FanPost

The future of Rockies baseball is bright -- right?

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports


It's been an exhausting year in Colorado for Rockies baseball, hasn't it?

In July, our GM traded away a franchise player, someone without peer in team history, for a prospect package that will push us into contention very quickly. We received four players, including:

  • 1st round pick that should be a top of the rotation arm
  • a flamethrower with electric stuff who could be a starter or late inning impact reliever
  • a lotto ticket arm with great groundball rates
  • a fringe MLB position player
While it hurt to say goodbye this past summer, the future is looking bright! What a great return! I mean, here's the summary from the PuRPs report:

Looking back on past PuRPs lists, it certainly appears that Colorado's farm system is deeper than the last few editions, with the added bonus of potential star power at the top.

and just one more:

It looks like there will be quite a wave of top prospects that will be MLB ready all in the next year or two, so it won't be long before we start seeing some of these guys producing for the Rockies.

Now all we have to do is trade one of our cost-controlled outfielders for some pitching depth and our future is looking bright! We have an unprecedented stable of impact arms in the minors, the best depth in franchise history, and a wave of prospects about to crest upon Coors Field.

Except we've heard this all before. Those quotes come from the 2011 Fall PuRPs list. The franchise player we traded was Ubaldo Jimenez, in exchange for Drew Pomeranz, Alex White, Joe Gardner, and Matt McBride. The cost controlled outfielder was Seth Smith, and we received Josh Outman and Guillermo Moscoso in return.

I've been thinking an awful lot about these parallels lately. While I absolutely agree with Drew Creasman's recent post on the depth of the system -- it is absolutely the best farm system in franchise history -- it remains just that, a farm system. A ranking. A glimmer of what the future can be if some of those lotto tickets pan out.

Here's the Top 10 PuRPs from 2011:

Drew Pomeranz - #5/swingman for Oakland

Nolan Arenado - star 3B

Wilin Rosario - flamed out, non-tendered

Chad Bettis - could be a #3 starter

Tyler Matzek - ???

Alex White - traded for a reliever, out of baseball

Kyle Parker - likely AAAA

Tim Wheeler - AAA filler

Josh Rutledge - AAA filler in LA

Charlie Blackmon - starting OF, solid regular

We actually hit on 3/10 of those players, which is close to what you would expect from prospects. We got two All-Stars and a possible rotation mainstay out of that list, which is very good! And yet...

This post is a word of warning, a dash of cold water to shake the senses just a bit. We've been here before, we've had the same exact conversations before. Will it work out this time around? Yeah, hopefully.

Just don't ever forget 2012.

Eat. Drink. Be Merry. But the above FanPost does not necessarily reflect the attitudes, opinions, or views of Purple Row's staff (unless, of course, it's written by the staff [and even then, it still might not]).