Colorado Rockies: 3 biggest questions ownership, front office must answer this offseason

The Colorado Rockies have a lot of questions to be answered this offseason, but three very big questions will determine the fate of the team for years.

The Colorado Rockies have largely had the same team for the past four seasons and for two of those seasons, they were Wild Card playoff teams. For the last two seasons, though, they have had good starts to seasons only to fall off and play like one of, if not, the worst teams in baseball.

Whether the Rockies are truly the team that fans saw in 2017 and 2018, the team fans saw in 2019 and 2020, or somewhere in between is for you to decide.

As we head in 2021, though, the Monforts and the Rockies front office must answer three very important questions.

Will Nolan Arenado be on the team in 2021?

There were plenty of trade rumors surrounding Nolan Arenado last offseason (and recently, we looked back on three of the biggest rumors/proposals) and they will likely continue this offseason. Arenado can opt-out after the season and, with the way the Rockies have played in the last two seasons coupled with his desire to win a World Championship, he may decide to opt-out, especially if he has a season like he usually does.

There’s no question that Arenado’s trade value is down from where it was this time last offseason since the acquiring team would have one less year of control on Arenado and Arenado was injured for most of 2020 and, as a result, did not have a good season.

We all know as well that Nolan Arenado and Jeff Bridich have not been on the best of terms of late either. Recently, Rox Pile’s Kevin Henry discussed this as he believes that it is the most important thing to be answered this offseason.

Will the Rockies entertain offers for Trevor Story this offseason, or even actively look to trade him?

Trevor Story, like Arenado, will be a free agent at the end of the season as well. If the Rockies decide to trade Arenado, the Rockies would be able to afford Story long-term since they would reallocate the funds from Arenado to Story. If Arenado opts out, the Rockies could reallocate the money as well. However, if Arenado isn’t traded and decides to stay with the Rockies, the Rockies will almost certainly not resign Story.

Like with Arenado, Story could decide that he wants to go to a team that has a more consistent record of winning, get paid hundreds of millions of dollars, and be on his merry way.

In other words, the answer to this question should be a resounding “yes,” but it should be that way for every player. If some team wants to give them multiple Top 100 prospects for one year of Trevor Story, that’s a deal that the Rockies should probably pull the trigger on. If the Rockies can improve in three areas at the major league level in 2021 by trading Story, that’s another deal that they should do.

However, those kinds of trades don’t come around every day. The Rockies should probably reach out to teams to see what teams would be willing to get. It doesn’t mean that they will trade him or should trade him but the Rockies need to keep their options open.

Do the Rockies have the money (and the willingness) to trade for or sign secondary talent around their core?

It’s the age-old question that an objective observer can see: The Rockies, throughout their entire franchise’s history, have had a secondary talent/depth problem.

Sometimes, it has been on the pitching front. Sometimes, it has been offensively. Sometimes, it’s both. Honestly, the Rockies have the latter situation right now.

Have they suffered some injuries to key players? Sure. But good teams have enough depth to be able to survive it and if they don’t have that depth, they make sure that they can get some at the trade deadline.

But you still have to have secondary talent. As much as fans like to rag on Rockies GM Jeff Bridich (and for just cause, I might add), he has pulled the trigger on trades at the trade deadline in recent years. Some have worked (e.g. Kevin Pillar) and some have not (e.g. Mychal Givens, at least thus far) but if you are a true contender, you can’t address 20 roster spots at a trade deadline.

The Rockies have not seen their secondary talent, much of which is homegrown, develop. Ryan McMahon has struck out 226 times, or nearly 35 percent of his at-bats in the last two seasons. The stats say that Tony Wolters is not as good as a defender as his pitchers think he is and he’s obviously not a good offensive catcher.

David Dahl and Brendan Rodgers have had a hard time staying on the field due to injuries in the last two seasons. The Rockies have had a hard time finding a left-fielder and the advanced numbers (BABIP, OPS+, exit velocity) suggest that Raimel Tapia won’t be able to keep up his stats that he posted in the last 45 games of 2020.

The Rockies, as everyone knows, have had a hard time with their bullpen. The Rockies also have had problems with the back-end of their rotation and a problem with Jon Gray‘s injury history and consistency (he’s a free agent after 2021, too).