Colorado Rockies: What if they are sellers at the trade deadline?

Yesterday, we looked at how the Colorado Rockies could be buyers at the trade deadline and the possible areas that they can improve their team but today, we will take a look at what the Rockies could do if they are sellers at the trade deadline.

The Colorado Rockies have been playing much better of late as they have won eight out of their last ten games. However, they are still one game under .500 with a record of 13-14.

If they are still under .500 at the trade deadline on July 31, the Rockies will likely not be buyers but they could be sellers when the time rolls around.

Yesterday, we looked at what they could do if they are buyers so today, let’s take a look at who they could possibly unload to a contender if the Rockies are not in contention themselves.

Mike Dunn

Mike Dunn is in the final guaranteed year of his contract. Next year, he is up for a team option for $6 million, an option that the Rockies will almost certainly not exercise.

They won’t likely exercise it due to Dunn being largely ineffective or injured in his time with the Rockies.

It might be hard to unload Dunn on a team that is a contender because, likely, they won’t have any interest in him but if the Rockies could unload him, they’d likely pounce on the opportunity.

A few others in similar territory

Chris Iannetta, Mark Reynolds, and Drew Butera are each obviously on the back end of their careers and for contenders, they would be could provide them with a veteran presence if the Rockies are not in contention themselves.

Like Dunn, Iannetta has a team option for next year but his is for $4.25 million. There’s more of a chance that his option will be exercised but I wouldn’t be surprised if it is not.

The main concern right now would be that he is healthy, as he is currently on the injured list.

Reynolds and Butera both signed a minor league deal with the Rockies with an invite to major league spring training.

There should be more interest in Reynolds and Iannetta than Butera and Dunn on the market but the Rockies still would not get much for him but getting something would be better than nothing if the Rockies aren’t in contention and if they don’t plan on exercising their team option on Iannetta or resigning the others.

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2021 free agents

The Rockies have much more potential free agents than this coming offseason.

Including players with team/mutual options for 2021, the potential free agents include Wade Davis, Bryan Shaw, Jake McGee, Chris Rusin, Chad Bettis, and Daniel Murphy.

The least likely of this group to be traded this season if the Rockies are not in contention are Rusin and Murphy because Rusin has not been healthy this season and Murphy was just signed this past offseason.

Davis had an average 2018 season and Shaw had an awful season but each of them have had excellent seasons this year. McGee has been injured for much of the season and Bettis has been ineffective all season.

Even if the Rockies are not in contention in July, I highly doubt that the Rockies would trade any of these players unless they are blown away by a great deal. It would also be a bad look for the Rockies since they just extended Nolan Arenado for the next seven seasons.

Final Thoughts

If the Rockies are not contenders in July (which I don’t believe will be the case but you can’t predict the future), I would guess that the Rockies only would trade the impending free agents if they can get some takers.

The Rockies would look to contend again in 2021 and try to make some moves this offseason to make sure that they will contend again, if they aren’t contenders this season.