When a good trade is consummated, executives from both the teams involved hang up their phones, sit back and smile, congratulate all those involved on a job well done, and look forward to announcing to everyone how they just made their team better and how they’re more ready than ever to compete for a championship.
There’s not much chance of the Colorado Rockies making that kind of statement anytime soon. They aren’t saying anything right now. Silence is not golden.
Instead, when the time comes – if it ever does – when Rockies management chooses to explain their version of what appears to be a lopsided trade that will send Nolan Arenado to the St. Louis Cardinals, they’ll talk about the economic factors that made the trade necessary – which is 100% true – and how this was the best deal they could make – which is very false.
Details are sketchy, and apparently news of the trade wasn’t supposed to leak out when it did. That would explain why no one quite knows for certain yet what the return for Arenado will look like exactly. Early reports were that lefty middle reliever Austin Gomber would be part of the package, along with a prospect or prospect(s) from the Cardinals minor league system.
As it’s been reported to this point, in no way, shape or form does this deal make the Colorado Rockies a better baseball team now or in the not-too-distant future.
Instead of getting a top prospect and a major league player back in return for their best player, the Rockies are getting a pedestrian middle reliever and a low level prospect(s), none of whom are expected to make much of an impact at the big league level. One former MLB executive said, “Try to find a worse deal in the last 20 years.”
An example of a good deal? Trading Matt Holiday, an All-star in his prime whom Colorado could no longer afford, to Oakland in exchange for young standout Carlos Gonzalez.
That was a good deal for both sides.
Was this just a salary dump? This doesn’t even relieve Colorado of all of Arenado’s salary. They’ve committed to paying St. Louis $50 million to take a future Hall of Famer – in his prime – off their hands.
Consider this: If the Rockies had simply chosen to keep Nolan in purple for one more season, then allowed him to opt out of his contract (he was never going to do that…but that’s for another column) and walk away, they would have gotten pretty much the same “return” in exchange for his services and saved $15 million.
What’s worse, this is probably not the last cost-cutting move we’ll see prior to or during the upcoming season. After having already jettisoned All-Star David Dahl, current Rockies management is clearly not concerned about competing with the Los Angeles Dodgers – or anyone else for that matter – in the immediate future. They’re strictly in cost-cutting/money-saving/financial survival mode right now.
More trades are likely.
Which brings us to the reason why.
This is not totally on Jeff Bridich, the beleaguered Rockies General Manager who painted himself into a corner with his All-Star third basemen by being arrogant and making several bad personnel decisions. Bridich certainly has a hand in shaping this terrible transaction, but the push behind it came from ownership. No question about that.
Again, it’s not the fault of Rockies ownership that they lost $100 million last season. But as a great author once wrote, “It’s not what happens in life that matters, it’s how you handle it.” And unfortunately, while some owners – like the Cardinals – can and are “handling” the same kind of losses while still continuing to try to field a winning product, Rockies ownership is not equipped to take a hit like that and keep on swinging for the proverbial fences.
Which is why I’m calling on my longtime friends Dick and Charlie Monfort to sell their majority ownership stake in the Colorado Rockies for their sake, and for the well being of the franchise.
It’s time.
The Monforts have always been about “the family business.” Their father Ken was a very successful small businessman and his sons have followed his business model. Colorado is one of the few MLB franchises that have not laid off or even furloughed any employees during the pandemic. Coors Field is a great place to work. Like many small businesses, they take good care of their employees. The long-term plan has always been to turn over the organization to the next generation of Monforts – like Walker, who enters his fifth year as VP of corporate partnerships, and Sterling, who currently works as an Assistant Director of Scouting Operations for the club. Keep it in the family.
It’s a nice thought. But clearly, that’s not going to work in the long term.
Yes, Coors Field – and now the surrounding area, including McGregor Square – is a cash cow. But just as clearly, that cash flow is not enough to compete anymore. Eventually, if the Rockies are not competitive, the crowds – and the cash – will begin to dry up. If we’re being honest, the methodology used to compete in the big leagues nowadays – including the use of a full-fledged Analytics Department – has apparently passed this front office by. With no willingness to make any course corrections, and without the revenue to improve the way they’ve been doing things their way, the Rockies as currently organized are stuck.
It’s not the altitude that’s hurting baseball in Colorado, it’s the attitude.
The scoreboard says that what the Rockies are – and have been – doing simply isn’t working. It’s time for a totally new approach. It’s become clear that that will require brand new ownership.
In a perfect world, the Monforts could sell the majority of the team to someone like Mark Cuban (who has already been rejected by MLB owners…just using him as an example) who would be able to inject life – and capital – into the franchise. A new majority owner and a new front office with new ideas would allow the Rockies to be competitive on the field once again.
Off the field, the Monforts deserve to continue to be a part of the Rockies moving forward. They should keep ahold of a minority share of the franchise and all that surrounds it. They’ve earned that. They stepped up 30 years ago when the original ownership group was crumbling, and MLB was starting to look around at other places to put an expansion franchise. The Monforts have stayed the course and helped make Coors Field into one of the crown jewels of MLB. They will always have a place in Rockies lore.
But the past is the past, and for a brighter future, new blood, new ideas, new approaches, and new management is needed.
The terrible trade of Nolan Arenado drives that all home.
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