Former MLB GM tosses out trade idea for Rockies to deal Hunter Goodman

The Rockies have given every indication that catcher Hunter Goodman isn’t going anywhere. But that doesn’t mean the speculation regarding the future of the two-time All-Star catcher isn’t running rampant.

Former Major League Baseball general manager Jim Bowden — now contributing to The Athletic — threw gasoline on the embers Monday, writing his idea for a potential trade of Goodman to the Boston Red Sox in a piece headlined, “Five moves I’d like to see before the MLB Trade Deadline.”

His notion was Trade Idea No. 2 in the piece, proposing a deal to send Goodman to the Boston Red Sox for left-handed pitcher Connelly Early, right-hander Kyson Witherspoon, shortstop Marcelo Mayer and catcher Carlos Narváez. Early, Mayer and Narvaéz have all played extensively for the major-league club this season, although Early and Mayer are currently on the injured list. Both Mayer and Narvaéz currently have negative offensive WARs, although with team control through 2031 and 2030, respectively, a team can play the long game with both. Mayer was the No. 4 overall pick in the 2021 MLB Draft.

Early has a 3.44 ERA and a 4.61 FIP in his first full season after making four starts last year. He’s under team control through 2031, but currently is dealing with elbow inflammation, although he is expected to return later this season.

Witherspoon was the Red Sox’ first-round pick last year after a stellar season at Oklahoma. The No. 15 overall pick last year, he has a 5.07 ERA and a 1.45 WHIP over 15 starts this season at High-A Greenville (S.C.) in the South Atlantic League.

Bowden rationalized the proposed deal thusly:

I hear the Rockies fans screaming already. “How can you propose a trade involving our best player and our only All-Star for the past two years?” I get it.

However, in my early days in the league with the Pittsburgh Pirates, we did this exact same thing. We traded our best player — catcher Tony Peña, a four-time All-Star — and brought back center fielder Andy Van Slyke, right-hander Mike Dunne and catcher Mike LaValliere. It was a deal that turned the Pirates from cellar dwellers to contenders in just a couple of years.

THE RATIONALE TO TRADE GOODMAN: ROCKIES’ PRESSING NEED FOR PITCHING

And in particular, pitching that is at least close to major-league ready. If the Rockies altered their reported stance, it’s unlikely they’d do so for a collection of prospects who don’t present the likelihood of contributing at the major-league level within 12 months, if not sooner.

That’s where Early would come into play; he would have a chance to immediately be the Rockies’ top starter. And Witherspoon has plenty of upside; his fastball hits 99 MPH and he has a cutter to pair with it. But he has a 4.39 walks-per-nine-innings rate; for comparison’s sake, just two eligible major-league pitchers have BB/9 rates that are worse this season, showing how far Witherspoon has to go.

And with a team-wide WHIP and ERA that remain the worst in major-league baseball, the Rockies may have to consider drastic options to bring in arms to potentially fill out the rotation and bullpen. Whether it means trading the player whose chase for the team’s single-season home-run record could be the most engaging storyline of the final 60 games of the campaign, that remains to be seen.

But with new management calling the shots on an analytics basis, nothing can be dismissed.

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