7:09pm: Gonzalez went on-record with Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post to deny that he is interested in being traded by the Rockies. “Nothing is true, because, obviously I haven’t talked to anybody and haven’t said that to anybody. Not my wife or my kids or my mom,” said Gonzalez when asked if he wanted out of Denver. “Whenever I get home, I’m frustrated because maybe I didn’t do well, or we didn’t win the game, but I never complain about it … or say I want to go somewhere else.”
Gonzalez went on to praise the Rockies’ emerging core of young players, mentioning Trevor Story and Jon Gray by name and saying that he wants to be a part of the next contending Rockies club. “I have been here for a lot of bad moments and tough situations, so I want to see the bright (side),” he told Saunders. “I want to be here when that happens.”
4:02pm: Heyman now tweets clarification that Gonzalez is amenable to a trade but hasn’t had a meeting with team officials on the matter. Rockies GM Jeff Bridich denied that a meeting took place when asked by SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo (links to Twitter), adding that he’s never had a strong desire to deal his star outfielder and will be “patient as it pertains to the deadline.”
12:25pm: Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez “expressed an interest” in being dealt in a recent meeting with the Rockies’ front office, Jon Heyman of todaysknuckleball.com reports. Colorado could explore deals for both CarGo and fellow outfielder Charlie Blackmon this summer, per the report.
Gonzalez, 30, is running up a .319/.368/.556 batting line with 18 long balls on the year. While you have to discount that somewhat for his home-field advantage at Coors, there’s little question that he’d be a premium offensive asset on the trade market. With a $17MM salary this year and $20MM due for 2017, Gonzalez isn’t cheap — but he does come with a much more affordable contract than he’d command on the open market. Despite his variety of past injury problems, Gonzalez has been healthy in 2016 and doesn’t come with a hugely lengthy contract commitment.
The team has received similar production from Blackmon, who is hitting .305/.371/.496 with a dozen home runs and eight stolen bases. Though he isn’t running as much as he did last year, and is considered more of an average defensive center fielder than a top-flight glove-man, there’s plenty of value here. That’s all the more true given Blackmon’s reasonable $3.5MM salary and two future years of control. He’d quite likely be the premier center field-capable player available.
It’s worth bearing in mind that the club is far from committed to a selling posture, let alone parting with either or both of these core players. Colorado is on the outskirts of the playoff picture, but Heyman suggests that there’s some encouragement on the team’s ability to compete.
Still, there’s a big gulf separating the Rox from the division-leading Giants, and it seems that Gonzalez isn’t sanguine about the organization’s chances. Per Heyman, he’s increasingly frustrated at the club’s performance and wants to play for a winning club.
Rockies GM Jeff Bridich has already shown a willingness to part with well-loved superstars, as he shipped out shortstop Troy Tulowitzki last summer in a bid to bolster the team’s stock of young pitching. Certainly, both Gonzalez and Blackmon would profile as major assets that should draw top-quality prospects if they follow Tulo out the door.
elf
I hope one of the 15 GM-types in the Dodgers’ front office is reading this…
gillyking
@elf… Last thing you want is to give up a valuable package to acquire CarGo for the next 11/2 seasons. He can’t hit his backside with a base fiddle in Dodger Stadium. His road splits make him slightly better than mediocre actually. His injury history compounds why I’d stay away from him.
chieftoto
11/2 is, one sec gotta grab my calculator, uhhhh, 5.5! Hah, math….
AidanVega123
For those wondering, Cargo is still hitting a steady .279 away from Coors this season, but only has 5 homers.
mikeyst13
.365/.405/.723 line at home, .279/.337/.413 on the road, Last 3 years his totals are .298/.359/.594 home .251/.305/.475 on the road. He simply is not the same player away from Coors. Not that he is a horrible player away from home, but the Rockies are sure to have a high price on him and between the splits and his injury history it should be enough to scare teams.
mrnatewalter
I’d still be interested to see what he could do outside of Coors. Perhaps acclimating to an environment where he plays all but 3-10 games outside of Denver’s elevation could help him recover some of his real potential. Who knows?
seamaholic 2
I feel like I just cut and paste this every time a Rockies hitter comes up in conversation, but I don’t give up easy, so ,,,,
First of all, never ever evaluate a player by looking at only one of his home/road splits. To pick a few examples at random: David Ortiz is a barely above average hitter for his career, on the road. Jose Fernandez has a near-4 ERA on the road, for his career. You just don’t do that.
