other, or both walk as free agents.

Colorado Rockies

So, today, we will be looking at a third option for Colorado in a six-part series, this comes in the form of potential trades – three for DJ LeMahieu and three for Charlie Blackmon.

Today, we will take a look at the first of three destinations for Charlie Blackmon.

Before we dive into the potential destinations, lets take a quick look at Charlie Blackmon’s overall value as a Major League player. According to baseball-reference.com, Chuck Nazty as slashed a career line of .305 / .359 / .497 with an OPS of .856. He has 882 hits, 482 runs, 154 doubles, 33 triples, 111 home runs, 355 runs batted in, 115 stolen bases, 199 walks, and 599 strikeouts in 3,177 plate appearance (2,886 registered at-bats).

Charlie did fight some injuries in the early years of his Major League Baseball career as he played only 151 games from 2011-2013. With the said, the late blooming “Chuck Nazty” has been been riding a four year annual improvement in his overall game.

Stating in 2014, when Blackmon made his first All-Star appearance after establishing career-highs in hits, runs, doubles, triples, home runs, runs batted in, stolen bases, and walks. Those numbers have been broken every year since, and, in 2017, he encapsulated the overall performance improvements, with what many in baseball believed to be an MVP-type season.

Since 2014, Blackmon has stroked a .308 / .366 / .512 slash line that includes 737 hits, 128 doubles, 31 triples, 102 home runs, 316 runs batted in, 102 stolen bases, 185 walks, 445 strikeouts, and a flashy 120 OPS+. His WAR rating has also gradually increased from 2.1 in 2014, 2.4 in 2015 and 4.5 in 2016 to a staggering 6.0 in 2017.

What does all this improvement mean? There is no better time to trade Charlie Blackmon than right NOW, while he is at the PEAK of his performance value.

The great thing about it, there are three destinations who could use a bat like Charlie’s, let alone his veteran leadership, and continued performance. Those teams include the St. Louis Cardinals, Atlanta Braves, and Toronto Blue Jays.

Lets take a look at what the deals would look like, and who Colorado could get in return, starting with the Cardinals.

More from Rox Pile

• A Colorado Rockies Thanksgiving
• Colorado Rockies: What if Todd Helton had played football instead?
• Colorado Rockies: Charlie Blackmon out for the season
• Colorado Rockies: Injuries shift look of roster ahead of Dodgers series
• Colorado Rockies: Has Sean Bouchard earned a second look in 2023?

The two prospects the Rockies would receive in return, include No. 5 prospect Harrison Bader, a toolsy center fielder, whom A.E. Schafer, of the Cardinals SB Nation page Viva El Birdos, goes as far as to compare him to Jim Edmonds. In 2017, Harrison spent some time at the big league level, hitting .235 / .283 / .376 in 32 games, with three doubles, three home runs, two stolen bases, and 10 runs batted in. At Triple-A, his numbers were more in line with what everyone has come to see from him: .283 / .347 / .469 with 20 home runs, 55 runs batted in and 15 stolen bases – all from the leadoff spot.

And finally, the Rockies would receive No 23 prospect, right-hander Ryan Helsley. Helsley is current starting for the Cardinals Triple-A team in Memphis. In 2017, Helsley played across three levels, and put up stellar numbers — 11-3 with a 2.72 ERA, striking out 137 on 48 walks in 132 innings. According to Scouts on MLB.com, Helsley is viewed as a long-term bullpen arm, but the Cardinals continue developing him as a starter.

Overall, this trade helps both clubs and their immediate needs, while securing future components to the rosters as well. The Cardinals get a bonafide star in Charlie Blackmon, and a future building block in their starting rotation with Jeff Hoffman.

The Rockies will receive a middle reliever who can be added to their bullpen now, and a top outfield prospect some compare to Jim Edmonds who can replace Charlie Blackmon in the lineup now. Weaver adds more starting depth and could compete in spring training for a starting position, or be another component to the bullpen picture in 2018.

Next: Who will join Chris Rusin in the Colorado bullpen next season?

In all, this trade would help both organizations now. Grade: B