Colorado Rockies: Here is the cold, hard truth about Ian Desmond

Colorado Rockies fans, it’s time you faced the truth about Ian Desmond. He isn’t going anywhere any time soon and he is not going to be benched any time he isn’t hitting the ball. Those are the cold, hard facts.

Trust me, I’ve seen the rants on Rockies Twitter. I’ve seen the traffic that has come our way whenever we’ve discussed a potential trade that would send Desmond to the Texas Rangers, a team which saw the best of him for one All-Star season. You want him off the team … or at least off the field. I get it. Trust me, I do. However, it’s simply not going to happen.

Why do I say that? The simple fact that Bud Black is a manager who believes in his veterans and a manager who believes that a player is almost always one swing or one game away from breaking out of his slump. We’ve seen it with Trevor Story. We’ve seen it with Gerardo Parra and Carlos Gonzalez. It’s how he manages and, as much credit as he gets (or should get) from Rockies fans for how he has impacted the young pitching staff, he also gets as much blame every time a new lineup is announced and Desmond’s name is a part of it.

In Friday night’s win in San Francisco, Desmond went 2-for-4 with four RBI, including a three-run homer, as the Rockies posted a 6-1 victory. The night boosted Desmond to a .175/.220/.370 slash for the season … in 154 at-bats. The numbers include a 4-for-10 start to the season in March as well as a 3-for-33 run in the nine games prior to Friday night’s outburst. That also encompasses a May 9 game against the Angels at Coors Field where he went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts and drew the much-publicized boos from the Rockies home crowd.

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Despite the slumps and struggles, Black is going to stick with him because of nights like Friday or days like May 6 where Desmond hit a pair of homers to pace a Rockies win in New York against the Mets.

The performances that surprise Rockies fans and draw feigned praise are the reasons why Desmond will stay in the lineup for the foreseeable future. Well, that and the Rockies seem to little faith at the moment in Ryan McMahon rejoining the team, despite hitting three homers and driving in nine RBI in his most recent 10 games with Triple-A Albuquerque. He’s a rookie who showed he had a hole in his swing in limited at-bats at the Major League level. He will be back in Denver. When, however, is anyone’s guess.

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Ian Desmond isn’t going anywhere. Not off the team and not on the bench. Moments like Friday night in San Francisco will be much of the reason why. That’s the cold, hard truth and one that Rockies fans will, unfortunately, have to accept.

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