Why Colorado needs to go all in at the trade deadline

This is not the way the Colorado Rockies or their fans wanted the 2019 season to go.

With hopes and aspirations before the year that they might finally top off the Dodgers in a race for the division, they find themselves once again needing to scratch and claw for the Wild Card.

They enter the break one game under .500 and 2.5 games out of postseason position.

Despite some MVP caliber performances from Nolan Arenado, Trevor Story, and even Charlie Blackmon, they find themselves stuck in the mud trying to figure out what they need to do in the final stretch to make themselves a legitimate threat.

It can be difficult to parse exactly what has gone wrong to this point but it absolutely begins with an area of the team that should have been a strength and has turned into a giant question mark. The starting pitching.

Kyle Freeland has become this year’s biggest addition to the “you can’t predict baseball” exhibit. Finishing in fourth place in National League Cy Young voting a year ago, Freeland currently is trying to figure himself out in Triple-A.

Meanwhile, German Marquez and Jon Gray have done what they can to pick up the slack but the lack of consistency behind them has been the one major constant dragging the Rockies down all season.

A revolving door that has featured Chad Bettis, Tyler Anderson, Jeff Hoffman and then Chi Chi Gonzalez has kept Colorado from being able to get on a hot streak for any length of time and has extended their tougher stretches of baseball.

The one bit of good news that has developed in this department has been the emergence of Peter Lambert who doesn’t look like a world beater quite yet but who has performed more than admirably given his age and the level of competition he has faced so far.

In holding his own against the Cubs, Dodgers and Astros, Lambert, along with Antonio Senzatela, appears to be a reliable quality start pitcher at the backend of the rotation.

But that still leaves one remaining spot that needs to be filled. The team has sounded positive about the possible return of Freeland,  but unless he returns with a vengeance the Rockies find themselves needing to go outside of the organization to stabilize the starting pitching.

Of course, some brutal losses over the last couple of weeks have made it clear that the Rockies also have an issue in the bullpen and would do well to require at least one arm there.

They have pieces in their organization that ought to be able to accomplish either or both of these goals, the question will be whether or not Jeff Bridich and company think that adding reinforcements they can afford will allow them to pass the Phillies, Cardinals, and Brewers in the Wild Card race.

And the annoyance over certain losses and a focus on what they don’t have shouldn’t prevent anyone from seeing just how dangerous this team is, and how much more they can become.

Other than a 3-12 start and the final six games before the break, the offense has been on an insane tear.

The lineup begins with four All-Stars, then contains two veteran multiple-time All-Stars, one with a revamped swing and the other due for a big finish. Then there’s potential future All-Stars in Ryan McMahon and Brendan Rodgers. Plus, Tony Wolters has been on of the best defensive and the best contact hitting catchers in the league.

Throw in four quality starters in Marquez, Gray, Lambert, and Senzatela and a closer in Scott Oberg who has some of the best park-adjusted numbers of any reliever in baseball.

This is too good a place to start from to assume this team can’t compete when they are just a few games out. Fewer than they were at this time last season.

The trick will be figuring out what move can tip the Rockies over the edge of this razor blade they’ve been dancing on the edge of.

They aren’t going to stop hitting. Can they get enough pitching in time?

Can they pinpoint the move (or moves) that allows them to play the Wild Card game in their own house this time? And if they figure out a way to win that game again, will they be in a better position to compete than what we saw against Milwaukee a year ago?

The massive improvements made to the offense suggest that either way such a series would look different but this is precisely why, despite the division being so far out of reach, now it finally makes sense for the Rockies to be incredibly aggressive at the trade deadline.

For the first time ever, they need to go all in.

They shouldn’t entertain a trade of Brendan Rodgers unless there is a truly franchise-shifting deal being floated, otherwise everything should be on the table.

Colorado was closer to the Dodgers a year ago but that team was more fundamentally flawed. This iteration of the Rockies has far more potential, which is a big part of why fans are so frustrated.

They’ve lost winnable games largely due to singularly bad performances, many from individuals who are no longer on the roster and/or don’t factor to be major players for the remainder of the season.

This has meant relying on a group of unproven players like Jesus Tinoco and the aforementioned young starters who have shown promise but cost the Rockies some games as well. Giving this appearances to a more polished player could go a long way.

If 2018 Freeland was pitching every five days for this club instead of the parade of hopefuls, they’d be right there as the clear second best team in the NL, battling for first.

It may turn out that the answer for losing Freeland is simply to get him back but Colorado can afford to take a big swing here so that, even in the event of a miraculous and complete recovery out of the lefty from Denver, they still shore up the pitching around him.

There are a lot of small moves that could be made, aimed at stabilizing the ballclub so that they stop losing the chaotic games that they shouldn’t.

Maybe a solid vet like Tanner Roark or Marco Gonzalez would be more than enough to get back on track.

This could also potentially help the bullpen not just because the starters should pick up more innings but also because whoever eventually ends up as the sixth member of the rotation, likely Senza or Lambert, could slide over into a ‘pen role.

But they have a chance to do more than that. It may not feel like it considering how they started and ended their unofficial first half, but the Rockies are a few decent arms away from being a powerhouse.

They can roll the dice with what they have and probably still be contending for a postseason spot in the final week of the season.

Or they can make a splash and go after a Marcus Stroman or a Zach Wheeler type and put the rest of the National League on notice.