MLB Trade Rumors: Rockies remain inactive as non-waiver trade deadline passes

It is past 2pm MT and the Rockies have made no significant moves. After weeks of speculation on whether the Rockies would trade away outfielders Charlie Blackmon or Carlos Gonzalez or pitchers Boone Logan or Jorge De La Rosa, all players are staying put in Denver, at least for now.

The Rockies have gone 12-5 since the All-Star break, the best record in Major League Baseball, vaulting themselves into the middle of the Wild Card race and leading some to speculate that they would approach the non-waiver trade deadline as buyers, not sellers. In the end, this was the most significant news the Rockies made today:

We don’t know what offers the Rockies made or fielded from other teams over the past days and weeks, but in the end this may turn out better for the club in the long run. Whereas in previous years doing nothing looked like a sign of overconfidence and an inability to read the market correctly, doing nothing this year may in fact show the opposite.

Surely many fans will be upset that the Rockies went back to their normal dormant ways at the trade deadline just one year after making one of the biggest splashes in trading shortstop Troy Tulowitzki to the Blue Jays for pitching prospects Jeff Hoffman, Miguel Castro, and Jesus Tinoco. With the team just five games out of a playoff spot, and prices rising for relief pitchers in the ilk of Boone Logan, the Rockies seemed to have missed an opportunity to flip some assets for ones that can help them moving forward.

However, in so doing the Rockies avoided making an overly rash attempt to acquire talent merely for the chance at a coin-flip Wild Card Playoff Game, selling off players who could contribute (or be traded to fill holes) when they are more seriously in contention in the hopefully-not-too-distant future. Considering what teams were giving up for middling-to-good players in return, the Rockies may have avoided a serious error in taping into their talented farm system for a whisper of a chance of contention.

Players on expiring contracts (like De La Rosa, Logan, or Nick Hundley) could still be traded through a waiver deal during the month of August, but at this point the Rockies seem to be planning on holding on to Blackmon and Gonzalez at least into the offseason.