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Colorado Rockies roundtable: Analysis of the trade deadline

By Noah Yingling

DENVER, CO - JULY 25: A general view of the stadium as the Colorado Rockies take on the Houston Astros during interleague play at Coors Field on July 25, 2018 in Denver, Colorado. The Rockies defeated the Astros 3-2. (Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)
DENVER, CO - JULY 25: A general view of the stadium as the Colorado Rockies take on the Houston Astros during interleague play at Coors Field on July 25, 2018 in Denver, Colorado. The Rockies defeated the Astros 3-2. (Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images) /
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Seunghwan Oh of the Colorado Rockies
DENVER, CO – JULY 28: Seunghwan Oh #18 of the Colorado Rockies delivers to home plate against the Oakland Athletics during the seventh inning of interleague play at Coors Field on July 28, 2018 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images) /

Quinn Ritzdorf’s analysis

Team to beat

The LA Dodgers were the team to beat before they made the best trade during the deadline (more with that in a little). After trading for Machado, they put an even larger target on their backs. The Dodgers started the season extremely slow, but a team with that much talent and experience won’t be down for long and they proved it.

They now lead the NL West by a half a game. I think what makes them the team to beat even more than the added talent of Machado is the fact that they have won the NL West five years in a row. If the Rockies want to make the playoffs, they will need to win against the Dodgers more than they lose.

Rockies Trade

I like the addition of Seunghwan Oh to the Rockies bullpen, which is probably the team’s weakest area. My favorite things about Oh is that he is an experienced veteran and experience as a closer. He over 13 season of experience, eleven of those season were in Japan and Korea. What worries me is that he only has two complete seasons at the MLB level. However, during those two and a half seasons, he has a career ERA of 2.81 and an opponent batting average of .228. The other downside of trading for Oh is that he has a 50.4% fly ball rate (13th highest in MLB). Obviously, when pitching in the thin air of Coors Field, pitchers want to keep the ball on the ground as much as possible. The high fly ball rate of Oh could lead to more home runs than he usually gives up.

The Rockies gave the Blue Jays Double AA outfielder prospect Forrest Wall, Single A first base prospect Chad Spanberger, and a player to be named or cash. The Rockies are stacked with outfield prospects and have two first base prospects ranked higher than Spanberger, so trading Wall and Spanberger won’t hurt that much. However, Wall and Spanberger are ranked 13 and 24, respectively, on the Rockies top 30 prospect list. Also ever since Helton retired, the Rockies have struggled filling his spot at first base, so trading a first base prospect doesn’t help. The thing with prospects is that you never know what they will turn into. If Oh performs now and helps solidifies the Rockies bullpen, it won’t matter how Wall or Spanberger turn out.

Overall Trade Grade: B-

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