What should the Rockies do?
If anybody has the answer to that question, please hop in a car and get up to Coors Field as fast as possible, because all of Colorado is depending on your genius.
The funny thing is that I’m sure nearly everyone just picked up their head and thought, “Wait … I know what to do!” And maybe you do. The reality is that the Rockies could do just about anything at this point and it would be bound to improve the team in some fashion. But what’s the long-term plan? More importantly, what’s been the long-term problem?
For nearly their entire existence, the Rockies have essentially been the same team: Dynamic bats and horrendous pitching.
We’ve watched Todd Helton, Larry Walker, Matt Holliday, Troy Tulowitzki, Carlos Gonzalez, and countless others dent the Colorado sky for two decades. And on the mound, we’ve had Ubaldo Jimenez and, uh, Jorge De La Rosa? Brian Fuentes?
20 years, and aside from a magical Ubaldo season, you could make a case that the Rockies have never had a true Ace in their rotation. And that brings up the million-dollar question: Is it the talent or is it the Rockies?
I don’t have that answer, and I’m not going to pretend to, either. What I do know, though, is that it doesn’t matter how much offensive talent the Rockies have on their roster; they’re never going to win without pitching.
And that brings us to this … Should the Rockies attempt to flip Nolan Arenado for an elite pitching talent?
ESPN brought up the question in their “MLB Buyer’s Guide” preview earlier this week, and while it was a shock at first, it’s making more and more sense with time.
“The Rockies could do more to boost their franchise in the long run by trading Arenado than with any other move they could make this offseason,” Keith Law writes. “This could be a franchise-altering move for the Rockies, a trade with which they could get three or four prospects or young pieces and could acquire more of the young pitching they’re going to need to be competitive anytime soon.”
And he’s right. I mean, of course he is. Arenado is one of the fastest rising stars in baseball, and the Rockies should be able to draw a king’s ransom — probably even more than they got for Troy Tulowitzki. But do we want to?
Trading Nolan Arenado means trading the face of the franchise, the best defensive third baseman in the game, and the best player the Rockies have brought up since Tulo before he even reaches his prime. Could Rockies fans stomach watching Arenado play in Los Angeles, New York, St. Louis or some other city for the next decade, knowing he could have been ours?
On the other hand, what good is Arenado if we don’t have the pitching needed to actually win? Again, whether it was Helton or Tulo, we’ve had plenty of “faces of the franchise,” and the Rockies haven’t got anything to show for it. Maybe it is time to flip the model on it’s head and sacrifice our best player in hopes of landing a true Ace.
In my opinion, I think we keep Arenado. As a Rockies fan, I’d rather know I get to watch No. 28 every day than hope some 20-year-old prospect develops into even half of what the three-time Gold Glover has given Colorado.
But it makes you think, doesn’t it?
