Some thoughts on the Rockies trade deadline
It was a lot to take in.
I knew when this season started that I wanted to be in Denver for the MLB trade deadline. Before, I’d always just followed along from home, and I wanted to see what it would be like on the ground, close to the action. So this year I did. And I learned a lot though probably not what I had expected.
Everyone is on edge — For just a second, put yourself in the players’ place. You have a job — a very public-facing job — to do, and you’re trying your best to do it. In the background, however, the rumors keep swirling, just as they have for several weeks. And should you be traded, your life, and that of your family, will be immediately changed. In addition to leaving your familiar home/workplace, your family will need to move, and you will have to go quickly to meet your new team and play the best baseball you possibly can and make a good impression with your new team and their fans. That means your family cannot be sure of how much help you will be able to offer during this transition.
And you can’t plan for where you might be next because it could be anywhere.
It’s a lot of emotional stress added to an already stressful job. In the meantime, the story of your being traded is everywhere — it’s on The Athletic and sports radio and MLB media and podcasts. It’s highly addictive clickbait. It’s the gorilla in the clubhouse.
Your teammates also share the stress you’re experiencing.
In terms of the Rockies, for some of the young players, it didn’t matter. Cole Carrigg and Kyle Karros, for example, knew they weren’t going anywhere, so they carried on.
For other players, though, life became much harder. Antonio Senzatela, Mickey Moniak, and Jake McCarthy had been on watch lists, so they knew a trade could happen at any time. (Moniak, it turns out, would get an extension instead.)
Many of the players just weren’t around — and, frankly, who could blame them? They were tired of the questions, tired of the stress, so they just weren’t in the clubhouse.
On Sunday night, McCarthy said he was going home and shutting off his phone. If there was a trade, someone would tell him.
It’s as good an approach as any.
Stories were hard to find — Because the focus was on the trade deadline, there were really no other stories to tell. And if a reporter got a story from a player, there was a chance the player would no longer be a Rockie before it ran, so there seemed little point in looking for new material, except with younger players.
But, look, it’s the trade deadline, so no one is really interested in the stories of younger players. Those will keep until next week.
Being in the clubhouse did not provide any additional news — As 4:00 approach on Monday afternoon, most reporters were doing what everyone else was: refreshing their phones. Some had sources and early leads, but generally, everyone was just waiting and hoping their phone had enough battery left until they could get it recharged.
The trade deadline is disruptive — Like baseball players, reporters have schedules they follow: The clubhouse is open at a regular time; the manager takes questions at a scheduled time; stories are due at a specified time. But the trade deadline disrupted that, too.
Then 4:00 passed, the last news trickled in, and everyone turned their attention to the Rockies game with the Tampa Bay Rays. Antonio Senzatela was headed to Milwaukee; Brenton Doyle would play for the White Sox; and Victor Vodnik was moving to Miami.
After posing for a photo with the grounds crew, Antonio Senzatela spoke with media, which is the exception rather than the rule. Generally when a player is traded, he serves his new team, not his old one. But Senzatela had earned the right to say “Good bye,” and he took it.
Renee Dechert
Players move out quickly — When the game had ended and we went into the Rockies clubhouse, one player had already moved into Brenton Doyle’s locker while another had taken Victor Vodnik’s. There was no sign of that any of the three traded players had ever been in the Rockies clubhouse.
Everything just kept moving on with Jordan Beck and Nick Frasso taking their places on the roster.
Baseball fans are engaged — I can’t speak for other sites (though I suspect they are no different), but Purple Row had stunning traffic during the trade deadline. On Monday. As 4:00 drew nearer, it exploded. We couldn’t keep up. Players and fans were watching for very different reasons, but almost everyone was working with the same information. (Sure, front offices know more, but they weren’t telling.)
In other words, we were sorry for the suffering of professional baseball players, but this was tremendous content.
It was emotional — I was glad Senzatela got to answer questions because the complexity of his feelings came through: He was sad to be leaving Colorado because it had been his baseball home for a long time. But he was also excited about going to Milwaukee and a contending team. (And after everything Senzatela has gone through over the last three years, I can think of few people more deserving.)
What Brenton Doyle experienced, I have no idea, but he must have had quite a week: He came off a an Albuquerque rehab assignment and returned to Denver; he and his wife announced they are expecting their second child; and then he was traded to Chicago. Tuesday night, he was in the White Sox lineup in Boston; Thursday night, he was in an extra-innings game that went to 13 innings. After that one ended, he had to get on a plane to his new home and find . . . I have no idea.
But that’s baseball.
Monday night after Coors Field had emptied out, I was waiting to cross Blake Street as I headed home.
There was a guy across the street waiting on the other side to cross as well. As we both entered the intersection, I realized it was Victor Vodnik, wearing sweats and a not-Rockies baseball cap. During his time with the Rockies, I had not talked with Vodnik much, but we recognized each other in the intersection. As we met, I held out my hand for a fist bump and wished him good luck going forward. He said, “Thanks.”
He was, I assume, headed back to Coors to finish things up, really clean out his locker, turn in his purple gear, and head into the next phase of his career in Miami.
It was a weird moment in a day full of them.
Here’s wishing Antonio Senzatela, Brenton Doyle, and Victor Vodnik good luck with their new teams.
Closing thoughts
That’s it for this week.
The Rockies are headed on the road for three series, and two questions remain unanswered: Can they lose fewer than 100 games, and which prospects will be promoted before the end of the season?
Stay tuned.
As always, thanks for reading —
Renee
Rockies Pitch is a newsletter that focuses on Colorado Rockies baseball.
Find me on Bluesky at @ReneeDechert.com or send an email to Renee@RockiesPitch.com
