Hernandez remains a Rockie because O'Dowd values him too much
The Rockies are not going to the make the playoffs. Breaking news at 10pm!
For the past few weeks there have been many Rockies fans who wanted to see the team unload some players and hopefully get something in return. The problem is the Rockies don’t have anything that any other GM in his right mind would want.
The list of players fans thought the team should move included Marco Scutaro, Michael Cuddyer, Rafael Betancourt, Ramon Hernandez, Jeremy Guthrie, Jason Giambi, Jeff Francis, any other middle reliever and maybe a guy like Chris Nelson.
Well, the non-waiver trade deadline has come and gone and the Rockies were silent today.
Guthrie was traded last week and Scutaro was traded on Saturday. These two trades did not yield much in return for the Rockies.
For Guthrie the Rockies got Jonathan Sanchez and in his first two starts for the Rockies he has pitched only 8 1/3 innings allowing 11 earned runs (three home runs). With Kansas City Guthrie has also made two starts and also allowed 11 earned runs (and three home runs) but has pitched 10 1/3 innings. It was simply a trash for trash trade. Both teams had to hope that a change in scenery would help the pitcher they were receiving. So far that has not been the case for neither squad.
For Scutaro the Rockies obtained 23 year old second base prospect Charlie Culberson. Culberson was a very late first round draft pick in 2007 (51st) and has yet to appear on any sort of list that ranks the top prospects in the minor leagues. In over 2500 plate appearances spanning six minor league seasons Culberson’s career triple slash is .258/.310/.379. Doubtful this kid ever plays in Coors Field.
The biggest benefit for these two trades for the Rockies is that they saved about $3 million.
The only guys that were rumored to be talked about over the past few days were Betancourt, Hernandez and Matt Reynolds. The Hernandez rumors were squashed because the Rockies asking price was too high. Not sure what Dan O’Dowd sees – ever – but apparently he overvalues Hernandez because those rumors died pretty quickly. It was not reported why Reynolds or Betancourt were not moved.
Let’s face it: the Rockies roster is basically trash and there isn’t much in the big leagues that anyone else wants. Carlos Gonzalez and Dexter Fowler would be the only two guys who would fetch a nice return and the Rockies aren’t moving either of them. No one wants old Giambi (especially if he is sick) or broken Hernandez. Francis is a retread that no team needs and the younger role players on the Rockies barely hit at Coors Field so why would any team think they will hit outside of Coors Field?
The Rockies are in a bad place. If they are looking to rebuild then they need to move someone like CarGo, but that would devastate the fan base. There isn’t anything else on the roster besides the untouchable three (Troy Tulowitzki being the third) that would bring back enough in return to start to stock the Rockies minor leagues. With the poor reports of Nolan Arenado this year the Rockies don’t even have much in their minor leagues to look forward to in the coming seasons. The fact that there weren’t any moves before today’s deadline is just another disappointment in the O’Dowd era.
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9 comments
Seth
July 31, 2012 at 5:14 PM (UTC -6)
Huge disappointment! I dont mind the Scutaro trade as I dont think we could have gotten anything more than Culberson back. I also saw that Culberson was the 6th best prospect for the Giants and the 8th ranked 2nd baseman in the minors according to MLB.com. So he could be decent but I am not expecting greatness from him as I think Rutledge is better. I am baffled that we did not move Hernandez for a couple of reasons. I think Rosario needs to play every day with the occasional off day. I understand that he has a pretty big contract for a back up catcher now making 3.2 million. I think if it was a one year deal and he became a free agent at the end of the season he gets moved but the fact that he is still owed for this year along with next year kind of made him unmovable as a guy who teams do not see as an everyday catcher anymore. I think Nieves is a better option and cheaper as a backup catcher to Rosario. But now Nieves had a clause in his contract (I think) that said if he was not with the major league team by August 1, he will be released so now we have lost him for nothing and are stuck with paying Hernandez to just be a mentor. I am glad they did not trade Belisle, and I dont mind Betancourt staying as he still has good value.
