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By Jeff Todd | at
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A'sfaninUK
Rockies should have offered David Price $300M.
ASapsFables
Keep dreaming. They could have offered David Price more and he likely would still not have signed with Colorado. He wouldn’t have made the Rockies a much better bet as a contender in 2016 and he might have blemished his great resume as one of the premier starting pitchers in all of MLB. pitching at Coors Field. Price clearly preferred to remain in the A.L. and pitch for a team that does have a legitimate shot at the postseason this year.
Lance
Any great pitcher with hopes of one day reaching the HOF is NOT going to go to the Rocks. Ask Mike Hampton, Daryl Kile (If he were alive) and Denny Nagel how Coors reduced very good pitchers to their knees. If you’re a veteran hurler, you only go there if you have no choice.
thecoffinnail
He seems to care about his legacy quite a bit. I bet he would have turned down any offer they made. Greinke and Samardzija are different stories entirely. I bet Samardzija would have signed for $50 bucks more than the Giants gave him. All he has talked about the last couple of years is getting as much as he possibly can out of free agency. Greinke left a pitchers park and a team that is all about winning every year for a hitters park and a team that has a 2-3 year window plus the worst GM in professional sports.
TheMichigan
Not to mention the loss of Padlo, who wasn’t a scoff off prospect
Ray Ray
He wasn’t a scoff off prospect, but he was definitely a superfluous one. The Rockies not have Nolan Arenado at third, but they also have Ryan McMahon who is a much better prospect than Padlo. Padlo was never going to breakthrough in Denver. I hope he can in Tampa though, because I always liked him as a player.
Ray Ray
*not only have
ASapsFables
The main problem I see with the Rockies approach this offseason is that they seem to view themselves as a player in the N.L. West or for a wild card birth…something few others believe.
Instead of signing mid-level veteran free agent talent like Gerardo Parra, along with others of lesser note, the Rockies should have just kept a younger and controllable player like Corey Dickerson. They should have embarked on a full fledged rebuild similar to what the Cubs and Astros did and continued their sell-off of prime veteran players such as Troy Tulowitzki for young MLB talent and prospects. Carlos Gonzalez would have been the next logical player to be moved in this endeavor but instead the front office and ownership hold on to the foolish notion they might somehow contend in 2016.
Ray Ray
There were a couple of problems with keeping Dickerson. First was his injury history. Plantar fascitiis has a very good chance of becoming a recurring problem. Not a guarantee, but enough of a chance to warrant parting company. Second, and more importantly, was his defense. The outfield at Coors is HUGE and Dickerson is not even half the defender of Parra. Personally, I would have signed Parra and tried Dickerson at first base, but maybe they decided that the bullpen was a bigger priority than upgrading a Reynolds/Paulsen platoon at first. It’s definitely an argument that could be made.
Ray Ray
As far as the Cubs and Astros comparison. There are more ways than that to rebuild. I don’t care how successful the Astros rebuild was, their absolute sell off of anyone with a name value was the complete antithesis of sportsmanship and quite frankly just as damaging to the integrity of the game as the Black Sox scandal. You can successfully get rid of AIDS by testing everyone on Earth and executing everyone with the virus, but that doesn’t make it the right thing to do. The Cubs rebuild was not nearly as reprehensible because they at least tried to win games. They just weren’t good at it.
Either way, the Cubs major rebuild and the Astros tank job are not the only ways to succeed. I would even argue that with the Reds, Brewers, Phillies, Braves, and Padres all NL teams trying similar rebuild strategies, then the Rockies doing it also makes even less sense. With those 5 rebuilding, then there are only 10 teams fighting for 5 playoff spots. A couple of key injuries to contending teams and good health for themselves and the Rockies are right in the mix for a Wild Card spot. Yes the WC spots were dominated in 2015, but this isn’t 2015 anymore. Anything can happen if you actually try to win.
Lance
If you’re going to suck….then go ahead and SUCK big time. Why spend a lot of money on mediocre players? Take your lumps and move on. The Phillies and Reds were awful last year and they were both loaded with big contracts. What good is that? The Astros suffered because their farm system was so poor that when Berkman, Oswalt, Bagwell, Biggio got old….they had no one to replace them. The new ownership had to make business decisions about their future and decided that picking up someone like a Matt Garza or Austin Jackson type wasn’t going to make a difference.
Ray Ray
It’s one thing to be bad, that is excusable, it is another to not even try to be good. If you don’t want to pay for players, then why buy the team at all? They didn’t lower ticket prices when they were not spending money on “mediocre” players, did they? They basically stole money from anyone that bought a ticket for the three years they were tanking. If you think it is okay, then by all means, buy a ticket and a jersey from someone that doesn’t even try to be good. I’d much rather spend my money on someone just not good enough to win like my Rockies instead of someone that doesn’t try anytime.
