In a saga that had been brewing for over a year, Nolan Arenado was finally traded from the Colorado Rockies. Before I go into the frustrating aspects that have been surrounding the trade let me at least outline the details . St. Louis not only received Nolan Arenado but $51 million from the Rockies to help offset the size of Arenado's contract per Mark Feinsand. The Rockies received five prospects: LHP Austin Gomber, INF Elehuris Montero, RHP Tony Locey, INF Mateo Gil, and RHP Jake Sommers. Only one of these prospects (Montero) was ranked in the top 10 of Cardinals prospects, while none of them were in the MLB's top-100 list. The return the Rockies received was quite underwhelming.
The Arenado trade is simply the incompetence of the Colorado Rockies organization blown up to a national scale. I am probably one of the few who would have approved of an Arenado trade given two circumstances. One being they were committing to a true rebuild. The second being that the Rockies were able to get a significant return for trading the best third baseman in baseball. However, neither of these happened. First of all, as mentioned previously the returning package was extremely underwhelming. Instead of going after players like 3B Nolan Gorman, P Matthew Liberatore, or even a combination of lower top-10 prospects, the Rockies managed to only bring in one top-10 prospect. The Rockies may not have had a lot of leverage, but the fact they sent $50+ million to St. Louis suggests that they were more nervous that Arenado would stay in Colorado, costing Dick Monfort $190 million, than Nolan actually leaving Denver. Furthermore, in his media session, Jeff Bridich stated, "This isn’t a total team overhaul. A rebuild is not the case for our situation right now." Given that Colorado has finished with winning percentages of 0.433 and 0.438 in 2020 and 2019, to trade your best player and claim you are trying to compete is counterproductive. The question then becomes, what was the point of this trade if it wasn't to add major-league ready pieces or restock the prospect pool. It seems as if this was the culmination in the rivalry between Arenado and the Rockies' front office, one which Jeff Bridich took personally and would do anything to get rid of Nolan regardless of the cost. Given the lack of transparency and aloofness in Colorado's front office, combined with how they delt with trading away the best franchise player in Rockies history, why be a Rockies fan?
In the 28 seasons the Rockies have existed they have made the playoffs five times, and only advancing past the divisional round twice. Other than one magical October in 2007, this team has been completely inept. And nothing has confirmed this stereotype more than how they have delt with star players. Between their trades involving Larry Walker, Matt Holliday, Troy Tulowitzki, and Nolan Arenado they have received one trancesdent talent, Carlos Gonzales. This front office continues to drive away star players from their team while being over committed to players who are "fan-favorites" who aren't great fits for the team. There is no better example than this when Dick Monfort supposedly vetoed a trade that would have sent Charlie Blackmon to Toronto in exchange for Marcus Stroman. Blackmon is an all-star level player, however his struggles on defense. This combined with the potential return, the trade should have been a no brainer. Unfortunately another example of a owner too worried about the bottom line got in the way of a trade that would have likely made the team better, stunting the growth of the franchise.
The future of the Rockies is a major question, where do they go from here? One has to feel like Story will be out of Denver by this time next year, and why would young talented players like Kyle Freeland and German Marquez want to stay? The way the Rockies have constantly treated their stars it doesn't make sense for them to stick around. How do you expect this team to compete when their projected Wins Above Replacement according to FanGraphs is ranked second to last, only above the lowly Pirates. The farm system isn't much better. Only Zac Veen and Ryan Rollison are even considered top-150 prospects, while the team ranks constantly in the bottom three of the farm rankings. The future of the Rockies looks quite bleak and there are not a lot of signs for hope.
This leaves the final question: why be a Colorado Rockies fan? As I previously mentioned the team has only made it past the Divisional Series once in 28 years and ZERO National League West championships, and the future does not look any better. With this trade it has become clear that Dick Monfort, while saying he wants a competitive baseball team, has no problem letting generatoinal talents go because the salary is "too expensive". Monfort cares more about the Party Deck and McGregor Square than building a World Series contender. Dick Monfort has sided with Jeff Bridrich over a future Hall of Fame baseball player. When questioned with their decisions the Rockies' front office, especially Bridrich, have constantly taken the attitude that they know better than everyone else. Asking the Rockies for a reason to be a fan is no longer some ridicuoulus question. Given the fact the organization is being passed by within the NL West, with no signs that they are looking to improve is frustrating, and the lack of self-awareness is infurating. The Rockies mean too much to too many people in the city of Denver for this ownership group to treat it as simply a cash cow. So for the final time I'll ask Dick Monfort, why should I be a Rockies fan?
Photo credits : Chris Humphreys via USA Today Sports
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