Could Gordon Beckham be a fit for the Colorado Rockies?
by Andrew Martin on Nov 11, 2010 2:06 PM MST
in Transactions & Rumors
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PrintAccording to Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports, there is talk that the Chicago White Sox could be willing to take offers on 24-year old 2B Gordon Beckham. Given the snafu at 2B, the Colorado Rockies could be a potential suitor.
Beckham, a former first-round pick out of the University of Georgia, found his way to the majors with Chicago in 2009 after posting a combined .322/.375/.519 line through 3 minor league levels.
Since arriving in the majors, Beckham has been a mixed bag as far as performance goes. In 2009, Beckham impressed by batting .270/.347/.460 over 103 games while playing what grades out be roughly average defense at 2B. In 2010, however, Beckham stumbled mightily out of the gates with a .216/.277/.304 pre-All-Star break line. He did rebound after the break, however, to the tune of .310/.380/.497.
While having a surefire player at the 2B position, the Rockies could more easily decide the fates of potential bench players Jonathan Herrera and Eric Young Jr., but the Rockies have their own former-first-round pick who could take the job in Chris Nelson.
Nelson, while projecting high out of the draft, found himself plagued by countless injuries at all levels of the minors. Most recently, Nelson batted .313/.376/.492 in 85 AAA games and .280/.308/.320 scattered across 27 MLB Plate Appearances. Although unproven, Nelson still projects higher than his competition at the position.
The question for Colorado will be if they trust their own internal candidates enough to not make a phone call to White Sox GM Kenny Williams, or if they value Beckham's potential enough to come up with a package of top flight prospects.
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Not that they should keep up with every bit of Rockies' news
but MLBTR summed up the Rockies’ potential interest thusly:
Rockies – If the Rockies non-tender Clint Barmes, they could have interest in Beckham.
Has everyone jumped the gun that Barmes will be non-tendered with the possibility of being re-signed? Or is this really as obvious as Punto’s option being declined?
it's obvious
he’d make way too much in arb to rationalize offering it.
by Andrew Martin on Nov 11, 2010 1:36 PM MST up reply actions
I think it's pretty obv
Given his final year of arb eligibility, he’d likely be due a raise to about $4m (or at any rate, no less than $3.5m). And that’s money better spent elsewhere.
I’m sure we try to resign him cheaply.
So let's just win 12 more games next year, mmmkay?
Will the Gints complain about the non-humidor balls in Citizens Bank Ballpark when they lose there, too?
Beckham's wrist
is still a bit achy and missed the last couple of weeks of September, but I’m not worried.
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he would have fit right in with Tulo and Cargo
who also had achy wrists in September. Like you, I don’t think it wouldn’t be enough to dissuade interest.
I think it comes down to how the club views Nelson
If they are confident he can preform as well as Beckham, than there is no need to give up value for him.
If they were to trade for Beckham, I imagine Nelson would be a key piece going the other way.
That's what I meant to type before I hit "post"
If the club thinks Nelson can actually be a part of it going forward, there’s no reason to make the trade.
If we want Beckham, no point in keeping Nelson at all. Herrera would make a perfectly fine utility backup.
So let's just win 12 more games next year, mmmkay?
Will the Gints complain about the non-humidor balls in Citizens Bank Ballpark when they lose there, too?
His
modest power coming from the right-side and his ability to play 3b are both big pluses.
"These are thin mints. I put them in the freezer. My favorites. So good."
--Reds outfielder Adam Dunn, on the girl scout cookies he keeps in his locker
I can't say I wouldn't be interested.
What would it take to get this sort of deal done? I imagine the Sox would want Nelson if they’re giving us Beckham, and what else would we have to throw in? Rogers, perhaps, or would they want one of our big prospects?
Tough to pull the trigger.
I’d have to think about that one. I’d love to have Beckham though (who wouldn’t)
Yeah, my username says it all.
by CentralCaliRox on Nov 11, 2010 1:51 PM MST up reply actions
Leave Tago and Bettis alone
Nelson, Rodgers and maybe a Friedrich would get it done.
