Morales & Reynolds have already done so. It’s Hirsh’s turn.

He’s pitched in the big leagues for 2 teams over 2 years. He’s not a young rookie who’ll be ruined at this point. ABW—anyone but Wells.

draft picks are actually the undesired result for a number of reasons:

1. Arbitration is not a guarantee-

Fuentes wants to close and so long as he’s in Colorado he probably will. What happens when Fuentes reaches the early free agent period, notices that people aren’t coming close to match his desires of money and opportunity, and then sees that Colorado could pay him 8-10 mil for one year as their closer? Having Fuentes around isn’t a bad thing, but at that price it would be. Say good bye to some of the Holliday budget, or starter upgrade budget. Fuentes accepting arbitration is a potential problem.

2. Draft picks are likely to be 2-3 years further away than acquired assets-

Even if you trade for the equivalent of two top fifty dradft picks, you are likely getting them from Double A, where they’ve already made two performance leaps from low A to High A, then High A to AA. It’s easier to foresee their impact, and their impact could come rather quickly. For a team looking at contending for the next couple of years, that should be high priority.

3. The Rockies are simply lousy with picks in this range-

For a team with a fairly fruitful farm system, their selections between the sup first and second round have not been good of late. From 2004, a quick look:

‘04 2nd, Seth Smith- Seth has been a borderline organizational top ten for a few seasons, but the power has never arrived, and at 25 going on 26, the future looks like fourth outfielder.

‘05 sup 1st, Chaz Roe- Still plenty of talent here, but never took the big leap in stuff, and slightly above average fastball makes him a likely 3-5th starter, 5th being the more likely scenario. Really getting bombed lately after a decent start.

‘05 2nd, Zach Simons- Bombed as a starter, slightly better in relief, moved for Grilli. Getting Grilli has been good, but trading Fuentes for two future Grilli’s doesn’t seem like the same bang for your buck.

‘05 2nd, Daniel Carte- Strictly average in Tulsa, with little hope for a shot as a fourth outfielder. No special tool other than playing the game hard. Time will probably run out before the Rockies are willing to take a look.

‘06 2nd, Daniel Christensen- So far, the biggest flop, as Christensen has a serious allergy to contact. Has shown flashes over the last two months, but flashes aren’t enough to make him a prospect.

‘07 2nd, Brian Rike- Suffers from same allergy as Christensen, and Rike’s power isn’t showing up consistently enough (only 7 doubles?). Still has interesting tools, but knowing what we know now, he looks more like a fifth rounder than a second rounder.

‘08 2nd, Charlie Blackmon- Obviously jury’s out, but I’m not a fan of the profile of a 2 year old outfield convert. Beyond average, his current rookie ball campaign can’t be considered successful at his age. Still, probably pointless to judge before trying Asheville, but can we not get a home run before the year’s out Charlie?

There are a couple of trends you can spot in the players above, but the one I want to stress is that none of these guys were really considered guys that slipped to these spots, but maybe guys that Colorado may have reached on. With little proof that the Rockies are willing to spend more money on two additional draft picks, I don’t believe giving Colorado these picks can be seen as getting two of the top fifty players in next year’s draft.

That last reason is probably why I’m not liking the appearance of the Rockies floating high prices on these guys. I’m not sure of the truth behind the rumor, but it’s nonetheless an embarassing notion that Clay Buccholz was requested for Fuentes. Unreasonably high demands cost Bowden good years in Tampa, and Littlefield the same in Pittsburgh.

If there really is no equivalent to two draft picks out there in trade, than no Brian shouldn’t be dealt. But there’s no way that’s the case. If the Rockies remain stubborn and take Fuentes to arbitration at year’s end, I will still consider this a failure on their part for not finding an avenue to put the club in a better situation in the near future.

A quality trade is out there, and I do expect we’ll find it. If not, we still have a new bushel of aspiring fifth outfielders to look forward to…

You have some good points but to clarify I really don’t think Holliday has been embraced by the fans. My wife thinks he is good looking but come on…who builds a team for looks! And by the way what is Holliday going to say with years left on his contract…trade me? Of course he is going to play the game and say all the right things but don’t think Boras isn’t in his ear telling him how to land a gazillion dollar per year contract.

What I meant by big stars is that very rarely do teams win with one outstanding star win championships. Manny had Pedro, Ortiz, Beckett, and what not. I would love to keep this team intact but the Monforts don’t have another 20 – 40 million dollars to spend to keep it together. What is wrong with the A’s.? They are competitive, they win, they are in the hunt year in and year out. Guess you need to decide do you like personalities (i.e. players) or your team. Like I said are you going to remember Holliday or a World Series title? If players had more commitment to a city I would definately want to keep our talent but they are all hired guns. Very little loyalty…

The only reason I would put Stewart in LF is that Atkins certainly isn’t going there!

I am sure that the money saved on Holliday could be put to good use. No more Kips or Vizcainos but real relief. In addition it would be nice to have the cash lying around to find that final piece in late July.

Argument made.