Colorado Rockies: Players who will benefit after the trade deadline

The Colorado Rockies are once in a position where it makes sense to move some veterans at the trade deadline in return for some valued prospects. The Rockies farm system could use all the reinforcements it can get after the club’s farm system was ranked 24th before the season started.

Players that would make sense for the Colorado Rockies to move at the deadline would be Jose Iglesias, C.J. Cron, and Chad Kuhl, just to name a few.

Not that it’d be fun to move these players. They’ve contributed tremendously especially in the absence of the team’s superstars. But, at 33-43, it makes sense to make same trades. These are the players that will benefit most if the Colorado Rockies do make moves at the deadline.

Say what you will about the Rockies free agent signings in club history, but they are able to find diamonds in the rough very well. Case in point, Cron and Kuhl. Cron is the leader in homers for the Rockies and could be their representative for the All-Star Game. Kuhl just threw a complete game shutout against the Dodgers no less and is arguably the team’s best pitcher. There’s a difference between wanting to trade them doing what’s best for the club long term.

If Cron was traded at the deadline, the player to benefit most is Elehuris Montero. The 23-year-old first baseman from the Dominican Republic came over from the St. Louis Cardinals with Austin Gomber in the trade for Nolan Arenado. He’s only played eight games in the majors after having a great 2021 season between Hartford and Albuquerque, hitting. 278/.360/.529 with 28 home runs and 86 RBI. He’s shown he deserves to be up here, but is struggling so far with a .167 average. It’s time to put him in the lineup to get him the consistency he needs to develop into a big leaguer. Besides, Rockies fans are grasping at straws for anything good to come out of that trade that still feels too soon to talk about.

The rotation certainly would not be better without Kuhl, but the biggest player to benefit might be Ryan Feltner and even Austin Gomber. Feltner was recently sent down to the minors after giving up five runs in four innings against the Twins. He has shown flashes but ultimately the inconsistency and 6.15 ERA sent him back to Albuquerque. Hopefully he will find it in Triple-A and then he can come back after the deadline to really contribute like he did right before Father’s Day against San Diego when he only gave up one run in six innings.

Gomber has been relegated to bullpen duty after some recent struggles, but is now back in the rotation with Feltner at Triple-A. If both Feltner and Gomber had a lot of slack to figure out their mechanics, without having to worry about competing for their rotation spots, it could benefit these two young Rockies pitchers tremendously. These two need more innings pitched to find themselves.

Last but not least is Jose Iglesias. The shortstop is probably tired of being traded since he’s been with six teams since 2018. The Rockies needed a solid player when the club let Trevor Story walk for nothing in return. That’s exactly what they got. He has a .298 average and a .346 OBP heading into July. He’s been a good defender to boot.

Trading Iglesias would pave the way to get Alan Trejo more playing time. He’s only played 11 games so far this season in the majors with a .211 average. Similar to Gomber and Feltner, he needs more consistent reps, even if it’s just to see what the club has in these players.

If that isn’t an option, the only reason Brendon Rodgers plays second now was because of Story. Could he slide over to his more natural position at short? Or could Garrett Hampson slide in there and get a chance to become an everyday player? That’s even if any of these trades happen.

Last year, the Rockies didn’t trade Trevor Story or Jon Gray. The Rockies only trade came by moving Mychal Givens to Cincinnati. Rockies fans can dream that somehow this year will be different.