Shifting Blame (To Remain Cool)

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Last month, in a move that many described as “the stupidest shit they ever saw”, the Rockies traded superstar third baseman Nolan Arenado to the St. Louis Cardinals. Shortly after the trade, many “leaks” from Rockies front office sources (leaks is in quotes because we’ve learned the Rockies share nothing that isn’t intended to be shared) told us that they had every intention to sign Trevor Story to an extension and simply begin a new era of Rockies baseball.

Story, due for a fat payday after cementing himself as one of the better shortstops in the NL, is now the Rockies best hitter and captain of the infield. Beyond that, depending on Charlie Blackmon’s year, Trevor could be the sole owner of an OPS+ over 100 in the Rockies lineup, meaning he’s not only their best hitter he’s probably their only good one (Raimel Tapia could prove me wrong). Based on those factors, the Rockies extending Story is a pretty good idea. Now, is it a good idea for Trevor? Probably not. Why hitch your horse to a wagon that will likely be on fire for the next few seasons and, when you ask for it to not be on fire anymore, will tell you to fuck off and go find another wagon anyway? This line of thinking is probably what led the Trevor Story extension narrative to shift to what Jon Heyman says it now is…

Heyman is what most national writers are these days, an owner mouthpiece, so this “leak” probably came intentionally. Heyman is an insider but front offices have tightened so much in recent years that it would be silly to believe this came from some accountant that Heyman met. This came out because ownership wanted it to come out.

Now, many will smartly peg this into another instance where owners will cry poor when fans get mad to try and soften the criticism. That’s a fair analysis and a good one to make, writers and fans should consistently challenge any sort of news we hear about a team struggling financially. (The Wilpons spent just about every year they could crying poor and then casually sold the Mets for nearly two and a half billion dollars, after all.) But I think this points to a very different type of narrative fight, one that the Rockies are intending to fight exclusively with their fans. Ownership has to fight the narrative that there is absolutely no reason for Trevor Story to sign with the Rockies.

The team is likely adrift in a period of lost years where losses will add up quicker than anything else, so from a competitive standpoint why should Trevor re-sign? On top of that, unless Trevor has the awareness of a boulder, he probably saw how quickly the relationship between Arenado and Bridich deteriorated after Nolan signed his extension so from a “having a good time at the office” standpoint why should Trevor re-sign? What do the Rockies offer apart from that moving is hard and maybe Trevor doesn’t have enough equity in his condo? It’s not a huge leap in logic to think the Rockies called Trevor about an extension and he asked them to kindly jump into the lake.

The Rockies still need to sell tickets. So if Trevor is refusing to sign an extension (probably a smart move), it’s also not a huge leap in logic to think the organization is now scrambling to create a scenario where they are simply victims of the time. Hence, the Heyman leak. Hence, a new narrative.

Jeff Bridich and Dick Monfort understand they are not currently, as they say, “well liked”. The two probably understand more people in Colorado would rather dump a beer on their heads than buy a ticket to their product, so, they need this narrative shift. A shifted blame towards the vague unrelenting economy that we all toil in with each passing day is the best possible outcome for the Rockies front office other than the team winning (something they’ve agreed along with us is not an option). The vague reference towards “budget issues” is an easy out for any owner for a variety of reasons. But in this case, it serves as a convenient little cover for a completely ruined clubhouse where any player worth his salt distrusts you and your ability to manage the roster long term.

The Rockies budget is neither here nor there, in my opinion. Yes, it plays into the debate that we’ve all been having for years that owners are just able to cry poor without evidence, but that’s really just because the Rockies know that’ll work for most people. What they really want, above all else, is for people to stop asking questions about how they took a generational left side of the infield talent wise and fucked it up in 18 months. They’d love for people to stop thinking Jeff had more talent on the squad than any other Rockies team in history and he used it to make the playoffs precisely two times before he was too much of a shithead to do any better. What the Rockies want more than anything, when you see Trevor Story in a Reds uniform in August, is for you to shake your fist at pictures that say THE ECONOMY instead of digging any deeper into the idea that the General Manager is so much of a narcissist he couldn’t handle even a single relationship problem without turning it into a timebomb.

