How the Colorado Rockies may have doomed trade returns for years to come

As you know very well by now, the Colorado Rockies officially traded Nolan Arenado to the St. Louis Cardinals for five, lower level prospects and Rockies fans were not happy.

Rockies owner Dick Monfort even admitted that on Tuesday, when he spoke to the media, including Rox Pile, that he knows that the trade is “not a popular decision.” He also admitted that he “would probably feel the same way and maybe I do even feel the same way” as fans do because, as he said, he is a “fan” and a “homer” for the Rockies. He also admitted that he thought “there were 10 times over the last two weeks where I didn’t think the St. Louis deal made any sense” but, obviously, they thought that they got a fair enough return.

Cardinals President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak said in their concurrent press conference that he “felt nauseous” that a deal wouldn’t get done but, again, obviously, it did. And there’s a reason why Mozeliak probably “felt nauseous.”

Mozeliak probably thought that the Rockies would ask for a fair market value for Arenado … or at least not give them $50+ million on a silver platter.

Considering the pandemic, Arenado’s opt out coming next offseason, and the trade return for Francisco Lindor when the Cleveland Indians traded him earlier this offseason, the Rockies (and the Indians, for that matter) may have doomed the chances for other teams and themselves to get what they should in trades. As a result, the franchises may have doomed their chances to be a World Series caliber franchise for a decade or more.