The Rockies need to turn their attention to the offseason

After losing their series against the Angles, the Rockies are still somewhat in the playoff hunt. After last night’s win over the A’s, Colorado is just one game behind the Giants for the eighth seed in the National League. With only 13 games left on the schedule, they’ll statistically need to get nine more wins to be a .500 team that should guarantee a playoff birth.

Looking at this team, though, they are pretenders and should focus on a strong offseason. Jeff Bridich needs to sell a genius pitch to Nolan Arenado to keep him a Rockie for life, make strong offseason trades and big moves, and Dick Monfort needs to retire a number,

The biggest argument amongst fans currently is “Who to blame?” for the rift between Nolan Arenado and Jeff Bridich. Arenado has come short is key moments this year, but Bridich has not supported enough and Arenado vocalized that before spring training which sparked controversy and numerous trade rumors. Since 2015, the Rockies supporting casts (fWAR after top four position players) is -4. They are the only team in Major League Baseball in the negative in this category, so Arenado’s comments are justified that Bridich hasn’t gotten him help.

We have to remember that there are nine players in the batting order, with a starting pitcher and bullpen pitchers with a closer. It’s not solely on Arenado’s shoulders to win games; he needs a supporting cast to give him better opportunities to win. If Bridich is this baseball genius from Harvard, he can calculate that a supporting cast can win pennants.

To bring in a supporting cast, you have to have the money to bring in the free agents. And to get the money to bring in the free agents, you need to win. Now is the time for Bud Black to take a look at the young talent on the team and see if they’re the real deal.

Currently, the Rockies have only one player ranked in the MLB top-100 prospect list. Outfielder Zac Veen was drafted ninth overall in 2020 and is ranked 53rd on the top-100 prospect list in Major League Baseball. This glaring fact shows that the Rockies don’t have a strong farm system drafting and developing players.

Bridich and John Elway have more in common than we want to admit. They both draft prospects with potential and the skillset and don’t focus on the actual development of their top competitors. With this blatant fact, free agents don’t want to come to Colorado because there are no new bright young talent that will take the league by storm.

Lastly, the Rockies need to retire a number this looming offseason. Matt Holliday and Carlos Gonzalez both wore No. 5 proudly in the Mile High City. It’s time to recognize their tremendous contributions to the Rockies.

During his six years with the club, Holliday was a three-time All-Star, three-time Silver Slugger winner and even the 2007 NLCS MVP. Let’s also not forget his infamous slide to secure a win in game 163, whether he touched home or not.

Gonzalez played an astounding 10 years as a Rockie and during his time, he won three Gold Glove Awards, appeared in three All-Star games, and won two Silver Slugger Awards. His most memorable hit debatably was his walk-off home run that made it all the way up to the third deck against the Cubs.

The remaining schedule for the Rockies are not favorable, facing the Athletics, Dodgers, Giants and Diamondbacks. It will be extremely difficult to get nine wins during this stretch, but we’ve seen the Rockies use that mile high magic before for some Rocktober.