Take a look at the rosters of the two teams playing in the World Series. Aside from a few big trades—Johnny Cueto for the Kansas City Royals, Yoenis Cespedes for the New York Mets, for example—and some free agent signings, both rosters are homegrown. The dynamic Mets starting rotation was assembled via the draft and trades that netted prospects while they were still early in their professional careers—Noah Syndergaard, for example—while the Royals drafted or traded for their core of position players that is stingy on defense and pesky on offense and is playing in its second consecutive Fall Classic.
These two teams are doing what every downtrodden team hopes to do, especially those that have to have inexpensive talent under team control for long periods of time. The hard part is getting all of that young talent to show up at the same time. The Royals and Mets are both great examples of what can happen when the talent arrives in unison.
But what if all the young talent doesn’t arrive at the same time? This could be the case for the Colorado Rockies.
The Colorado Rockies haven’t been on the major league baseball radar since they traded shortstop Troy Tulowitzki to the Toronto Blue Jays at the trade deadline. That trade was a heartbreaking reminder that building the franchise around Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez had failed. Now the Rockies will try to rebuild around third baseman Nolan Arenado, who will probably garner some MVP votes. They have a new cornerstone in place, but the franchise’s future is still bleak.
The Rockies have a young core that offensively put up decent numbers. Per usual, they had huge home/road splits in offensive production and a terrible pitching staff, but the offensive potential is there. That core should remain intact for the immediate future: In addition to Arenado, Charlie Blackmon, DJ LeMahieu, Corey Dickerson, Brandon Barnes and Wilin Rosario are all under team control through at least 2018.
More from MLB Prospects
- Is Arizona Diamondbacks prospect Ivan Melendez the next Pete Alonso?
- Los Angeles Dodgers prospect talk: Catching up with Hunter Feduccia
- MLBPA secures major victory for Minor League Baseball players
- Phillies: Breaking down the prospects fighting for an Opening Day spot
- What the XFL can learn from minor league baseball
The Rockies also have a loaded farm system. In Baseball America’s 2015 League Top 20 Prospects Index, the Rockies have at least two prospects in every league in which they have a minor league affiliate except the South Atlantic League (The report didn’t have Dominican Summer League rankings). Some of those prospects were 2015 draftees such as Brendan Rodgers, Mike Nikorak and Tyler Nevin, while others are closer to the majors, such as pitcher Jeff Hoffman, outfielder David Dahl and shortstop Trevor Story.
Where the problem arises is that the core of players already in the majors may be on its way out the door when the farm system starts to pay out. Blackmon and Dickerson are heading towards the back nine of their primes and many of the Rockies prospects aren’t expected to reach the majors until sometime in 2017 or later. That leaves 2017, or part of it, and 2018 as time when the current crop of young talent can mesh with the up-and-coming one before the former group is disbanded due to free agency.
The fact that the pitching situation is a nightmare doesn’t help. The Rockies had one of the worst pitching staffs in the majors in 2015 and help isn’t coming any time soon, as the problem was exacerbated by Eddie Butler’s and Jon Gray’s struggles, which is why the Rockies started stockpiling pitchers.
Yes, the Rockies’ future looks dreary, and the timing of the prospects’ arrivals may not be ideal, but we’ve seen how amassing young talent eventually pays off; Royals General Manger Dayton Moore had to endure eight frustrating seasons before his work paid off; The Houston Astros endured six losing seasons where they averaged more than 98 losses before they’re youth led to a playoff berth this season; and the Chicago Cubs had five losing seasons before their 97-win season in 2015. The Tulo trade should be seen as the first step of that rebuilding process.
That’s tough to hear, considering Rockies fans haven’t experienced a winning season since 2010.
If the Rockies continue to stockpile young talent and develop it—which the Rockies sometimes have difficulty doing—then recent history tells us they’ll be ready to make a playoff push in the future. Rockies fans just might have to wait beyond 2018 to see it.