3 things the Colorado Rockies can learn from the Atlanta Braves

2) The Atlanta Braves did something at the trade deadline. The Colorado Rockies didn’t.

The Atlanta Braves were under .500 but their GM, Alex Anthopoulos, made moves to build on their foundation and the moves worked. He acquired a slew of outfielders after their outfield was decimated from Ronald Acuna, Jr.’s injury and Marcell Ozuna’s injury and aggravated assault accusation. Two of them were Eddie Rosario and Jorge Soler. Rosario was the NLCS MVP and Soler was the World Series MVP. The Colorado Rockies did the exact opposite.

In 2018, when the Colorado Rockies were in playoff contention, they did virtually nothing (they traded for reliever Seunghwan Oh). And what did it get them? One playoff win.

In 2021, the Colorado Rockies were not (and should not have been) buyers but they should have been sellers. They could have traded Mychal Givens, Trevor Story, Jon Gray, and many others. What did they do? They traded Givens and kept Story and Gray, both of whom are unlikely to resign with the Rockies, now that the Rockies lowballed Gray.

Even by receding for 2021, the Rockies could have gotten some prospects to replenish their depleted farm system and build for the future. Instead, they did virtually nothing, and guess what they got in return? A mediocre team with a non-top 10 draft pick and a poor farm system.

Rox Pile’s Kevin Henry caught up with former Rockies infielder and current Braves coach Eric Young, Sr. about losing Acuna, Jr. and the Braves moves at the deadline in this article for our sister site, Call To The Pen.