Entering the All-Star break, just three teams — the Phillies, Brewers and Marlins — have fewer wins than the Rockies, who find themselves 11 games out of contention in the National League West. With Colorado looking more and more like a deadline seller, here’s the latest out of Denver…
- In a mailbag piece, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post writes that he can envision Carlos Gonzalez, Charlie Blackmon, Wilin Rosario and John Axford being traded in the next two weeks. Though Nick Hundley appears to be a classic trade candidate — he’s hitting well in the first season of an affordable two-year deal — Saunders writes that he’s emerged as a strong presence in the clubhouse, which upper management may not want to lose. Blackmon would make an intriguing trade candidate, though his struggles against lefties and significant home/road splits throughout his career would seem like potential hindrances to his trade value, in my mind.
- Gonzalez, who has battled injuries frequently throughout his Rockies tenure, tells the Post’s Nick Groke that he’s healthy for the first time in a season and feels that his surgically repaired knee finally has the strength to allow him to wait on his back leg to adjust to breaking pitches. CarGo hit .464/.483/.929 with four doubles and three homers over the final week of the first half.
- Troy Tulowitzki’s name has been in trade rumors for years, and he addressed the constant speculation at yesterday’s All-Star festivities when meeting with the media. Via the L.A. Times’ Bill Shaikin, Tulo told reporters, “Right now, I’m still a Rockie. I’ve dealt with [trade rumors] for a couple years now. I’m still in a Rockies uniform. It is what it is.” Tulo went on to say that he feels the Rockies can eventually put a winner on the field, citing promising young teammates such as Nolan Arenado and DJ LeMahieu. Tulowitzki also went on to say that he takes “a lot of pride in staying in one organization.” Tulo called Derek Jeter his favorite player (the reason behind his No. 2 in Colorado) and discussed the possibility of staying Colorado forever. “Not too many guys get to do it in this day and age. It would be cool, when I am done playing, to say that I did that,” said Tulowitzki.
Tulo and Cargo to Mets for TWO young arms!
Not a mets fan, but I’d bet if it was asking for both guys the two arms would have to he Harvey and syndergaard
Umm.. unless its 2 of Thor, Matz, Harvey and DeGrom, I think the Rockies will pass. They could/should be able to get a pitcher of that caliber and then some for Tulo, and then they should be able to get a good package for CarGo once he starts hitting again/
I don’t think the rockies would pass on it, the mets wouldn’t entertain it based on both players age and track record
And that’s when Alderson would hang up laughing
Thats fine, you can’t get a perennial Allstar plus CarGo for 2 arms unless they are elite arms.
I was saying Alderson wouldn’t want two aging players with high salary and give up his top pitching prospects
Starlin castro is a perennial all star. Pretty lame narritive to use for trade value.
Not sure why people are downvoting Matthew. He’s right. CarGo isn’t worth as much as people think and he’s owed $37MM over the next two years (plus about $7MM this year). Tulo is excellent, but there are injury concerns and he’s owed a minimum of $98MM over the next five years (plus about $9MM this year).
So you’re getting 5.5 years of Tulo and 2.5 years of CarGo, or 8 years for $151MM. CarGo has been slightly above replacement level over his last 162 games. Tulo, again, is excellent, but he hasn’t played a full season in 4 years.
Harvey isn’t arb eligible for 1.5 more years, Wheeler for 2.5, deGrom isn’t for 3.5 years, Syndergaard/Matz for like 4. The Mets aren’t in ‘win-now’ mode; they’re interested in building sustained success. There is no reason they’d make this trade.
C’mon man, both Tulo/CarGo are incredible but when you factor in their ages, lengthy injury histories, and playing in the high-altitude of Coors (then playing at Citi Field…), this would be what gets Alderson fired…on second thought…pull the trigger, Sandy!
Rockies aren’t trading tulo… And probably not cargo either. Especially not with that owner
Aren’t the Rockies desperate ! How Many more Years before they make a Moves.
