There is no shortage of hot takes, armchair quarterbacking or second-guessing when in comes to Denver sports at the moment.
Mark Sanchez is a bum!
That might be true, but can he give the Broncos the same production the Manning/Osweiler duo did last season? Probably. Denver’s quarterback production in 2015 was marginal at best.
Trade Landeskog, Varly and Tyson Barrie!
Fine, but what’s the net return going to be? P.K. Subban (great!) or another version of Nikita Zadorov (ugh)?
The Rockies pitching staff is going to be a disaster… again!
That one is probably true and highlights a simple fact: The Colorado Rockies don’t get the benefit of the doubt in this town. Fair or unfair, the only time the franchise can assign blame is when they look in the mirror.
Whether it’s a World Series ticket debacle, spelling errors on stadium giveaways, the owner lashing out at fans or five straight losing seasons, the Rockies don’t make it a habit of endearing themselves to fans and pundits alike. Nor are they accustomed to making moves that are universally praised. That doesn’t mean they aren’t immune to praise; their successes are generally just lost in the wash.
It’s time to reverse that trend. Jeff Bridich and Company made a great decision by including Trevor Story on the Opening Day roster. He earned it.
Story is the Rockies shortstop of the future and he has had a great Spring Training. Combine that with Jose Reyes’ status being up in the air – he’s facing a lengthy suspension for a domestic violence case, despite the charges being dropped. It would appear that they had no other choice but to include Story on the Opening Day roster, but not so fast. Just a few years ago the Rockies had a similar situation with another star prospect, Nolan Arenado.
It was clear during the spring of 2013 that Arenado was the best third basemen in the Rockies organization, but he wasn’t on the roster Opening Day and it was clear why – money. Or more specifically, the Rockies wanted to extend team control of Arenado as long as possible. By keeping him in the minors until April 28, the team didn’t allow the young rookie to accrue a full season of major league service. This extended team control of Arenado for an extra year. It was a move solely rooted in money and not what was best for the team on the field.
This is a league-wide issue; Kris Bryant dealt with it last year and it’s something baseball super-agent Scott Boras (Bryant’s agent) has been complaining about forever.
If a star prospect is clearly one of the best 25 players in the franchise is it ethical for a team to stash him in the minors so they can extend their control over his career? Yes and no. Teams aren’t breaking any rules, but they are certainly (intentionally) diminishing the product on the field.
If there’s one unanimous truism in sports it’s that professional organizations never earn respect by cutting corners to save a dollar (or a couple million). This is why assigning Arenado rubbed Colorado baseball fans the wrong way.
That’s what makes the Story story (sorry) so refreshing. Bridich and Walt Weiss are carrying their best 25 on the roster coming out of Spring Training, as they should. Very little is expected of the Rockies this season and they could have easily left Story in the minors, but they didn’t.
Missteps at 20th and Blake have seemingly become commonplace. When it comes to the Rockies, molehills are turned into mountains (why is The Rooftop still mocked?) and there is no shortage of things to criticize. But if we’re going to repeatedly point out the bad, we must also applaud the good.
So, kudos to the Rockies for bringing Story to The Show. It was the correct decision; saying otherwise is hypocritical. There wasn’t a fan or pundit in this town praising the Rockies for their sound financial handling of Arenado. That being the case, there shouldn’t be a single person complaining about them blowing a year of team control on Story.
Fans showing up at 20th and Blake deserve to see the very best players the team has to offer starting game one. They shouldn’t be subjected to waiting 21 days for a star prospects arrival so a franchise valued at $800 million can save a couple million dollars in seven years.
Now it’s time to bite the bullet on Reyes and do whatever they can to rid the franchise of that albatross contract. Trevor Story is the future up the middle; he deserves a full season to show this town if he’s ready for the task.