Colorado Rockies: Revisiting a 2018 trade proposal with the Chicago White Sox

Since 2018, when Heyman proposed this trade, Abreu would have become an even bigger fit for the Rockies. If they would have traded for him, the Rockies could have moved Ian Desmond to the bench earlier. Also, the Rockies would not have signed Daniel Murphy, who has been struggling himself.

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Abreu would have become a free agent after 2019 but the White Sox offered and Abreu accepted the qualifying offer to stay with the White Sox. Later in the offseason, Abreu and the White Sox agreed upon a three-year deal for $50 million, superseding the qualifying offer.

Especially without Murphy’s contract, that is something that the Rockies could have been able to afford.

Before 2020, Abreu’s biggest was consistently his defense as he was below league average in Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) every season. However, both FanGraphs and Baseball-Reference have him well above league average in 2020 at 6 DRS. But still, in 2020, the Rockies have the DH due to the new rules after the season was put on hold.

Who knows if the two teams even spoke with each other on a possible trade. However, if that trade were to have happened, it very well could have been one of the biggest trades in franchise history.