I think the only teams that are desperate are the ones trying to contend (Oakland last year) or teams trying to maximize the value of a player with less than 2 years left on his deal (price last year). Both tulo and cargo are locked up long term, so the Rockies have no reason to be pressured- They will make a deal only if they feel it benefits the team (which I would hardly think trading your two superstars for prospects, who are risky, helps the team).
They should keep one and trade the other, since the team honestly has too many holes to fill without making a major trade. An effective trade can completely revitalize a franchise.
The Mets must stay away from Tulo. He is a great guy and still have some flashes of brilliantism as a player. But i think that franchise already have horrendous enough experiences with albatrosses contracts for tnjury-prone veterans..
Mets should trade Harvey for Puig straight up!
This would be a really fun High-Risk/High-Reward Trade (for both sides).
The Mets would do it but I don’t think the Dodgers would.
And for CarGo. A Jon Niese type would be more than enough.
I don’t think so. Niese is a #3, best-case, and CarGo’s a power-hitting outfielder with a significant record of success. I’m sure the Rockies could get multiple prospects with higher upside for him.
I’m going to entertain the idea, as preposterous as I think it might be, but would COL be eating a majority/all of both Tulo/CarGo’s contracts? That would factor in to the quality of arms.
NYM wouldn’t trade Harvey for anything right now, considering he’s making less than Bonilla and it’s fully healed from TJ, which would be selling low.
Puig isn’t making a lot of money right now either, and he doesn’t have Scott Boras as his agent.
The Mets would do it in a heartbeat but I don’t see the Dodgers as willing partners. Puig is only 24 and has MVP-caliber upside. They can keep him and just sign Price or Cueto in the fall instead of giving him up. It’s the advantage of being rich.
You can tell all Tulo wants to do is be a Yankee….
For the Yankees Top three Prospects .
Do the Yankees have three top prospects?
Severino-16 Judge-54, but Yanks aren’t trading them for Tulo!
I Bet they Do!
Sugar Ray Cashman always likes to make Big Publicity Trades to get his name in the Papers .
Most of the big deals Cashman has rejected only to be over ridden by the upper administration.
Cargo to the blue jays makes sense, for a b prospect, and tulo to the mets for matz and Montero makes sense
Cargo to the Blue Jays makes sense? Don’t they need pitching? They already have the best offense in the game.
I considered that their outfield is a little banged up and having cargo as a dh/of would be even more support to their offense
Can Cargo pitch, because that’s what the Jays really need?
Absolutely not. Why would they trade low on cargo? And in case you forgot, tulo was in the lead for nl mvp at this point last year. Plus both are on team friendly deals. Pass.
If by “team-friendly” you mean “they come with a healthy insurance plan when they get injured”…then yes, they have “team-friendly” contracts.
By team friendly deals, I mean that they are getting considerably less than they would on the open market. And let’s not forget this either, performance isn’t the only thing that determines value. Upside is valuable, which is why all most fans would love to have cargo and tulo on their teams.
Tulo was also making a solid run at the disabled list. Pass.
For I feel l like the 85 kajillionth time … Rockies hitters’ home-road splits are meaningless as far as predicting how they’ll do on a another team. Evidence is overwhelming (just look at the guys who HAVE moved to another team) that the negative effect of adjusting to hitting at sea level 81 times a season balances out — actually outweighs — the positive of hitting at altitude the other 81 games. This is not a theory, it’s very well established, and yet it seems only the handful of people who actually watch Rockies games understand it.
Completely disagree. Who outside of holliday has sustained success?
And even Hollidays numbers are not Great !
Ellis Burks, Larry Walker, Juan Pierre, Juan Uribe, Preston Wilson, Seth Smith, Chris Iannetta just to name a few.
Just because the Rockies have had a couple of guys like Garrett Atkins and Brad Hawpe that just fell of the Earth after Denver doesn’t mean everyone does.
Cuddyer for a more recent example.
lol
I think the key is to not look at the raw numbers and look at the park adjusted stats like OPS+ or wRC+. Looking back over the last 10-12 years, I tried to find players who played a few years for the Rockies around their primes and also a few years for other teams. This is hardly scientific, but a quick look shows players like Holliday, Iannetta, Preston Wilson, Seth Smith and Fowler all had similar, if not better, park adjusted stats when they left Colorado. There were some players like Atkins and Hawpe who had much better numbers for the Rockies, but these guys were already starting to fall off before they left for other teams.