Clint Barmes is not a good hitter.
Free Chris Nelson.... again.
I'd go pretty high up on the PuRP list
Keep in mind that you’re getting a 24 year old in return, and not a 28-31 year old. Eventually he’ll make money in arb, but I believe there’s another pre-arb season coming. Even after that, arbitration probably won’t take his salary past the value of his performance.
I’m not sure who I’d even exclude from this, except to say I wouldn’t include more than 1 top ten PuRP, unless it’s 1 + Nelson. Probably no on Friedrich and Matzek. Don’t know enough about Tago.
that seems like a pretty high price
"These are thin mints. I put them in the freezer. My favorites. So good."
--Reds outfielder Adam Dunn, on the girl scout cookies he keeps in his locker
I think trading Freidrich should be on the table
while we still can. that sore elbow scares me a lot.
yeah that makes more sense
my point is more about the fact that I’m fine with trading him at this point. Chronic sore elbow for a young curveballer combined with his inexplicable regression last year can only mean one thing.
Parleying him into Greinke would require trading him plus the other future starters
It seems like acquiring Beckham would be closer to acquiring Willingham than it is Beckham. And if people are willing to surrender a top prospect to acquire Willingham or Napoli, it should be on the table to surrender two top prospects to acquire Beckham (for the reasons above).
Yes Please
I’d take Beckham at 2b everyday and twice on Sundays.
Clint Barmes is not a good hitter.
Free Chris Nelson.... again.
absolutely agree.
i’d much rather have him than young or nelson. he may not have the “upside” but he’s more consistent. rocks could REALLY use consistent.
I'm not sugarcoating this.
Do we think we have the trade chips
to acquire both Beckham and Napoli? Or would that involve selling too much?
"These are thin mints. I put them in the freezer. My favorites. So good."
--Reds outfielder Adam Dunn, on the girl scout cookies he keeps in his locker
"probably not enough trade chips" or "probably not involve selling too much"?
I don't want to play golf. When I hit a ball, I want someone else to go chase it. ~Rogers Hornsby
my guess is the former
"These are thin mints. I put them in the freezer. My favorites. So good."
--Reds outfielder Adam Dunn, on the girl scout cookies he keeps in his locker
So how about that Jermaine Dye?
PROJECT LIBRA: Depth / Transactions
"The highest form of human excellence is to question oneself and others." - Socrates
(What is it with White Sox players today?)
PROJECT LIBRA: Depth / Transactions
"The highest form of human excellence is to question oneself and others." - Socrates
by Greg Stanwood on Nov 11, 2010 2:34 PM MST up reply actions
I have no idea
what we’d do with Dye, unless he just kind of replaces Giambi, and starts occasionally in RF…
"These are thin mints. I put them in the freezer. My favorites. So good."
--Reds outfielder Adam Dunn, on the girl scout cookies he keeps in his locker
And is right handed.
Making him instantly more valuable than Giambi. But I agree with you. We’d have only a slightly easier time justifying Dye taking a roster spot.
PROJECT LIBRA: Depth / Transactions
"The highest form of human excellence is to question oneself and others." - Socrates
by Greg Stanwood on Nov 11, 2010 2:38 PM MST up reply actions
And no indication he can play 1B at all
And rumored to be a bit of a malcontent (though I have nothing to substantiate that)
So let's just win 12 more games next year, mmmkay?
Will the Gints complain about the non-humidor balls in Citizens Bank Ballpark when they lose there, too?
He's asserted a willingness to try first
though, no, there is no evidence that he can. I wouldn’t think he’d volunteer for it if he hadn’t at least some confidence that he could do it.
Worse scenario: Dye in a LF platoon with Smith?
He played one game at 1B in 2005
I wouldn’t be totally averse to bringing him in, but only if we traded Spilly, and only if we could do it for about $2m or less, so that we could easily eat it if it didn’t work out.