Lance
for the Cubs to go out and spend big money on a 260 hitting OF with no power, or a 36 year old utility player or a 37 year old pitcher is one thing. The Cubs figure that after last year, the future is now and mixed with their collection of players that won 97 games they can win it all. But for the Rocks, Brewers or Reds to go out and buy those same players for 300 million or more over the next few years would be stupid because those players aren’t going to make them better enough to make a difference. Would you really be happy about your chances if the Rocks had those players the Cubs signed? No one “stole” any money. The fans in Houston knew exactly what the Astros did and didn’t have and knew they would be bad—and attendance dropped off a great deal as a result. But that was a business decision that made economic sense at that time. Now, the farm system is producing and last year, they made the playoffs and the attendance went up to over 2-milion for the first time in several years. It makes sense for Houston to start spending on FA’s .
panickingcalmly
Problem with your comparison to the Astros rebuild is that the Astros had a plan, and they expected to contend around this time. In fact, Houston is about a year early, since they made the postseason last year and had a very realistic shot at winning the AL West. In any case, Houston stated that they were rebuilding, that they weren’t going to contend, that they were rebuilding from the ground up, starting with the farm system. They ranked near the bottom in attendance during their rebuild.
The difference is, Houston committed to the rebuild and it’s now starting to pay off. Colorado can’t commit. They give the appearance of contending. They’re a garbage organization. They put the likes of Tulo, CarGo, Arenado, Cuddyer, and Blackmon on the field…and they can’t win. They can’t develop pitching; their prospects are invariably released or become lifelong minor leaguers. I mean, this is a team that signed Jamie Moyer and Roy Oswalt. Dallas Keuchel, on the other hand, whom Houston developed? 2015 Cy Young.
Not a Houston fan, but I’d take their rebuild strategy over whatever Colorado is doing. The Rockies are trash, probably the worst organization in baseball. It’s not like they had one bad offseason or one bad trade deadline. This has been going on for years. Colorado’s tankjob has lasted years longer than Houston’s, and there’s no sign this tankjob is ever going to stop.
Kershawshank Redemption 2
Uhhh I think it might be apples and oranges when you compare getting rid of baseball players to help the organization with exterminating everyone with AIDS.
Ray Ray
It’s an analogy not an exact parallel.
adshadbolt
Getting Jake McGee made no sense they need starting pitchers not closers
Ray Ray
100% wrong. The bullpen has been the Rockies undoing since Brian Fuentes left. The starters haven’t been great, but they have been passable. And they have 15 candidates for the rotation, so getting another one shouldn’t be a priority. They need someone in the bullpen that can hold a lead because they blew at least 10-15 wins every year since their playoff runs. 2010 stands out in my memory as particularly bad, but every year of this decade has featured very poor relief pitching with just a couple of exceptions like Huston Street and occasionally Raffy Betancourt and Matt Belisle,
I would have preferred not losing Dickerson to get him, but when you look at the cost of Ken Giles and Craig Kimbrel, only losing Dickerson and a superfluous prospect like Kevin Padlo should be considered a victory.
pool4me2
At the deadline they should try to trade CarGo for a controllable young starter or starters. They possess the greatest value to an organization with the issue of altitude.
thecoffinnail
I would love to see them trade for a knuckleball pitcher. That would be something to see at Coors on a regular basis. Also, I think they should move all of their minor league teams to cities at high altitudes. Get their prospects used to it from the very beginning.
Ray Ray
They did that this year. AAA Albuquerque is about the same altitude as Coors. There aren’t really any other minor leagues that have teams in the Rocky Mountain area, other than the short season Northwest League (the Rockies are affiliated with Boise), so they pretty much already have that covered.
As far as the knuckleball goes, No…just no.
ChadSmooth
Why not? Nothing else is working in Coors. Should of got R.A Dickey instead of Reyes. Might have been able to work that out. Would have been interesting to see!
Lance
There is only one knuckleball pitcher in baseball right now and RA Dickey was born when Carter was POTUS, so the point of the Rockies picking up a knuckleball pitcher is moot. BTW, Dickey never pitched at Coors….Tim Wakefield pitched twice at Mile High and gave up 10 runs in 9 innings. EVERY organization wants pitching. The Rocks have had more trouble than most developing it. I suspect it’s because that park simply gets into pitchers heads and getting a successful FA pitcher was tried several times and failed horrible. Guys like Grienke and Price won’t go there no matter what they paid because it’s just not worth it—-and it would basically ruin any chance at the Hall of Fame.
kbarr888
Research “the effects of thin air on off-speed pitches” before you wish for a knuckleball to be thrown at Coors. The thin air reduces the friction between the ball and the atmosphere, negating some of the ability of the ball to “drift” as it does closer to sea level. Ask a curveball pitcher how he likes throwing at Coors.
kbarr888
Rockies are probably one of the 5 Poorest run Ballclubs in MLB. They do “just enough signings” to make them look like they’re trying, but most of us see through the veil. The owners are just pocketing the cash and really have no intention to build a winner.
“Actions Speak Louder Than Words”
Sure, there will be a bunch of Rockies fans that will come forward and defend the actions of a mediocre team that makes minor adjustments, and “tries to compete” every spring……but the fact remains, the Rockies will never be a quality club until they get new owners who have the desire to “Build a Team”.
Ray Ray
Of course the owners are horrible, arguably among the three worst in MLB, but they are there until they decide to leave. And if you can see through veils so well, why don’t you understand that EVERY owner is pocketing more than enough cash or they wouldn’t be in the business to begin with? I know the Rockies are mediocre, and I don’t care. I am not a fair weather fan, I will root for my Rockies whether they win 100 games or 60 games. Of course I would rather have a winning team, but they cant afford to buy the entire country of Cuba like the Dodgers. I would rather root for an MLB player like Carlos Gonzalez instead of trading him for a couple of Class A players might help out in the big leagues in 2020. If you don’t like it, you are not required to cheer for the Rockies, but that doesn’t make their way of doing things wrong.