- Thread starter
- #1
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2006
- Messages
- 70,798
- Reaction score
- 821
From:hardballtalk
That’s the thinking of New York Post columnist Joel Sherman. His belief: the Rockies might be better off having more young parts than having the duo of Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez tied up at $36 million-$40 million from 2015-17.
Personally, I’m not sold.
For one thing, Gonzalez is likely more valuable in Colorado than he would be anywhere else. Look at his home-road splits the last three years:
2010: 1.161 home OPS, .775 road
2011: .999 home, .757 road
2012: 1.174 home, .847 road
In general, players with significant splits who have left Coors have tended to fare quite a bit better on the road with their new teams. Gonzalez, though, is just so awesome at Coors Field it’d be a shame to take him out of it. Also, his excellent range in left field is more useful there than it would be just about anywhere else (though another team could try putting him back in center).
For the other, $40 million doesn’t seem all that excessive for two players of that quality. And in the meantime, they’ll cost a combined $20.5 million next year and $26.5 million in 2014.
Sherman, of course, puts Gonzalez in play with the Yankees, noting how prospects Manny Banuelos, Gary Sanchez, Eduardo Nunez, Mason Williams and Dante Bichette Jr. could be made available (he even mentions how Bichette’s dad was a Rockies star). And Gonzalez would look nice in pinstripes, just as he would any uniform in the bigs.
The Rockies, though, would need a huge bounty to even consider letting Gonzalez go. It’s doubtful it’s something they’d give serious thought to anyway. If longtime GM Dan O’Dowd ships off Gonzalez now and commits to a full rebuild, there’s a good chance he won’t survive to see the fruits of it two or three years down the line.