Colorado Rockies roundtable: What will they do at the trade deadline?

LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 20: Manger Bud Black of the Colorado Rockies of the Colorado Rockies before playing the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on September 20, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers won 12-5. (Photo by John McCoy/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 20: Manger Bud Black of the Colorado Rockies of the Colorado Rockies before playing the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on September 20, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers won 12-5. (Photo by John McCoy/Getty Images)
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Scott Oberg of the Colorado Rockies
DENVER, CO – AUGUST 16: Scott Oberg #45 of the Colorado Rockies pitches against the Miami Marlins at Coors Field on August 16, 2019 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images)

Thoughts from Nick Groke of The Athletic

“Guesstimating the trade deadline this season is a total crapshoot because the parameters have changed. There’s always a risk, but now there’s even more risk. What if you make a trade to boost your postseason run and then the postseason gets canceled because of an outbreak? Oops. No takesy-backsies.”

“So if there’s a trade to be made, it makes more sense that it might be a low-risk player on the margins. Which, what do you know, that’s the kind of trade the Rockies tend to make. But they don’t need another catcher, so scratch off that idea. And their bullpen is not bad right now, even with Scott Oberg on the shelf, so that makes them a little less needy.

“In this climate, I’d be surprised if they did anything significant.”

Our thoughts

Groke is absolutely right about being able to guess on the trade deadline this year. How many trade rumors have you heard from national MLB insiders like Jeff Passan of ESPN, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic and MLB Network, Jon Heyman of MLB Network, Jon Morosi of MLB.com, and others? None, at least thus far.

And part of it is because of the threat of an outbreak among a team or the season being canceled. Part of it is that, by percentage of games happening, a lot will happen between now and August 31. The Rockies, for example, will have gone from playing 30 percent of their games (18 games, entering Friday) to playing 58.3 percent of their games (35 games, entering August 31).

The Rockies’ biggest rival, the Los Angeles Dodgers, acquired one of the best players in baseball, Mookie Betts, from the Boston Red Sox this offseason. If the season was completely canceled or they just had Betts for 60 games as they would have for this season, that trade does not look good for the Dodgers.

However, since the Dodgers have more revenue, they signed him to a 12-year extension, reportedly worth $365 million starting in 2021.

The Rockies won’t make that big of a trade if they make any other trades (besides the Jesus Tinoco trade last night) at all.

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