Colorado Rockies: Worst Organization In Baseball.
Someone explain what the Rockies are doing?
The Colorado Rockies decided to give Kris Bryant a 7/182M dollar contract to give Rockies fans a reason to come to the ballpark. This is an organization that has developed some stars but has managed to not keep any of them. It’s an organization with zero direction.
February 26, 2019 was supposed to be a huge day for the Colorado Rockies. They agreed to keep Nolan Arenado in a Rockies uniform for 8 more years and were willing to pay the largest AAV for a position player in the history of the game. Rockies ownership were declaring that Nolan Arenado was the player that they were going to build around for the future. Less than two years later, Arenado was sent to the St. Louis Cardinals along with 50M to get rid of him. A homegrown superstar just given away. Someone explain the logic?
DJ LeMahieu was a 2-time All-Star and a former batting champ in his 7 years with the Colorado Rockies. The genius Rockies decided they could let the second baseman walk and signed Daniel Murphy to a 2/24M dollar contract. Murphy produced a -1 WAR during his 2 years in Colorado, while missing 50 games in those 2 seasons. All DJ LeMahieu did was finish 3rd and 4th in the MVP race, won a batting title, and produced a 7.9 WAR in those same 2 seasons. Oh, and the Yankees signed LeMahieu to a 2/24M dollar deal, the same as Murphy. Someone explain the logic?
The Colorado Rockies drafted and developed Trevor Story. He has been one of the better shortstops in the league, eighth in fWAR (21.6) since his debut in 2016. The SS position is absolutely loaded in today's game so being ranked 8th is an accomplishment. The Rockies did not show any desire to lock him up long term. They decided to keep him at the trade deadline while they were playing meaningless games in August and September. A contending team would have parted with an above average prospect to help rebuild the 24th ranked farm system according to Baseball America. The Rockies did the same thing with Jon Gray and wasted an opportunity to move him for a prospect. He signed a 4/56M dollar deal with the Rangers. Someone saw value in him, just not the Rockies.
All of these moves showed me that the Rockies were going into a complete rebuild. Then they signed Kris Bryant to a massive deal. Now, I acknowledge that Jeff Bridich made the decision to get rid of Arenado and he is no longer there. Bill Schmidt is now executing his vision for the Rockies so I do not blame him. The Monfort brothers deserve all of the blame. Getting rid of a player like Arenado does not happen without the support of the owner, and I would guess they encouraged it and then blamed Bridich.
There is no excuse for the numerous errors made by the Rockies ownership group. There is no way they can spin this for their fans. I feel terrible for their fans. Signing Kris Bryant just makes the wounds burn even more, because Bryant will remind them of what they once had. The Colorado Rockies are the worst organization in baseball, maybe even in sports.
I'm wondering what good ownership & good leadership could do in Colorado. I think it would be a tremendous challenge to build the Rockies into a consistent contender the way the Rays are in Tampa, but I don't believe it's impossible. It would take a unique vision, patience, persistence, & a willingness to have the Courage to make some moves to trade players of value for both Major League ready players as well as continually restocking their farm system. The other thing that probably needs to happen is to have a unique food chemistry & fitness regimen for their players since the altitude affects players ability to recover & to avoid injury or poor performance when they play in away parks without any altitude. I think they'd have to think outside the box. What other sport has to deal with performing at a high level in altitude & also at sea level? Professional cycling.. Just think of the Tour De France & other high profile cycling races. If the trainers in those sports can get guys to remain healthy, recover quickly, & perform at a high level at altitude & also at sea level, I believe it's possible for the Rockies to find things that would work for their players by stepping outside of baseball and learning from their cycling brethren. Just sharing a few thoughts outside the box.