Heyman does the owners a lot of service throughout the year by vaguely taking their side on any situation, but here he really does JB a solid. By just mentioning the budget, 50% of baseball’s fanbase gets to put on their “I Get It” hats and smugly say “it’s a business after all” to anyone who doesn’t like that their team sucks ass now. These smug dweebs that couldn’t ever believe a business would lie about their income in order to suppress wages will get to annoyingly throw their hat in the ring of a debate that really shouldn’t include them. The Rockies get to hide under the smoke screen of budgetary debate, we get to fight through the horde of water carriers asking us to remember how hard it is to run a business. It sucks even worse because all we wanted to do was argue that Trevor Story probably doesn’t want to sign here anyway!

For Trevor, any leak that he simply doesn’t like the way the Rockies were run probably won’t help him right now. So, the narrative fight is over (or at least not a battle that is smart to fire back). But would anyone be shocked if Trevor becomes the fifth or sixth player in the past few seasons to either publicly fight with the brass or mention in quotes that they felt like the Harvard boy at the top had some well, let’s be nice and call them problems, with interpersonal relationships?

And when that happens, will anyone still buy the line that the problem is something else? Whether it’s the economy or clubhouse attitudes, will we continue to look the other way on the common denominator?

They’d certainly like us to do so, that’s for sure. Otherwise why go through all the trouble of asking your buddy Jon Heyman to go on TV and absolve you of critique?

Stuff I liked this week

This section I’m hoping to post some writing or posts I found around the internet this week that I liked. Football Friday is going to continue to grow and add sections so just keep an eye out. Anyway, here’s some stuff I liked this week:

Inside Blaseball by Kelsey McKinney - I still don’t (and may never) understand Blaseball but that’s not Kelsey or Blaseball’s fault. It seems like a fun community of funny people. So that is neat. I hesitate to call Kelsey an “underrated” writer since she’s at Defector and writing in Baseball Prospectus’s Annual but in terms of my “why aren’t people talking about Kelsey more?” argument she is underrated.

Andy McCullough wrote a nice piece on Salvador Perez - Sal Perez is such a unique sight in baseball that I’ve decided to become a Sal Zealot. As Andy demonstrates in this great post, Salvy clearly rocks as a dude and a teammate but beyond that, he has outright rejected the Three True Outcomes baloney that has taken over every Plate Appearance. He refuses to walk, he doesn’t launch angle, he’s just vibes and swings at the plate. I think that rocks. I hope he has another All-Star year, just for the haters.

The 2002 Rockie of The Week

I think it’s important we talk more about the 2002 Rockies. A largely forgettable 73-89 squad that really represent the struggles and failures of the Rockies during this time period. It was a transitional time as they wrapped up the era of Walker and Helton (Larry would be traded 2 years later) and began the slow build into the most successful era in the franchise’s history just five short years later. But, that doesn’t matter, this is about the 2002 Rockies and the players that made them.

Today we’re talking about Ross Gload.

Ross carved out a nice little journeyman career over the course of his time in baseball. His best year, 2004, saw him hit .321 as a utility guy, making an appearance in 110 games for the White Sox. Gload spent time in Chicago (both sides), Kansas City, Florida, Philly, and of course the 2002 Rockies. He retired in 2011 shockingly, representing the idea that if you really try hard enough, you can hang around and make a career out of this thing.

Gload wasn’t a major contributor to the Rockies (though who was that year), making only 34 Plate Appearances in 26 games. But what is interesting about Ross, apart from his time on the 2002 Rockies, is that the Rockies made multiple efforts to acquire him before ultimately letting him go after just 26 games in Denver.

On September 12, 2001 (woof), the Rockies claimed Gload from the Cubs and stashed him in the minors. He never made an appearance that season (though, there wasn’t much of a season left). The Rockies then used him in a Dealin’ Dan special to acquire two future 2002 Rockies of the Week: Todd Zeile and Benny Agbayani (the total trade is likely known as the Jeromy Burnitz trade, it included 11 players and 3 teams). Gload headed to the Mets for five days where the Rockies then purchased his contract back and decided to give Ol Rossy a shot.

After 26 games (a cup of coffee in July, a 40 man invitee trial in September), the Rockies traded Gload to the White Sox for Wade Parrish (who never made the bigs). So look at that, ultimately Ross Gload put up 0.8 WAR for the White Sox and the Rockies got nothing back. No matter who you talk about with the Rockies, eventually you find some kind of evidence that they screwed up a deal somewhere.

That’s your 2002 Rockie of the Week, Ross Gload.

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