On top of that, Rockies are a special case because the cause of the extremeness of their home park isn’t the park. It’s the the altitude. It’s apples and oranges to compare them to other teams’ players because they’re quite literally playing a different game depending on whether they’re at home or on the road. The ball breaks completely differently, and certain pitches are unusable. The adjustment period for Rockies players after they finish a homestand is brutal (check their record in games immediately following home stands; it’s awful).
Generally, Rockies hitters who have left the team have hit just about the same, overall, as they did as Rockies. But with a lesser split. Some (Dexter Fowler comes to mind) have hit even better).
Finally, if you’re going to judge Rockies hitters by their road splits, you have to judge Rockies pitchers by their road splits too. And by that standard, the best pitcher in baseball this year (1..30 ERA) is Tyler Chatwood.
JrodFunk5
Cargo career home 119HRs/997ops, road 75 HRs 751 ops
Ortiz career home 231HRs/965ops, road 292HRs/896ops
Fernandez 63 career starts (small sample size)
Who left and hit comparably elsewhere? Certainly not Tulo or Dickerson yet. Not Matt Holliday. And then there is Bichette, Larry Walker, Gallaragga, Ellis Burks, Vinny Castilla etc. who were significantly better hitters with the Rockies.
mikeyst13
Oritz’s career line is .306/.401/.564 at home and .266/.368/..538 on the road. Sure the average is lower, but the slugging is almost identical, not even close to the .125 difference of CarGo. Plus Ortiz is a bad example since he also plays in a hitter friendly park.
How has Tulo faired since his move? He was a career .300 hitter with a .900 OPS. in Toronto he has slashed .239/.317/.380 and .235/.314/.465. Not even close. Fowler I’m not sure got “better”. Until this year his average was about the same and his OBP and SLG had both declined which is going to be much more prevalent in a power guy like CarGo than it was in Fowler. Even Matt Holiday, who was still great in STL only had one year where he really touched the numbers of his last 3 seasons in Colorado, but he never had drastic splits to begin with.
As for your pitcher argument, of course if I was talking trades for a pitcher from the Rox I would look heavily at their road splits instead of their overall numbers and yes a guy like Chatwood jumps dramatically on value, but how does that have anything to with a CarGo trade?
chieftoto
Cargo also hits in a hitter friendly park.
Ray Ray
I’ve tried to explain the same thing many times, but some people just won’t listen. I’m tired of trying.
Ray Ray
Yes the Rockies play in a hitters park and of course every hitter in the league would have better numbers playing there. But that doesn’t make a Rockies player worthless playing somewhere else.
Besides H/R splits are always going to be unfair to Rockies hitters because they are the only team in the league that doesn’t get to include Coors Field stats in their road line. Dodgers, Giants, and Padres hitters get 10 out 81 games or about 12% of their road line from Coors games. Rockies hitters get 30 out of 81 games or about 38% of their road line from games in SD, LA, and SF, three of the toughest parks for hitters in the league. It’s not always just as simple as looking at two numbers and saying oh he is bad because his road numbers are bad.
mikeyst13
I never said he was bad, but his splits are extremely exaggerated even for a Rockies player. All I said was his splits and injury history may make scare teams off of what I’m sure would be a very high asking price. If you’re going to send the kind of prospect package that he would probably demand you have to be sure what you are getting. If you look across the board at the guys that have been top tier OFs the last 5 years or so (Trout, Harper, Cespedes Stanton, Braun, Beltran, Jones,etc) their splits are pretty even. And most of those guys hardly ever play at Coors.
