As the 2021 MLB trade deadline has passed, where the Rockies (who are, in more than one way, in at minimum a transition phase) were expected to be sellers, the only player that was traded was reliever Mychal Givens. While this decision by the Rockies’ front office is albeit confusing to fans, it was also confusing to superstar SS Trevor Story. Story was expected to be at the forefront of Rockies players that were expected to be traded, to the point where Trevor Story himself was expecting to be traded in the most active deadline maybe in MLB history. So the question remains, why? In the post-trade deadline presser interim GM Bill Schmidt came out and said “Hopefully we will have him longer than two months….we love Trevor Story” which means they hope to extend Story long term, or just have him back on a one year deal, or a qualifying offer despite reports saying that he does not want to stay in Colorado.
Story was so mad at the Rockies’ choice to hang onto him that he pulled himself out of the Rockies’ Friday night lineup against the San Diego Padres so that he could calm himself, reset his focus, and not have an 0-for-4 type night. Story, a humble and quiet-type told Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post shortly after the deadline passed “I’m confused and I don’t really have anything good to say about the situation and how it unfolded.” Now, the Rockies have been notorious for their terrible communication skills, see Arenado, Nolan, especially in this current front office regime (which will pass in the offseason), despite Schmidt saying they kept Story “abreast on things.” We do not know how much was communicated to Story. We know Schmidt told Story at some point before the deadline “there is a chance we might keep you,” but beyond that is unknown.
Did the Rockies have to trade Trevor Story? It would have made sense since they are in a transition phase, and they have a bottom 20 farm system, so they could have gotten as many prospects to stock on as possible. They had a price in mind for Stoy for other teams to acquire him, however, a team obviously did not make an offer to the Rockies’ liking. Story did not formally request a trade, maybe because he just assumed he would be traded, so the Rockies were well within their rights to keep him. Besides, Trevor is in the middle of the worst season of his career (.241/.313/.429), so with that in mind, the Rockies may not have received the best offer that they could have due to Story’s on-the-field play.
For Rockies fans, this is a win-lose situation. On the winning side, the fans get to see their beloved star shortstop for at least two more months. I suppose he could return on a 1 year deal if his value drops enough given his down season so far. On the losing side, the Rockies do not seem to be in the Trevor Story’s long term plans, and maybe even short term. The Rockies could have used the haul of prospects to help set up this team’s future, instead all they might get is a compensatory pick in-between rounds 1 and 2 in next year’s draft. We do not know the teams’ offerings for Story, and we might never know, but what we do know is we have at least two more months of Story, so enjoy it Rockies fans.
