Punk Rockies

As the general managers arrive in Nashville this week for the Winter Meetings, the Colorado Rockies find themselves in a familiar place of looking up at their NL West rivals needing pitching depth and a clear direction for the franchise. Is there hope that they have learned lessons from the past and will finally start putting together a clear baseball plan?

ESPN last week published an article predicting a move for each MLB team, and allocated Teoscar Hernandez to the Rockies for 3/$52 million. The absurdity of that scenario would be obvious to anyone that follows Colorado baseball, but the writer did note that “this feels like a Rockies move along the lines of Ian Desmond and Kris Bryant.” They’re not wrong, and the Rockies will need to be a lot smarter in the next few years to change the narrative of being so bad at baseball evaluation. Last season’s late-spring signing of Jurickson Profar was another example of ridiculous moves that block prospects and drain cash.

Following the disastrous 2021 trade of Nolan Arenado to the Cardinals that led to the departure of Jeff Bridich, Bill Schmidt’s tenure over the last two and a half years has been punctuated by a series of moves (and non-moves) that have been head-scratchers. His first trade deadline featured the questionable decisions to hold on to looming free agents Trevor Story and Jon Gray, both of whom signed elsewhere in the offseason. The only significant move made in 2022 was extending a 37-year-old Daniel Bard to a $19 million two-year extension.

Though likely a result of owner Dick Monfort’s meddling, Schmidt also made a big splash that has gone about as wrong as it could when he signed a fading Kris Bryant to a massive 7-year, $182 million contract. Many at the time saw it as a massive overpay, and that was assuming he’d stay relatively healthy (he hasn’t).

Flash forward to midseason 2023, however, and you can almost see the plan you’d hope for. That draft netted high-upside Chase Dollander and 13 other pitching prospects (following 16 of 21 pitching picks the year before). The Rockies also (finally) got serious about stockpiling pitching at the trade deadline and traded away nearly everybody not under contract for 2024. Mike Moustakas, C.J. Cron and Randal Grichuk were dealt to the Angels, with Brad Hand and Pierce Johnson moving to the Braves for a sizable crop of minor league pitching.

It’s too early to say if the trend to prioritize young pitching over pricey stopgaps will continue, as Chuck Nazty’s extension for 2024 is the kind of overly sentimental signing that tends to get the Rockies in trouble. If Schmidt can avoid blocking prospects and flip some 1B/OF surplus for near-ready pitching this week, there is hope that the 2025 Rockies will rewrite the narrative.