What can the Colorado Rockies learn from the Pittsburgh Pirates-San Diego Padres trade for Adam Frazier?

San Diego Padres general manager A.J. Preller is known to be a general manager that is willing to wheel-and-deal to build up his team or tear down his team on a dime. On Monday, the Padres and the Pittsburgh Pirates made a deal which, arguably thus far, has been the biggest this trade season as the Padres acquired infielder/outfielder Adam Frazier and cash for three prospects.

There’s one main thing that Colorado Rockies general manager Bill Schmidt and the rest of the Rockies front office can learn from that trade between the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Diego Padres.

The Colorado Rockies will not get much in return for Trevor Story

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Comparing Colorado Rockies shortstop Trevor Story to former Pittsburgh Pirates/current San Diego Padres infielder/outfielder Adam Frazier is not exactly comparing apples to apples but there are a few things that can be learned from it.

Frazier is one year older than Trevor Story but he has one more year of service time remaining after 2021 before becoming a free agent. Frazier does not have as long of a track record of excellence as Trevor Story has but Frazier is having the better 2021 season over Story. Story, in the majors, has only played shortstop whereas Frazier has nearly 400 games at second base, 107 in left field, 44 in right field, 14 in center field, six at third base, and one at shortstop.

All of that adds up to Story getting roughly the same return that Frazier got. What was that return?

The Pirates got the Padres #5 prospect, infielder Tucupita Marcano. Marcano, 21, has already appeared in 25 games at the MLB level for the Padres and he fits the Frazier mold of a primary second baseman who can play many other places on the diamond.

In addition, the Pirates got outfielder Jack Suwinski and right-handed pitcher Michell Miliano. Neither of them ranked in the Padres top 30 prospects.

Both have played well in 2021 but they have played at Double-A and Single-A.

The Pirates had to send cash in that deal (reportedly $1.4 million) so that they could get a better prospect, in Marcano, in the deal. That is roughly what Frazier will make for the rest of the 2021 season.

Marcano is still not a top 100 prospect and the Pirates had to pay Frazier’s salary for the rest of the year.

In other words, the Rockies are not going to be getting any top prospects for Story unless they give the acquiring team a lot of cash. For Rockies fans, that situation would be like déjà vu of the Nolan Arenado trade, where the Rockies threw in $50+ million in a deal, just to get an MLB pitcher (in Austin Gomber who has done very well) and low-level prospects.