Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora gives the Colorado Rockies high praise

Former Colorado Rockies shortstop Trevor Story signed with the Boston Red Sox a few weeks ago and he will take the field with his new team against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Opening Day late this morning (in the Mountain time zone).

But when speaking with the media on Thursday during team workouts, Red Sox manager Alex Cora gave high praise to the Colorado Rockies.

Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora gave the Colorado Rockies high praise

Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora praised the Colorado Rockies for the player development of their stars, including former Colorado Rockies stars Trevor Story, Nolan Arenado, Todd Helton, and current Rockies outfielder Charlie Blackmon.

According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, Cora praised their “mindset and baseball acumen” (in the words of Nightengale. “When they put their uniform on, they’re all business.”

Story was known to be a player that had a “quiet intensity” about him on the field and the other three players mentioned are good examples of it too.

The problem with the Rockies is that they haven’t developed enough talent to be around their superstars, especially in recent years. Arenado, Story, and Blackmon all played together from 2016 through 2020.

In that span, the Rockies were only able to get to the playoffs twice (both via the wild card) and they won a total of one playoff game. They even had a good starting rotation but they had an awful offense outside of them.

In 2017, Arenado had an rWAR of 6.7. Blackmon’s was 5.5 and Story’s was 2.6. They only had one other position player with an rWAR higher than 0.8: DJ LeMahieu. The fifth-highest position player in rWAR? Jonathan Lucroy. He played his first game with the team on August 3.

In 2018, Arenado had an rWAR of 6.4, Story at 6.2, LeMahieu at 2.9. Blackmon was next highest at 1.0 (it was low because his bad defense. He had an offensive WAR of 3.9).

Developing star talent has never been a problem for the Rockies. It’s been developing the secondary talent and depth that all good MLB teams. Look no further than the Dodgers. Even with some players they have traded for or signed in free agency like Chris Taylor, Max Muncy, Austin Barnes, and others, the Dodgers have developed them into good players.

The Rockies have not been able to do it and it’s a big reason why they have won two playoff games in the last 15 years.