A Trade Deadline Shocker
August 1st, 2021
W - 78 / L - 24 / 13 Game Lead
Before we touch on the Rockies great month and continuing record season we need to announce a shocking trade the Rockies made at the beginning of the month. On July 2nd the Rockies traded 23 year old SP Bill Scott and 3 time all star 28 year old 2B Marco Hernandez to the Minnesota Twins for 24 year old 2B Jose Valdes. While this sounds like a crazy thing for the Rockies to do let's break down and analyze this trade. 2B Marco Hernandez's contract was set to expire at the end of this season and put him into free agency where he was rumored to be asking for more than $13,000,000 per season. In the last 2 seasons Hernandez has hit well below his early career average and was average defensively. SP Bill Scott has been below average for the Rockies with a career ERA just under 5. Also the Rockies were discussing a bullpen role for him as he lacks the stamina of a true innings eater at the back of the rotation pitching just 74 innings in 13 starts this season while other pitchers with the same amount of starts were well over 100 innings. In return the Rockies got Jose Valdes who at 24 years old has 5 years experience in the majors and a career average of .298 and OBP of .382, he also was among the top base stealers this season. Since coming to Colorado he has hit .376/.413/.425 and added 11 SB giving him 35 this season.
Another reason the Rockies were willing to trade Scott was 23 year old SP Willie Calhoun pitching phenomenally in AAA going 11-1 with a 2.00 ERA this season. Since being promoted into the 5th rotation spot he has gone 3-0 in 6 starts with a 2.10 ERA.
In other team news the Rockies went 22-7 in the month of July and saw some incredible performances by their players but none may have been better than Mike Trout getting back to back 5 hit games and a 2-3 night the next night.
Top Team Performances
MLB Hitter - CF Mike Trout - .409/.492/.773 13 HR 36 RBI
MLB Pitcher - SP Carlos Peterson - 6-0 1.73 ERA 0.84 WHIP
AAA Hitter - 1B Bill Decker - .368/.495/.816 11 HR 26 RBI
AAA Pitcher - RP Bryan Wilson - 22.2 IP 1.99 ERA 1.24 WHIP
AA Hitter - RF Jesus Mendez - .418/.451/.866 7 HR 13 RBi
AA Pitcher - RP Roberto Carrillo - 14.1 IP 1.88 ERA 1.12 WHIP