How bad of a week has it been for the Colorado Rockies?
On Monday, general manager Jeff Bridich challenged his players to perform better, saying “they’ve added up to a bad team” and changes would be made to in order to start winning games. The most notable of those moves was demoting pitcher Tyler Matzek to Triple-A Albuquerque after he only lasted two innings, walking six batters in his most recent start.
Tuesday night, the Rockies lost their 10th consecutive game, going down 5-2 to the Angels, despite Kyle Kendrick pitching one of his best games of the season. The right-hander had been getting pummeled by opposing lineups. In his past two starts, he allowed a combined 14 runs and 16 hits in just 9.1 innings. But on Tuesday, Kendrick went seven innings, giving up two runs with five strikeouts. Alas, the bullpen blew it for Colorado, as Rafael Betancourt gave up three runs in the eighth.
If extending a losing streak to 10 games wasn’t bad enough, the Rockies also got some potentially disturbing news earlier in the day when the New York Post‘s Joel Sherman reported that shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and his agent, Paul Cohen, were meeting Thursday in Los Angeles to discuss whether it’s finally time to request a trade.
“To say that it is not a possibility would be silly,” Cohen said to Sherman.
“It could get to the point for [owner] Dick Monfort and GM Jeff [Bridich] that the storyline every day with the team is when is Tulowitzki being traded. That is negative for the franchise as the idea of trading the face of the franchise. They are smart enough to recognize they don’t want that going forward.”
Seeing an agent explain why it would be in a team’s best interest to trade its best player can’t help but draw a smirk. Oh, he’s trying to help the Rockies too! How magnanimous of him. But while Cohen is obviously going to stick up for his client, it’s not difficult to understand why Tulowitzki, 30, has reached the point where he wants to play for another team, preferably one with whom he’ll win some games. According to Sherman, Cohen also indicated that getting out of Denver’s high altitude might be better for his client’s health as well.
LOS ANGELES, CA – APRIL 19: Troy Tulowitzki #2 of the Colorado Rockies warms up on deck during a 7-0 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on April 19, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Unfortunately for Tulowitzki and the Rockies, the shortstop isn’t off to a terribly impressive start. Following his 0-for-3 performance on Tuesday, Tulowitzki’s slash average for the season is .298/.306/.481 with two home runs and 11 RBI. His 13 doubles are the third-best total among NL hitters. But if Tulowitzki maintains his current level of play, he’s due for the worst season of his 10-year MLB career. And though it’s too early to make a solid determination, advanced metrics say he’s also having his worst year defensively.
Attach Tulowitzki’s subpar start to coming off a hip injury that limited him to 91 games last season (and eventually required surgery for a torn labrum), his frequent injury history (averaging 107 games played during his career), along with the six years and $118 million remaining on his contract — which is really the biggest obstacle of all — and the shortstop isn’t exactly dealing from a position of strength here.
Yet Cohen already tipped off what leverage he’ll use if Tulowitzki’s résumé isn’t enough to draw trade interest. Request a trade and it becomes the story hanging over the Rockies for the rest of the season, topic No. 1 among media in every city the team visits.
Not even six weeks into the 2015 season, the Rockies GM doesn’t want to talk about trading his cornerstone star and effectively throw up his hands on fielding a competitive team for the next four-and-a-half months. Of course, with a 10-game losing streak, 11-18 record and last-place standing in the NL West, a convincing argument could be made that Colorado already isn’t competing.
“No, it’s early in May,” Bridich told MLB.com’s Thomas Harding. “If and when those situations come up, we’ll deal with that then.”
But it certainly sounds like Tulowitzki and his agent plan on making just such a situation come up, quite possibly very soon. And if Tulowitzki gets traded, focus will then shift to — or include — the Rockies’ other star talent, outfielder Carlos Gonzalez.
At least with him, the financial obligation would be less. Going into this year, Gonzalez, 29, had three years and $53 million left on his deal. And unlike with Tulowitzki, there likely wouldn’t be any discussion about a future position change and whether or not that justifies his premium salary. Gonzalez’s defensive skills could decline, perhaps someday leading to being a designated hitter with an AL club. But given the scarcity of power-hitting outfielders, he probably won’t be putting his glove away soon.
LOS ANGELES, CA – APRIL 19: Carlos Gonzalez #5 of the Colorado Rockies at bat against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on April 19, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers won 7-0. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
The problem with Gonzalez is that his hitting skills are in serious decline. The right fielder went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in Tuesday’s loss, dropping his season slash average to .188/.248/.302 with five doubles, two home runs and six RBI. Given how little he’s gotten on base, it likely isn’t a surprise that Gonzalez also has no stolen bases. For a player with four 20-steal seasons on his résumé, demonstrating a rare combination of power and speed, that’s yet another sign of swiftly eroding skills and a body breaking down.
Gonzalez was limited to 70 games last season with two injuries that required surgery. In June, he had a tumor removed from his left index finger, which sidelined him for five weeks. But the outfielder also struggled with a left knee that eventually resulted in surgery to repair a partially torn patellar tendon and remove other dead tissue, ending his season in early August. (In addition, Gonzalez began the year by having his appendix removed.)
It seems drastic to say that Gonzalez might be done as an impact hitter, but given his performance so far this year coupled with the numbers he put up in 2014 (batting .238 with a .723 OPS), the Rockies’ other star is riding a significant downward trend. Factor in his remaining salary and his own injury-plagued history (averaging 109 games in his previous seven MLB seasons), and Colorado has another player making superstar money who’s producing at a below-average level.
Bridich is sticking up for the roster he put together, saying that players simply need to produce more and execute better. He might be right about his lineup. The Rockies’ .271 team average is the third-best in the NL, while its .752 OPS ranks second. Yet their 115 runs are the third-lowest total in the league, despite a .299 average with runners in scoring position. That’s where having two of their top run producers struggling really hurts.
However, the Rockies GM also assembled an abysmal pitching staff. Colorado’s 5.48 team ERA ranks last (DFL, to put a finer point on it) in MLB, along with a .291 opponents’ batting average and .824 OPS. Read that last number again. That’s not just a lack of execution. That’s a deficiency of talent, which falls directly on Bridich and the rest of the organization.
Bridich points to the Rockies beginning the season with a 7-2 record as an example of what can be achieved when his roster plays well. But it’s also an example of what happened when everything went right. And within a nine-game sample, virtually any team could experience that sort of success during the course of a 162-game season. As Bill Parcells famously said, “you are what your record says you are.” The Rockies’ current record says that they stink, in serious need of airing out and deep, deep cleaning.