He might still have something to offer, but I’d rather see the RH power bat addition be someone who plays a position we already need to upgrade at (2B, C, 3B), unless the player would be a clear upgrade (e.g., someone like Willingham).
So let's just win 12 more games next year, mmmkay?
Will the Gints complain about the non-humidor balls in Citizens Bank Ballpark when they lose there, too?
That's the scary thing though
If you traded Spilly, and said that Dye was sort of taking over Giambi and Spilly’s roster spots, there better be another backup OF waiting in the wings.
Luckily
I think there’s always a backup OF waiting in the wings – like Jay Payton or something
"These are thin mints. I put them in the freezer. My favorites. So good."
--Reds outfielder Adam Dunn, on the girl scout cookies he keeps in his locker
he played the race card a lot when no team wanted his declining broken down self last season
I don’t mean to stir up anything about racial sensitivities, but the fact that he went down that path is going to turn a lot of teams away from him.
by Andrew Martin on Nov 11, 2010 2:53 PM MST up reply actions
Did Dye do that?
I just thought O-Dawg did ABOUT Dye
"I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious." - Albert Einstein
by Andrew T. Fisher on Nov 11, 2010 3:52 PM MST up reply actions
I could've sworn it was Dye
Torii Hunter’s been doing it too.
by Andrew Martin on Nov 11, 2010 3:53 PM MST up reply actions
I think it was just Hudson doing it about Dye
Torii Hunter’s basic point was that MLB teams are using dark-skinned Latinos as cover for the decreasing African-American presence in MLB.
The specific gripe with Dye is that he did not want to move his family from AZ to DC for $4m. I don’t think he received another offer of similar value, but most people would apply the beggars/choosers test if he was really interested in playing. $4m is not “this is all I’m going to offer your because I’m a racist” kind of money. It’s a pretty healthy offer, esp relative to what Thome ended up playing for.
Not sure he's a malcontent...
but was sorta loud in his refusal last year to take role-player money for a backup position on a middle-market team. I don’t know if he’s accepted reality yet or not.
Go Bruce!
that is creeping me out.
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Who'd like to do a direct Beckham v. Chris Nelson comparison?
Would we really be getting that much MORE of a player back that we’d need to give up more than one top piece?
And I haven’t heard Troy Glaus’ name come up in any discussion for a 1B platoon yet. Anyone else think he’s due for a slight bounce back, and could benefit from less than full playing time at Coors Field?
It doesn't really same possible to do a side by side
We still really don’t know what a healthy Chris Nelson can do. Although, if last season is any indicator I would say stick with Nelson for sure. .376 OBP and 12 HRs in only 319 ABs in AAA. He’s going to steal more bases than Beckham and play better defense at second AND at third when he fills in for Stewie.
Not really
Beckham does not seem to be an improvement over what the Rox already have.
by Real Perspective on Nov 11, 2010 5:59 PM MST reply actions
Joe Sheehan at SI seems to think we could have Jorge for 3/24
There aren’t many bargains in this year’s market; De La Rosa could be the best. The 29-year-old hits the market off a disappointing season by traditional metrics: 8-7, 4.22 ERA, just 121 2/3 innings in 20 starts after missing two months with a finger injury. Look deeper and you see a lefty who strikes out eight men per game, whose arm hasn’t been damaged by overuse and who has been coming into his own since the Rockies picked him up in 2008. De La Rosa has become a groundball/strikeout pitcher in his late twenties, peaking last year as more than half the balls in play off him were put on the ground. His ERA was higher than it should have been due to a fluky-high 15.8 percent HR/FB rate, against a career mark of around 11 percent De La Rosa is 2 1/2 years younger than Cliff Lee, doesn’t have Lee’s back problems and will provide at least 80 percent of the value for maybe 20 percent of the cost. You could blow out the field by offering three years at $8 million each and get the best deal of the offseason, something teams such as the Twins, Tigers and Brewers should be eager to do.
I really do think that Jorge will be had for under $30 million on a 3 year deal because teams will balk at his lack of track record.
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