Chris Iannetta

Newbie to this site having just discovered it the other the day. I'd been searching for a good Rockies discussion board/blog for a while now and somehow never came across this one. I guess I just wasn't searching hard enough Better late than never I suppose....

I was initially going to post this in the discussion forums but I quickly realized I got too long winded with my response so I figured I'd try this route. I have made some quick remarks about my thoughts over in the forum but they were more succinct and I really wanted to spell out my thoughts on this trade. Plus, by posting my thoughts this way it's a lot easier to ignore if you so wish.

Anyways...

As I have stated in discussion forums, this Iannetta deal was bummer for me. I found a lot of value in having a catcher who could hit for power, had a good eye at the plate, and was adequate behind the plate. He had some areas of concern, most notable was his loss of power on the road, but all in all, I thought he brought much more to the table than he took away. And at 28 he's entering his peak years so there's reason to hope he still had some upward potential; but even if he leveled out we still had ourselves a better than league average catcher, something a lot of teams can't claim ownership to.

Personally, I believe Iannetta will maintain his value for a number of years. I'll be conservative and say he could have 4 more positive seasons in him. Believing that, he is someone I would have been looking at potentially extending at some point. In a nutshell, that option makes Iannetta significantly more valuable than Ramon Hernandez..

Wilsin Rosario. I am not overlooking him and the fact that he might make Iannetta's long term potential a moot point. My question is: Do we honestly have an accurate read on Rosario at this point or would we benefit from, say, another season to evaluate what we have in Rosario and his prospects at being our starting catcher of the near future?

Since Iannetta's contract has a clause voiding the final season due to him being traded, the team acquiring him is only getting him for one season. As such, he pretty much holds the same value whether we trade him this year or next (not assuming a major slump or career year from him in 2012). So, the question becomes, if his value to another team should potentially hold steady, what's the advantage to the Rockies in trading him today or next season?

The advantage to keeping Iannetta around (for at least another season) is that it would have provided us the chance to let Rosario develop some more, hopefully providing us with a better gauge on Rosario's prospects as he would be a more known quantity a year from now than he is today. From there the Rockies could have made a decision on who to choose as their catcher of the future with it being a little less roll of the dice.

The advantage of trading Iannetta now lies in the value of the player you bring back. If you could fix a hole, such as 2B, than I see the value in trading Iannetta now. But to trade him for a pitcher with significant control issues whose projections range from mid-rotation starter to reliever (I am hoping this is extreme and coming from a hater) is not what I was hoping for. This type of trade would have made more sense next off season after Rosario showed everyone that he is the answer at catcher, thus reducing Iannetta's value to us and minimizing the risk.

But it is what it is and Chatwood is now a Rockie and Iannetta an Angel. It's time to start rooting for Chadwick because we all know we can use some good starting pitching. And if Chadwick does develop into the mid rotation guy some project him to be then this will prove to have been a successful trade.