At the deadline, Rockies GM Bill Schmidt showed he’s getting it right

DENVER — This time at the Major League Baseball trade deadline, the Rockies didn’t stand at the side of the road. They didn’t watch the rest of the sport whiz by, 29 other teams either making moves to enhance their chances of contention or stockpiling prospects to develop for a future year when it was their turn to contend.

They dealt. And dealt again. And dealt again.

General manager Bill Schmidt began the process of shedding contracts early, on June 24. It ended Tuesday morning when they sent left-handed relief pitcher Brad Hand to Atlanta.

In all, Hand, Mike Moustakas, C.J. Cron, Randal Grichuk and Pierce Johnson became six pitching prospects — two lefties and four right-handers. No position players came aboard.

The Rockies didn’t wait for the perfect deal. Instead, they took solid ones that perfectly aligned with their philosophy.

And four of the six pitchers — lefty Alec Barger and righties Victor Vodnik, Tanner Gordon and Connor Van Scoyoc, are already at the high-A or AA levels. Vodnik is a potential plus reliever who averaged 12.2 strikeouts per nine innings last year at AA and AAA and 12.4 this year — all at AAA.

But those are details for another article. I’ll be happy to write it sometime.

What matters is how they fit in the plan.

Yes, Schmidt’s Rockies do have one. It is now as clear as an early-season blue sky above Coors Field.

And that is to flood the Rockies’ system with arms that could begin helping the big-league club as soon as 2025.

Pitching is volatile, of course. And the success rate is notoriously low. Which is why you need more darts. In all, the Rockies drafted 14 pitchers, signed two more as free agents, then traded for six in the past six weeks. Thirteen pitchers came from the Division I college ranks, including six of the Rockies’ first eight picks.

But this was necessary given that the Rockies’ organizational strength rested elsewhere. Eleven of the team’s top 13 prospects as ranked by FanGraphs in late June are position players. In MLB Pipeline’s rankings, it’s eight of the top nine.

The trades turned an aging lineup into a younger one. Six of the nine players in the lineup Tuesday against San Diego are age 26 or younger, including precocious 21-year-old shortstop Ezequiel Tovar. Slugging outfielder Nolan Jones, acquired by Schmidt from Cleveland last November, has promising power production and should become a mainstay. The balance of the season will serve as an extended audition for outfielder Brenton Doyle, infielder/DH Elehuris Montero and first baseman/outfielder Michael Toglia.

Now, some of Tuesday’s lineup decisions result from injuries forcing Bud Black’s hand. Kris Bryant and Charlie Blackmon remain on the injured list. Blackmon was a prime candidate for trade before his June finger injury, thanks to his expiring contract.

Bryant is a part of the Rockies’ future, like it or not — even though he could return Wednesday and would still end the season having missed more games than he played in the first two years of a seven-year contract that seems as endless as a Tolkien film adaptation. But so is third baseman Ryan McMahon, who was a June swoon away from being an All-Star selection. And while they didn’t trade All-Star Game MVP Elías Díaz at the deadline, his expert handling of pitchers could prove valuable if the Rockies add a year or two to his contract, which expires after next year.

Through the Rockies’ struggles and being an internal promotion, Schmidt’s tenure has not yielded widespread praise, with deadline stagnation, an apparent lack of clear direction and the massive contract handed to Bryant.

But in the last several weeks, something changed at 20th and Blake. It’s the conception of hope for the future, in a logical approach.

Give Bill Schmidt credit. He got it right this time. And the plan appears evident to those willing to take a closer look.

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