Rockies first baseman C.J. Cron left last night’s game with a groin strain and will be further evaluated today. Manager Bud Black said after the game that the Rockies have their “fingers crossed” that Cron won’t require a trip to the 10-day injured list (Twitter link via The Athletic’s Nick Groke), though that very comment is seemingly an acknowledgement of such a possibility. If Cron does head to the injured list, that would likely dash any hopes of the Rockies trading him — or at least of receiving much at all in return. (Injured players can still be traded.)
Cron has had a solid bounceback from last year’s knee surgery. Signed over the winter to a minor league contract with just a $1MM base salary, he’s batted .245/.357/.460 with 14 home runs. Cron played in just 13 games with the Tigers last season before incurring his season-ending knee injury, but he showed a massive uptick in plate discipline during that time — one that he’s carried over into 2021. This year’s 12.1 percent walk rate is more than double the career mark that Cron carried into the year. As a pending free agent with defensive limitations, he wouldn’t have commanded a huge return, but a healthy Cron earning barely more than league minimum would be a player of interest to contending clubs, even if it’s only as a bench bat against lefties.
More out of Denver…
- Righty Mychal Givens is drawing plenty of interest on the market, tweets Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. That’s to be expected, as Givens is another impending free agent on a Rockies club that has zero postseason aspirations. He’s also a reasonably established late-inning reliever in the midst of a solid season, having pitched to a 2.73 ERA in 29 1/3 innings. Givens’ 27.4 percent strikeout rate is down about six percent from its 2019 peak, and his 11.3 percent walk rate is his highest since posting an 11.5 percent mark back in 2016. Both have been trending in the right direction over the past couple months, however. Givens would obviously help a contender’s bullpen, and with about $1.42MM of his $4.05MM salary owed beyond Friday’s deadline, he’s a pretty affordable option for other teams.
- The Rockies remain “dead set” on keeping right-hander German Marquez, writes Nick Groke of The Athletic in his latest mailbag. Manager Bud Black plainly said earlier this month that the Rockies wouldn’t trade Marquez, noting that ownership and the front office felt similarly. Black indicated that the Rockies had already informed Marquez and several other players that they wouldn’t be moved at this year’s deadline. It’s a puzzling stance to take for a club in Colorado’s position, particularly if, as Groke later writes in response to another question, owner Dick Monfort wants interim Bill Schmidt to become the full-time general manager in the offseason. It’d be one thing if a club didn’t want an interim GM to make what could be a franchise-altering trade, but if the Rockies’ eventual GM search leads them back to the same executive who’s already pulling the strings, then there’s little reason to not at least listen to offers on Marquez — even if the preference is to keep him.
Seems like the Rockies owner is the baseball equivalent of those meddling kids in the old Scooby-Doo cartoons. Gotta be the most dysfunctional organization in MLB.
Cron can be added to the list of players that CO held onto for too long.
They’ve only had him for half a season.
I don’t think you understand the concept of the old Scooby Doo cartoons. The only ones that thought the kids were meddling were the bad guys. In your analogy, that would make you the bad guy and Monfort the star of the show.
show me…Givens in Philly.
You’ll get Carlos Estevez and like it.
scree
You got the red/white uni’s right, but it seems like there’s a artsy C on the cap.
Idiotic to no see what Marquez could bring in a return! No wonder COL can never sustain a farm system or winning franchise…
Not really surprising the Rockies won’t trade Marquez. When they find a guy who can actually pitch in Colorado and be successful, you don’t let them go. This team has forever tried to find pitching, so why would they trade it?
Because they’re nowhere near competing and his value is high. He won’t be around if/when they ever put a contending team together.
The Rockies will never put together a contending team as long as Big Daddy Dick Dog is their owner.
Trading Marquez is the opposite of what they need to do. It’s equivalent to the Cubs trading Hendricks. You need to build around those pieces, not trade them away.
The Rockies and the Cubs are completely different, I don’t think you can really compare the two.
They are both baseball teams that were in playoff contention in the mid 2010s decade and are on the cusp of a rebuild now. Yeah how dare he compare those two similar baseball teams.
The issue is that you usually can’t build and hold onto guys simultaneously. The Tigers tried this with Boyd and Fulmer, and it probably set them back a good year on their rebuild. If you are not in it today, you need to trade for the future.
If you think that player can help you when you plan to be on the winning track again, no it doesn’t make sense, and that applies with Hendricks and Marquez with both of their respective teams. Both teams could be relevant the year after next, in which having a veteran pitcher definitely helps. Go out and try to find me pitchers equivalent to those 2 on the market – it’s not easy, so why would you give them up if you know that you’ll inevitably have to replace them with similar pieces to what you paid to bring them in?
Hendricks and Marquez with both of their respective teams. Both teams could be relevant the year after next,
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I doubt that Hendricks will be anything more than a #3, and probably worse, in 2023. His K/9 falls almost every year, and is now down to 6.7/9. I have him on my fantasy team almost every year, but he’s not as good as he once was.
