Colorado Rockies: Three trade targets for the Rockies bullpen

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An honorable mention

One person that would have likely made our list had it not been for injury is Pirates reliever Keone Kela.

The Pirates are the worst team in baseball in 2020 and Kela is a free agent at the end of the season, making him a prime trade candidate. However, he was pulled from his outing on Friday after just five pitches. The team later said that he was removed due to “forearm tightness.” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said that he was “erring way on the side of safety” by taking Kela out of the game.

However, “forearm tightness” often leads to Tommy John surgery. Just look at Peter Lambert for the Rockies. It was “forearm tightness” that he was recovering from and the Rockies thought that he might be ready by the time games returned (since it was around the time of the shutdown).

Since then, Lambert had Tommy John surgery. Perhaps the Pirates were “erring way on the side of safety” with it and it will be no problem but it very well might be a problem.

Final Thoughts

The Rockies have now found themselves in a difficult spot: should they buy, sell, or not do anything. If you would have asked a week and a half ago, the Rockies looked like obvious buyers but now, they are a .500 team. Should they go all-in for a best-of-three Wild Card series?

What needs to be addressed the most? Who will heat up? Will they win nine in a row heading into deadline day or will they fade into oblivion?

That’s what makes this current series with the Dodgers and their next series with the Diamondbacks even more important.

If they start playing better, the Rockies may look to bring in some reinforcements (bullpen or otherwise) but if they don’t pick up quickly, the Rockies may look to stand pat or, perhaps, even sell.