FanPost

Offseason trade musings, share your thoughts

As the season inevitably winds down to October with the Rockies and their fans at home with nothing to do I decided I'd see what kind of trades the Rockies could look into this winter. Before I get into the meat of things I looked into what teams are losing players to Free Agency, how their current players compared to what the Rockies have to offer and went with trades that seemed the most logical to me. In this exercise I work very hard to suppress any emotion or feeling I have towards said player and I try to be as logical and analytical as I would imagine a teams Front Office tries to be. That said I guarantee many of you will disagree with me maybe on all points because of how we view the players discussed but I urge you all to share your own trade thoughts in the comments. That said here is what I came up with for a few of the bigger names the Rockies have to offer (and should).

Carlos Gonzalez

Let's just get this one out of the way first because he's likely the most controversial as to whether he should stay or go and the return would likely be the most debated. After searching through teams that A) have the need for a stud outfielder and B) are likely to be trying to compete next season, I narrowed the list of suitors down to the Orioles, Tigers, Angels, Twins, Mets, Mariners and maybe the Royals but unlikely. After looking into things a bit deeper the trade I could possibly see working is:

Rockies trade Carlos Gonzalez (and pay 25% of his remaining contract) and receive SP Dylan Bundy and C Chance Sisco.

The Orioles are looking at having to pay a hefty price for free agent to be Chris Davis and have indicated they plan to do so. Meanwhile their current outfield situation is.. well.. bad, as a team the Orioles outfielders rank 28th in MLB with a 87 wRC+ and a slash line of .244/.294/.397 and a combined 55 HR. Cargo's left handed bat would play extremely well in Baltimore and he would fit very well.

The proposed return? SP Dylan Bundy was ranked #22 overall by fangraphs before this season and is Baltimore's top prospect. Rated with a FV 60 (future value 60 out of 80) he ranks closely to Jon Gray, actually Gray was ranked #28. The knock on Bundy has been health but his overall numbers have been pretty good in AA this year as he has struck out 10.23 per 9 while walking 2.05 per 9. The other good news is in 166.3 IP in the minors he has given up a whopping 6 HR's, none since 2012. The other piece C Chance Sisco was ranked #78 before this season and given a grade of FV 55. While his defense needs some work scouts say it's more due to inexperience rather than lack of tools as he only started catching in his senior year. His bat grades out as anywhere between a 55-70 rating and at worst could shift positions to 1B. Sisco has hit at every level of the minors with an overall combined slash line of .328/.404/.438 while maintaing BB% and K%'s in the teens for both stats.

Jorge De La Rosa

JDLR is a tough one for me because I am not totally sure of his value right now. Last season at the deadline it apparently was pretty good as Dealin Dan shot down a decent offer from the Orioles. Now as he ages and has been quite as good this season combined with his really not small contract it may be tough to move him. With that in mind I may undershoot his value but the proposal:

Rockies trade Jorge De La Rosa to the Pittsburgh Pirates for 1B/RF Josh Bell

With the Pirates recent history of getting great production out of older starters (Liriano, Burnett etc) and Clint Hurdle managing it seems like a great fit. The need may not be huge for the Pirates but the only other suitors I really found were the Red Sox, Dodgers and Giants. The return would be prospect 1B/RF Josh Bell who was ranked as prospect #103 before the season and is graded out at FV 50. I put 1B in there because his defense was a bit lacking and the Pirates moved him to 1B to try him out there. With their strong outfield already in place there really is no place for Bell who while needing small adjustment periods at each level has done very well. This season in 96 games at AA he hit .307/.376/.427 with an 11.7% K rate and 10.3% BB rate and did even better in 34 games at AAA.

Charlie Blackmon

While Charlie has become a solid albeit not fantastic leadoff hitter and Center Fielder for the Rockies it's likely a good idea to see what he can get in return. The irony is the deal I figured might be the best fit and return would have him replacing a former Rockies CF:

Rockies trade Charlie Blackmon to the Chicago Cubs for SP Duane Underwood

Dexter Fowler is coming up on his first year of free agency and actually could come with an 8 figure price tag per year after the season he has had. Blackmon could be a cheaper option for the Cubs while still producing well. In return I think the Rockies could snag SP Duane Underwood who Fangraphs tagged as the #124 overall prospect prior to the season. They gave him a 50 FV but that may be playing it a bit safe as they stated he could "flash 3 plus pitches at times. Underwood still has trouble with command at time and he often only has one or two pitches working in any given outing." That said they also tagged his ceiling as a potential #2/3 starter

Nick Hundley

I didn't see much of a market for Hundley due to his age and bad pitch framing ratings even with his great year at the plate. Won't go much into this deal other than a suggestion:

Rockies trade Nick Hundley to the Arizona Diamondbacks for RP Yoan Lopez

DJ LeMahieu

After looking a lot closer at the situation I decided if I were the Rockies I would keep DJ. Sure he will never light up the scoreboard and may be having his best year, I'd say he could be very average to slightly above average with the bat while retaining his solid defense. He is still cheap for a while longer and the only team I could find that could be a good match for DJ and the Rockies was the Yankees. After looking through the Yankees system I couldn't see any players worth getting for the Rox that the Yankees would be willing to give up for DJ. Let he and Arenado be a veteran leader voice for the new kids coming up and I have full trust in DJ to be the captain on the infield that Tulo once was with setting up shifts and alignment.

Obivously there will be much disagreement but share in the comments and let's see entertain ourselves as other teams prep for the playoffs

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]).