IRT Marquez, I have my doubts that CO will be competing in 2023. They don’t have much present talent, Story & Gray will be gone, and I am not sure they have any prospects on the immediate horizon.
No. Just no. The reason the Tigers didn’t trade Boyd or Fulmer was they did not get the offer that would have advanced the rebuild.
they did not get the offer
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Unless you are aware of the actual offers, then I doubt this is true. Players get traded for value all the time. I doubt that the Tigers are the one team that never get fair offers.
“Injured players can still be traded.” Tell that to MLB the show
“MLB the show is a video game and not real life.” Tell that to a portion of commenters around here.
Trading Marquez is right strategically, but if they said they’re keeping him, they can’t trade him without taking some serious flak. Players may see the FO as stupid, but this would make the FO stupid and dishonest. Players would only go there as a last resort. Keep him for now, trade him in the off-season.
They only way they can trade Marquez now is if the player requests it and they get blown away by an offer. This way, the FO can save face by saying “Marquez requested to be traded so we helped facilitate that and we wish him success in his future endeavors.” It would also be a little dangerous too as it could set a precedence that players can ask their way out of town. But again, this only happens if Marquez asks out AND they are able to get a massive return of talent for him.
Cron would be a solid get for the Brewers. Send Hiura out for the rest of the year and clear his head to hopefully come back strong next year as the DH. Would love to add Givens as well, feel like a team like the Phillies will overpay what the Crew would offer though.
Phillies will try and send another broken prospect in return.
No. The Brewers don’t need to make any lateral or same-guy improvements. If they make any moves it should be major. Donaldson, perhaps. And the cost for Donaldson would be equal to or less than Cron – except for money, which is admittedly important to a club like Milwaukee.
Disagree that prospect cost for Donaldson and Cron would be similar. Donaldson definitely more of an impact player IF he stays healthy. With the money though and Donaldson’s rumored flaky personality, I’d stay away from him. My first preference is Mancini, think he would be a great fit in Milwaukee.
Isn’t Tellez basically a better Cron?
Can platoon with Tellez and gives the Brewers a legit power bat off the bench which is lacking right now. Not ready to hand the keys to 1B to Tellez yet, but has been a solid week. Reminiscent of Billy McKinney earlier in the year.
Will people please stop assuming the DH will be in the NL next season. If it does come, fine, but there has been no announcement as of now. There is no guarantee it will happen.
Only reason to not expect it to happen is that both sides want it. Crazy but true.
Gray and Givens to the Mets for Mauricio ( could be Story’s replacement) and Dominguez
What the hell is this? A fair trade involving a NY team proposed on TradeRumors? This is not allowed.
Rodgers is Story’s replacement.
I’m the last guy to support “tanking”, especially for a team with the resources the Rockies have, but, let’s face it, they’re a flippin’ mess. To make it worse, the division is very tough, with smart folks everywhere, At this point, I don’t think the FO people know who sits where at the conference table.
Ya, they should back up the bus, including Marquez.
Telling Marquez personally that he won’t be traded sounds loyal and admirable, but I wonder how Marquez took that news. Is he particularly set on being in Colorado long term on a terrible team or would he like a chance to play in higher stakes games?
Not surprised about Marquez, he is their only legit pitcher but Bill S. becoming the full time GM????? Promoting from within from an organization that is from top to bottom bad makes no sense.!!!!!! Unless your a Dick, Monfort that is. What a first class joke of an owner we have here in Colorado!
Rockie fans it is time to demand the Dick, Monfort that is, sell the team! Stay away from Coors field or suffer losing season after losing season only to be tease every ten (or so) years with a blind squirrel team that makes the playoffs but gets booted before any championship round.
When does football start again? I am willing to put up with the preaching if only to forget yet another forgettable Rockies season….and sadly the promise of many more until the Dick, Monfort that is, sells the team!
Yes, you have a 6-11 Broncos season to look forward to. Bring on the NFL season in Colorado. I still can’t believe Denver passed on Justin Fields in the draft! Heck, even Mac Jones would have been a promising pick for them if they didn’t like Fields for a particular reason.
The Bears did well to trade down for Fields. The Pats did well to stand down and wait for Jones. Well-managed for both parties. I have no idea why the 49ers traded down for Lance. Miami, Cincy & Atlanta were not picking QBs, and no one else was trading to pick a QB. In fact, I think they could’ve traded back a couple of slots, and had their choice of Lance or Fields.
What are the odds on Gray pitching against the Rockies on Friday?
Probably less than zero. The Rockies and Padres rarely trade. They have had four real trades since 1993 and two of them were in 1993. The last deal between the two was the Rockies salary dumping Huston Street in 2011 for a minor leaguer that didn’t pan out.