User 4245925809
Not nearly as hitter friendly as is Fenway, even for LH hitters like Ortiz and Yaz was many years ago who learned to go the other way to the Green Monster. Ortiz is currently 11th All Time on doubles list, needs only 6 more for 10th. Yaz finished up at 8th. Both had/have 600+ and many were inside out swings peppered off the monster.
staypuft
But it is the park too. The outfield is massive. It’s so much ground for outfielders to cover that lots of balls drop for hits and go up the gaps.
davidcoonce74
To be fair, Galarraga’s best year may have come with Atlanta. But you also forgot Garret Atkins, Clint Barmes, and Brad Hawpe as utter failures away from Coors.
davidcoonce74
It’s interesting you write that about Rockies pitchers because I actually can’t think of a pitcher who has left the Rockies and been successful elsewhere. Drew Pomeranz is starting to look like one. I thought Ubaldo would be one but he’s been awful since leaving Colorado. I just wonder if playing at altitude half your games just messes with your mechanics or mental approach to the game.
jammin502
I wonder if the Cubs have any interest in CarGo or Blackmon.? They are dealing with a lot of injuries in their OF right now. Dan Vogelbach 1B could be a candidate to destroy balls at Coors field! Cubs have deep farm to delve into, though they will also be trying to update their bullpen.
jp08
Rockies could entertain that idea with mark Reynolds at first…
Yamsi12
Angels trade shoemaker or santiago, cron and anyone they want from our crappy farm system.
ronnsnow
That would be a terrible move on the Angels part…so it will probably happen.
angelsinthetroutfield
I sure as hell hope not. Pretty much the last thing the Angels need is an expensive LFer
Philliesfan4life
If the angels were contending , I would like the trade
angelsfansince74
The Angels would have to send Calhoun to the Rockies along with Cron. And the Rockies would want Tripono or Evens and probably Bandy or Perez for CarGo. I would make that trade only if the Rockies add their double A third baseman who is killing the ball
bradthebluefish
Colorado could keep CarGo another season and see if they can be competitive next season after acquiring reinforcements this offseason. He’d still get plenty of value mid season next year.
bradthebluefish
Personally, I would sell. Get what you can for him now and sign someone onto a pillow contract (e.g. Josh Reddick, Carlos Gomez) if you are in need of more hitting for next season.
smelliott00
CarGo would certainly be a hot commodity on the trade market this summer. I could see the Indians as a really good fit for him or maybe even the Cardinals if they want to provide a spark and put him or Piscotty in center field.
Ken M.
Crickey…. how are we suppose to keep up with who Heyman is writing for week to week??
ChiSoxCity
CarGo would be a perfect fit in right field for the White Sox.
chitown311
While I don’t necessarily disagree with you, taking Adam Eaton out of RF where he has been, at least numbers-wise, the best OF in baseball, and putting him in CF would be a regression defensively. Adding CarGo to that lineup would help a lot though. I think what they should look at is trading for Blackmon. He’s relatively cheap, and comes with 2 more years of control. The problem is that Colorado will be asking for a lot more for Blackmon because of that. CarGo would be more or less a salary dump.
ChiSoxCity
You have to look at the big picture. Individually, Eaton plays great defense in right field. But as a team, they’re struggling to score runs, and are basically a .500 team at best as a result. Defensively, the Sox rank 2nd in the AL, but are a .500 team. So the big picture says, add a power bat in the outfield to generate more run production. Eaton slots into centerfield just fine, and CarGo plays capable defense while outproducing the White Sox’s entire outfield in homeruns while adding 100 Rbi’s, and a .300 batting average per year. Adding a bat in right field is the surest, quickest way to winning more games for the team.
ThatGuy 2
Why not play cargo in left?
smelliott00
CarGo would certainly be a hot commodity on this years trade market. I could see the Indians as a really solid fit for him, or maybe even the Cardinals if they want to slide him or Piscotty to center field to provide a spark. Gonzalez could then slide to left to fill Holliday’s absence of St. Louis does not pick up his option.
A'sfaninUK
“While you have to discount that somewhat for his home-field advantage at Coors”
We all have access to his splits, so why not post them? He’s got a 1.128 OPS at Coors and .750 everywhere else. Blackmon has a .943 OPS at Coors and .806 away.
mrnatewalter
If everyone has access to them, there’s no need to post them. We can look them up ourselves.
Kayrall
I wonder what the average drop-off is for players in the game and how far his splits deviate.
Z-A 2
i remembering wanting CarGo to get traded to my team – Phillies fan 2011
Ravens_Last_Place
I remember when the Phillies had the “best fans” in all of baseball. Fans were suddenly very interested, selling out every game. Then after about 3 or 4 good seasons, the Phillies quickly got old, slow and injured. Then the “best fans” quit coming. Funny how that happens so often in Philadelphia.