Furthermore, I think the reason why the Rockies are in the position they are in now is because our lack of drafts. If Friedrich and Matzek flame out the Rockies would be 0-4 for first round draft picks from 2006-2009, thats flat out awful. Now there is still a long way to go in the developement of Friedrich, Matzek, Arenado, and many others but from the looks of it, its not good. Lets hope the past two years and this next year bring some solid good players but I doubt it with Odowd. Dodgers and Giants consistently get better and we are stuck at the bottom.
JD
August 1, 2012 at 12:08 AM (UTC -6)
Of course the drafting is a big problem. The Drafter-in-Chief is terrible, as he’s terrible in every other area.
Simone
July 31, 2012 at 5:30 PM (UTC -6)
I’m just glad for the Olympics. I can actually watch a sporting event(s) without feeling like I want to chuck my beer at the TV.
Can we just change the subject for the remainder of the season? Let’s talk about the Colorado Rapids or something…
CodenameDuchess
July 31, 2012 at 7:35 PM (UTC -6)
Pretty bummed that they didn’t make any last minute moves. Was particularly hoping they could ship out Cuddyer (I like the guy I just think he is over paid and standing in the way of a true overhaul) or Betancourt as I thought they could at least get a decent prospect or two out of those guys.
That said can we calm down with the “we only have 3 good pieces and we must trade them!” talk? We don’t need 8 all star position players to compete.
The current state of the union….
3 rock stars (no pun intended) – Tulo, Cargo, Dexter
2 legitmate major league contributors – Cuddyer, Colvin (We won the NL with Hawpe and Atkins and I’ll take the current iteration)
2 exciting prospects – Rosario, Rutledge
We’re still soft at 3B and I rather convert Rosario to 1B or 3B while moving Cuddyer for prospects but I still think that a new manager and a new gm can do something with that core. The pitching situation is a different issue but as other commenters have pointed out, the pitching staff is extremely young.
JD
August 1, 2012 at 12:06 AM (UTC -6)
“Young” is overused as an excuse for “sucky”. There are other teams with young staffs, and they’re GOOD.
The article has it right. There is no talent in the system. Nothing to trade. Nothing coming up from the minors. The cupboard is bare. O’Dowd must go!
A good pitching staff could contend with our current positional roster, but we don’t have one, or anything close, so we should be looking to improve in every area. Moving Cuddyer would help with that, but O’Dowd needs to claim his signing as a smart move for his resume, so for now it’s “look, I found a replacement for Helton!”
Dan
August 1, 2012 at 9:39 AM (UTC -6)
Have to agree with the article. The present roster is awful and the future doesn’t look much brighter. I can only hope O’Dowd is let go and Momfort brings in a new president and a new GM to get the ship headed in the right direction. What a mess. Hard to believe the Rockies were being picked to reach the World Series last year!!
BA Baracus
August 1, 2012 at 10:01 AM (UTC -6)
Since the Rockies are obviously playing for good draft position (for whatever reason), are there any Stephen Strasburgs or Bryce Harpers out there to draft #1? In other words talent so obvious even DOD can identify it.
Brendan Giles
August 1, 2012 at 10:10 AM (UTC -6)
Not that I have heard of, but here is a break down from MLB.com: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120606&content_id=32871134&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb
Mark Appel will also be available after failing to sign with Pittsburgh, but I have a hard time believing he will be drafted in the top 3 after demanding that the drafting team give up their revenue sharing dollars and next year’s pick for the honor of giving him millions.
Travis Lay
August 1, 2012 at 11:12 AM (UTC -6)
How come I have a feeling that when/if the Rockies get the #1 overall pick Dan O’Dowd would manage to draft a guy who is noted as “# Retired without playing a game in the MLB”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_first_overall_Major_League_Baseball_draft_picks