I don’t think this question is fair because most players that have left the Rockies have been on the downside of their careers and would see offensive decline due to age. Larry Walker did well after leaving…age considered. The early teams were built in scavenging other teams established players…Gallaraga, Walker, Castilla.
On the flip-side, some guys have career years in COL, like DJ LeMahieu. I also wonder about how well Corey Dickerson would do outside of COL (he hits 99 AVG pts higher at home for his career (3 yrs)). There’s more guys that hit at an above-average rate at home in COL than guys who find the same success outside of COL.
to try and deny or minimize the advantage of hitting in Denver is just not realistic. Todd Helton was a .345 hitter at home and a .287 hitter on the road, with nearly 100 more HR’s and 300 more rbi’s at Coors. That’s no accident. Andres Gallaraga had marginal success with the Expos hitting .269 over eight years with a .432 slugging percentage. In Denver? Andres was .316/.577. A pretty major difference. Vinny Castilla? in his last five years at Denver before leaving as a FA, Vin averaged nearly 40 HR and about 115rbi’s. After going to TB and flopping and some moderate success with the Astros and Braves, Vin returned to Denver and hit 35hr and drove in 131 runs at age 36! Dante Bichette hit nearly .360 in Denver with a .640 slugging percentage! Away from Colorado–.243. Larry Walker hit .381 in Denver and a slugging pct of over 700. Holliday has had some nice years in STL but he was better in Denver. Nefi Perez? .282 as a Rockie and nothing close the rest of his career. Tulo? 323 vs 276 average…slugging: .561 vs .467. Stats don’t lie.
I guess that’s why Colorado has had problems attracting and keeping FA Pitchers !
Angels need Cargo so bad … perfect fit.
Angels have no pitching prospects though..
I hope you’re joking… The Angels are flush with pitching prospects.
Would hardly call 2 guys being flush. With heaney now in the big league rotation.
Nobody worth cargo
So when is CarGo GOing to be traded?
I wonder what the Rockies would get for him.
Quite frankly, I think it would be good for the league if he was.
I know if he’s traded to the O’s just think how many Jersey’s would be bought.
Rockies have no rush. They may as well at least wait for cargo to reestablish his value before trading him. Nobody is going to get him for salary relief and a B prospect. Not with that owner (has openly stated he will not trade his stars). The Rockies owner even refused a de la rosa trade last year
Might not seem tangible on casual observation, but the Rockies have some talent on the roster and swirling in the minors. If they could possibly land a front line starter and Gray and Butler devlop behind him…they could be competitive. The offense has generally been there when they can keep players on the field…but of course the pitching has been atrocious….. and it’s not all altitude induced.
They’ll need to make a trade to land an established starter, because there’s not much chance they’ll land anyone in the winter. If they can develop at least 3 quality starters from within then landing another solid one in a trade makes sense.
COL is at a disadvantage. They won’t land a front-line starter through free agency – what SP wants to the high-altitude? We can call this – The Mike Hampton Rule. And they don’t want to trade their aging superstars with large contracts.
They could conceivably try and get Shields at the moment from SD. Hamels has trade protection. They are certainly at a disadvantage.. And they would be even if they were competing.. They must have the arms come from within…but to jump start anything theyd need to make a trade
They could also take the route of trying to acquire someone like James Paxton from Seattle. A pitcher that’s still controllable and relatively cheap, yet still a bit ahead of their in house prospects. I’d found a Tulo deal to Seattle possible in the past, but maybe not so much now.
Tulo injury history has made his value drop, that and his contract.
that and the Coors effect. If you trade for Tulo, you can’t expect the numbers he produced in Denver that led to that huge contract.
OK, drop him back some value…add maybe a shift in the future to 3B or 1B….you STILL have some incredible WAR value there…he’s worth something. The holdup in deals isn’t his ability away from Coors, its his health