Remember that scene from “Star Wars” when our heroes landed inside one of the Death Star’s trash compactors? The walls are closing in on the Rockies from all sides now.
They’re wading in trash water, trying not to get flattened, while that water has a snake thingy swimming in it, unseen, tickling their ankles. Jeff Bridich is C-3PO.
They won’t — can’t, won’t, it doesn’t matter — spend to supplement their core. Their two best players can pull the rip cord and parachute into the open market after next season. David Dahl just went under the knife. The farm system, or what we last saw of it, is drying like a raisin in the sun. If COVID-19 couldn’t move the Dodgers, nothing will. The Padres finally turned the corner. They’re not going anywhere.
For the time being, neither should Trevor Story.
At least, not unless he forces the issue. And no one would blame the Rockies’ shortstop if he did.
To put it another way, let’s have a show of hands:
Who trusts Bridich, the Rockies’ stone-faced general manager, with a complete tear-down and rebuild? Right now?
OK, you can put your arm down, Dick. I see it. We all see it.
Make no mistake: It’s going to be tempting. And the calls are coming, if they haven’t come already.
Heck, you can already hear the arguments, those soft whispers from the Yankees front office. Hey, man, be real. You’re the fourth-best team in your division. You don’t look any closer to making an expanded postseason bracket then you did a traditional one. Let’s help each other.
If the table feels threadbare, the cupboard is cobwebs. At the start of the month, MLB Pipeline ranked Colorado’s minor league stock at No. 28 out of 30 clubs. Bleacher Report slotted the kids on the farm at 29th, ahead of only Washington.
Trading Story for a boatload prospects might change that. Or parts of it. Alas, it’s going to take several Storys to fix all that ails Blake Street right now.
Nolan Arenado is the Rockies’ biggest chip at the table, but with a $35 million salary in 2021, very few franchises, post-COVID, are looking to bite on a 30-year-old third baseman with a bum left shoulder.
Story makes half that, is two years younger, and plays a position where elite offensive skill sets are at a premium. I ask for the moon. Twice over.
Arenado seems to be counting the days toward the inevitable. Early 2021 looks just as uncertain, financially, as the last six months. This franchise is going to need a face, an anchor. Especially as Charlie Blackmon, who’ll turn 35 next July, fades gracefully into the sunset.
“I love being here,” Story, who led National League in steals and ranked ninth among Senior Circuit position players in Baseball-Reference WAR, told reporters Sunday. “These guys drafted and developed me, and it’s fun playing here. So I try not to think too far ahead. I’m always the guy who’s going to cross that bridge when it gets here.”
Granted, as offseason plans go, slapping It’s 2020, We’ve Got To Slash Payroll on the front of the binder makes more sense than Everybody Just Has To Play Better And We’ll Be Fine. An ownership group that genuinely cared about winning, cared about perception and cared about its fan base would’ve sent Bridich packing first thing Monday morning.
The Dodgers are going to keep hammering, keep spending money until they get over the hump. The Padres have finally arrived. The Giants almost made the postseason field with a new skipper and a patchwork of parts.
Only three National League teams opened 2020 with rosters whose average age was younger than the Dodgers’ 28.0 years. Colorado was one (27.6). Pittsburgh (27.8) and San Diego (26.7) were the others. If you’ve got a bad feeling about this, to paraphrase Han Solo, join the club.
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