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Colorado Rockies: The biggest trades with their NL West rivals

By Noah Yingling

12 Jun 1996: Center fielder Ellis Burks of the Colorado Rockies swings at the ball during a game against the Houston Astros at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado. The Rockies won the game 8-0. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Dunn /Allsport
12 Jun 1996: Center fielder Ellis Burks of the Colorado Rockies swings at the ball during a game against the Houston Astros at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado. The Rockies won the game 8-0. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Dunn /Allsport /
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12 Jun 1996: Center fielder Ellis Burks of the Colorado Rockies swings at the ball during a game against the Houston Astros at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado. The Rockies won the game 8-0. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Dunn /Allsport
12 Jun 1996: Center fielder Ellis Burks of the Colorado Rockies swings at the ball during a game against the Houston Astros at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado. The Rockies won the game 8-0. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Dunn /Allsport /

The Colorado Rockies and San Francisco Giants

July 31, 1998–The Colorado Rockies traded Ellis Burks to the San Francisco Giants for a player to be named later, Darryl Hamilton and Jim Stoops. The San Francisco Giants sent Jason Brester (minors) (August 18, 1998) to the Colorado Rockies to complete the trade.

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Brester never made it to the major leagues so not much to say there and Stoops pitched in three games, all for the Rockies in September 1998 before being out of the Rockies organization by the end of the 2000 season so this is, essentially, a two-man trade to talk about.

The Rockies were trading away one of their key players for another outfielder. Burks had hit 72 home runs and 210 RBI with a .322/.389/.611 slash line and a 138 OPS+ in the previous two seasons before the trade.

In parts of five seasons with the Rockies, he posted a WAR of 12.0 and in parts of three seasons with the Giants after the trade, he posted a WAR of 8.8. After that, he played parts of three seasons in Cleveland (7.5 WAR) with his first two seasons there being the best (only 55 games in the third season). He retired after the 2004 season at the age of 39 due to injuries but he was posting a 139 OPS+ in 2002 in 138 games in his age 37 season he played well for a few seasons after he left the Rockies.

Hamilton spent exactly a calendar year in a Rockies uniform as he was traded the next July 31st to the Mets with pitcher Chuck McElroy for outfielder Brian McRae and two others. McRae played in seven games with the Rockies before being traded less than two weeks after his trade to the Rockies for a career minor leaguer so the Rockies didn’t get anything out of the trade of Hamilton. He sadly passed away in 2015 at the age of 50 as a victim of a homicide from his wife, who later killed herself.

Final Thoughts

The Rockies have not traded much in the division in the past 15 years or so that’s part of the reason why the biggest deals are from yesteryear.

Next. Colorado Rockies: Catching up with the 2015 draft class. dark

Also, you can see by the results, from the Rockies perspective, why they have largely stopped doing it.

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