WAH1447
Philly fans are the worst, it’s good thing all their sports teams suck
oofa
The Flyers were in the playoffs, Eagles were a game out…
halos101
Eagles were in a horrible division. And what about Phillies and Sixers…
oofa
Phillies aren’t great, but t they don’t suck. They’re six games under when everyone thought they’d be 20+ below. Didn’t say Sixers were good, I know they’re putrid, but I hate basketball so I couldn’t care less about them. The Eagles made no sense (fyi i know The división Washington awful) becarse they gota blown out by the Bucs and Lions but mashed the Patriots.
ChiSoxCity
Philadelphia has the most classless, irrational, ignorant sports fans in America.
Brixton
2 things:
1.) There are good Philadelphia fans too.
2.) You’re a Chicago fan, who is right behind Philadelphia in the “worst fans” conversation
staypuft
Didn’t a white sox fan attack (or try to attack) an umpire on the field? Every team has bad fans. Except for the Marlins; they have no fans.
oofa
Well suddenly the All Star ballot looked like a Royals fan’s ballot from last year. Addison Russell over Corey Seager, really. Dexter Fowler, who’s on the DL over Marcell Ozuna, really.
oofa
Philly has one of the most intelligent fan bases in sports. Some drunk fans do stupid stuff, then you and the media try to make it as if Philadelphia as a whole performed the crime, not one fan. Pull up a story of a Philly fan killing someone on the premises, then I’ll place a bad fan base label on us.
baseball10
Rockies should definitely move one of the two. The Tulo trade was finally the breaking point for them rebuilding and with plenty of solid pieces already in place it will only boost their future outlook. I just feel sorry for the poor pitchers that get sent there
oofa
Funny how the attendance at the game I went to the other day had a crowd of over 40,000. Philly fans show their displeasure towards a bad team by watching their games at home. At least they don’t suddenly root for World Series winners…
n888
Amenable*
Voice of Reason
Cargo isn’t worth $10 million a year away from Denver. Unless the Rockies are eating some paper cargo ain’t going anywhere
halos101
your crazy if you actually believe cargo isn’t worth 10 mill away from coors
Ray Ray
He is called the voice of reason, not the voice of intelligence. : )
mlb_91
TRADE HIM TO THE WHITE SOX FOR AVI GARCIA, DANISH , COATS, AND MAY I THINK THATS GOOD ENOUGH TARDE AND HE WOULD BE ABLE TO HIT AT US CELLULAR EASILY
ChiSoxCity
They might want Fulmer instead of Danish. I’d trade Avi for a bag of balls at this point.
mlb_91
I will not trade fulmer at all he can help in the bullpen later in the year
formerjuicer
No Fulmer, no deal. That’s the only good asset in the Sox system
mlb_91
U can trade jordan guerrero instead
Connorsoxfan
Please calm down.
Snorgator
You just named all the busts/slumping players on a below .500 team
Nola Di Bari 67
Do you really think Colorado would even be interested in our, well, garbage for Cargo! I’d rather have Charlie Blackmon, anyway. Put him in center and keep Eaton in RF.
mlb_91
Your right ill take blackmon too over cargo but white sox are after cargo more idk why when blackmon has more years of control
notagain27
If the Rockies do in fact trade Cargo, the front office would be sending a sign to their fans that they have no intention of contending for a couple of years.
mlb_91
They are not gonna contend no matter if they keep him either not enough pitching
jimp1968
First of all it’s getting old listening to folks bash Rockies hitters and not even consider that home versus road splits for MANY star players are significantly different… Yankees stadium is giving up more home runs than coors field… I don’t see Phillies hitters being bashed for playing in a launch pad… Trevor story of the Rockies as of this point has hit 21 home runs… 11 ON THE ROAD… And are you kidding me with Larry walker and Matt holiday??????… And tulo hasn’t even had the chance to play a full season in Toronto and has even had slow starts in Colorado… Not to mention he has battled early injuries this season
BlueSkyLA
“Deny the fact?” Is that what you really meant, Jeff?