Colorado Rockies: Can they “trust the process” as Phillies come to town?

One of the key points of the “trust the process” movement for the 76ers was that people understood what the process actually was. Inside and outside the organization, people understood that, even in low times for the franchise, there was a plan in place for the future.

Colorado Rockies fans do not have that privilege at the moment. It’s one of the biggest reasons why the front office and ownership endured so much scorn during the offseason when the long-rumored trade of Nolan Arenado finally became a reality. There had been talks for months of the uneasy relationship between Colorado’s All-Star third baseman and general manager Jeff Bridich. It was, in fact, the worst-kept secret in Denver sports.

More from Rox Pile

• A Colorado Rockies Thanksgiving
• Colorado Rockies: What if Todd Helton had played football instead?
• Colorado Rockies: Charlie Blackmon out for the season
• Colorado Rockies: Injuries shift look of roster ahead of Dodgers series
• Colorado Rockies: Has Sean Bouchard earned a second look in 2023?

Arenado’s trade, of course, brought with it an avalanche (sticking with the other Denver sports teams theme at the start of the article) of emotions. If Arenado was leaving, what was the plan? What was coming back to the Rockies in return and what did it mean for the future of the organization? How long would it take to rebuild (not that anyone at 20th and Blake is using that word)?

Outside of a nightmare of a press conference that was crucified on a national level, there was little talk of what was coming next and what this would mean for the future of the Rockies. Was this part of a plan or was it something done just because it had to be done, in the minds of Rockies leadership? We’re still wondering that to this day.

The same can be said for what could happen this season with Trevor Story, the other half of Colorado’s star-studded left side of the infield from 2020 that could be no more by late July of this year. There’s been little talk of what is happening with his contract that expires at the end of the season, outside of there have been no serious talks about it.

There have been other moves, of course, that have made fans wonder about the direction of the franchise.

The decision to not re-sign David Dahl and a late move to add former Rockies pitcher Jhoulys Chacin to the Opening Day roster, marking Colorado’s first Major League free agent signing in two seasons are two such moves recently but there’s others in the recent past.

A decision to not make a bigger splash at the 2018 trade deadline when the Rockies had the chance to win their first-ever National League West title. Letting DJ LeMahieu walk away. Signing Ian Desmond as a first baseman. A reported lack of focus on analytics compared to other franchises. There are, of course, plenty of others as well.

It’s hard for fans to “trust the process” when they don’t know what the process is. While several GMs and owners across the sports landscapes are willing to share their plans, the Rockies are not part of that mix. As long as the current regime remains in charge, don’t expect that to change any time soon.

So if we’re left to our thoughts and devices often to figure out what the “process” might be in Colorado, we need to look at where the franchise is heading into this weekend series with the Phillies.

Its strength is its largely homegrown rotation while its offense is currently posting a league-worst 77 OPS+ as a team.

After years of sharing time, younger players are getting plenty of at-bats to determine which ones can flourish (Ryan McMahon, Raimel Tapia), which ones are struggling (Sam Hilliard, Josh Fuentes), and which ones may need more time to firmly answer questions about their future (Yonathan Daza, Dom Nunez).

The same can be said for a bullpen where an up-and-down Carlos Estevez joins new faces Robert Stephenson, Ben Bowden, and Jordan Sheffield as pitchers Bud Black must rely upon during an upcoming schedule that doesn’t feature another off day until May 6, then two more weeks until the next off day. As Black always says, “It’s going to take everyone” in his bullpen to succeed for the team to succeed. That will be tested for the rest of April and into May.

And if the test is failed by some, there are few players waiting in the wings who seem ready to embrace the bright MLB spotlight and potentially succeed at that level. A farm system that is often ranked near the bottom of the list shows that there is a lack of quality depth ready to move in and take over if needed.

“The process” seems to be following what Rockies owner Dick Monfort said at that now-infamous February press conference surrounding the Arenado trade:

“But we’ve got a lot of guys that, to be quite honest, it’s time to cut bait. This could be the challenge that they need. This could be: They need to step up and fill in this void.”

More from Colorado Rockies News

• A Colorado Rockies Thanksgiving
• Colorado Rockies: Charlie Blackmon out for the season
• Colorado Rockies: Injuries shift look of roster ahead of Dodgers series
• Colorado Rockies: 3 things we appreciated from Tuesday in San Francisco
• What Bill Schmidt’s comments mean for the Colorado Rockies in 2023

Yes, on the surface, “the process” seems to be figuring out who can play and who can’t, and then filling in the holes from there. There are already holes to fill before any talk of trading Story or Jon Gray or any other player currently on the roster. “The process,” however, also has to include that there’s a plan for who might be coming in return for those players and what they mean for the future of the Rockies franchise, as well as how soon they can contribute at the Major League level.

Do you trust that? Based on recent decisions, most will answer no to that question. However, until leadership change occurs, it’s the process that will guide the future of the organization.

Trust the process in Colorado? It would much easier to do if people knew what the process was … and believed those at the top knew as well.