Colorado Rockies trade talk: What are they waiting for?

It just feels like one of those seasons for the Colorado Rockies.  Watching walk-off homers, a pinch-hit go-ahead grand slam, and consistent dominate starts from developing young pitchers–its hard not to think that maybe this is the year.

The Rockies have never won the NL West.  That does not bear repeating.  Most–if not all–Rockies fans are aware of this fact.   What they might not know, however, is that this is the closest the Rockies have been to first place in the West this late in the season since 1996.

Colorado is on a tear, winning 16 of 21 and pulling themselves to just two games back of the division-leading Dodgers, a half game back of second-place Arizona, and one game behind Atlanta for the second wild card.  If they keep playing anywhere near this good and the Dodgers and Diamondbacks keep treading water, they have a good shot at finally securing the top spot in the West and guaranteeing Nolan Arenado and company an actual playoff series instead of the one-and-done wildcard game that prematurely ended the 2017 season.

2018 could turn out to be the Rockies’ best chance to win the division and maybe more.  This is what they’ve been building for.  Arenado will be a free agent after the 2019 season, DJ LeMahieu‘s contract is up at the end of this season, and while Charlie Blackmon is basically locked up for the rest of his career, he probably won’t hit like this when he’s 40.

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This is the Rockies’ window.  What are they waiting for?  It could be argued that they’ve never had a better chance to win the division and I think its fair to say that they might not have another opportunity like this for a very long time, no matter how good Brendan Rodgers turns out to be.

I hate trading away the future.  I hate letting good prospects go.  A cursory glance at last year’s World Champion Houston Astros reveals a roster full of high-value prospects who rapidly transformed into superstars.  The Astros’ success shows the value of letting prospects develop and carry their team.

However, once Houston was a contender, they wasted no time in adding the necessary pieces to bring them a World Series Title and potentially one or two more in the near future.  The Astros’ addition of Justin Verlander at last year’s deadline was a pivotal move that helped a young team win it all and has put them in a good position to go for a repeat in 2018.

Like Houston, Colorado has a team full of home-grown talent and budding young stars.  A big splash for someone like Jacob deGrom or Blake Snell (if he’s available) could be enough to push them past the Dodgers and make the Rockies a formidable postseason adversary this season and into the future.  An ace like that would be costly and Colorado would almost certainly have to give up Rodgers to make it happen but having Rodgers also means Colorado could theoretically make an offer for any of the most-coveted players on the trade block that no team would turn down.

In my mind, Rodgers is basically untouchable–I’d consider moving him for deGrom, but probably for no one else.  You’ve got to admit, two and a half years of deGrom and his career 2.77 ERA at the front end of a promising young rotation, backed up by a powerful lineup is certainly tempting.

Even if the Rockies don’t move Rodgers, they have plenty of prospects that could bring in much-needed help in the bullpen or strengthen an already mostly-solid rotation.  I understand the desire to hang onto all of the promising prospects the Rockies have in their system but there comes a time when a contender has to give up some future talent for immediate help.

Prospects are great, but there’s no guarantee that they will pan out.  Some will exceed expectations and others will flop.  But the impact of a move like the one Houston made for Verlander a year ago is undeniable.

Final Thoughts

Whether they make the playoffs in 2018 or not, there’s no telling what the Rockies will look like in 5 years.

All we know for certain is the Rockies finally have a chance to dethrone the Dodgers and possibly make a deep playoff run.

2018 is the Rockies’ turn to make a big move at the deadline, will they balk or will GM Jeff Bridich shock the baseball world?