Colorado Rockies: It’s time to embrace Ian Desmond

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, Colorado Rockies fans, but we are stuck with him.

For the past couple of weeks, I have noticed that many people have been joining me on the bandwagon.  In what has become a favorite topic of mine, I have been reading that others have also come to the conclusion that Ian Desmond has become a complete bust and should be tarred and feathered and ran out of town.

Except, here is the problem.  Where is he going to go?  Who in their right mind would take someone in the middle of 5-year/$70 million with a slash line of .171/.210/.565. Lets face it fans, we might as well start embracing Desmond because he is not going anywhere.

If you think releasing him is a possibility, think again.  Can you imagine general manager Jeff Bridich admitting that he made a $70 million mistake and cut all ties?  If that is the case, Bridich deserves his walking papers as well.

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What do the Rockies need to do?

So what are the Rockies to do?  Keep plugging Desmond into the lineup and hope that he snaps out of it.  The Rockies have too much invested to have him collecting dust on the bench.  If they did bench him, who will replace him at first base? Ryan McMahon? McMahon has shown that he isn’t ready for everyday playing time and Pat Valaika is too valuable coming off the bench to man first everyday.

The only hope for the Rockies is that Desmond raises his play enough that he could be attractive for a trade in the offseason.  After this year, he will be owed $40 million with 3 years left on his contract.  The Rockies would have to bite off a large chuck of the contract in any move but that’s the cost of doing business when you make a mistake.

On his quest to raise his play, he did raise his batting average 20 points to .171 with his 2 for 3 performance against the Cubs on Sunday.  Speaking of Sunday, some are upset that Nolan Arenado would take the chance of trying to score on the wild pitch with the tying run in scoring position (I still can’t believe the call was overturned).  It was a good decision because had Arenado scored, the tying run would have been 90 feet from scoring on another wild pitch from Brandon Morrow.  Also, it saved us from the heartbreak of Desmond striking out or grounding out to end the game.

Next: Is it time to worry about Bryan Shaw?

So I am sorry Rockies fans, we have at least 139 more games of Ian Desmond in a Rockies uniform.  If the playoffs are in the future, the Rockies will need Desmond to snap out of his downward spiral and live up to his contract.