Fade to Blackmon

 

I feel like I had a similar post on this subject last year, but seeing as the guy in question is closer to replacement level than he was last year, it's probably more appropriate now.

So, Charlie Blackmon's on the last year of his contract in Colorado. He was supposed to be done after last year, the Rockies brought him back, he's now 38 and batting .250 with none of the contact perks he displayed in his prime. There's a definite possibility that Blackmon's rounding out the end of his Rockies tenure. I don't know what else he has left to prove both in the bigs and in Denver. At least Joey Votto waited until he knew he had nothing left; Blackmon I think is getting to that point. And it's become clear that the Rockies have spent enough money on people who aren't gonna even yield 1 WAR this year, so...it's better off that this is the end.

Now, the one issue with that is that without Blackmon, who is the sole heroic figure on this Rockies team. In an ideal world it'd be Kris Bryant, but the man hasn't exactly shown up yet. He's been here for 3 years now, has gotten several opportunities to match up to his Cubs days, and it really hasn't happened. In 37 games this year, he's hit .215. This man won an MVP once. And I don't know if he even knows how to get back to the material that did so. 

What does help is that there's more of an identity to this regime of Rockies teams than there was before. I can easily point to Ryan McMahon, Ezequiel Tovar, Brenton Doyle and Michael Toglia as cemented pieces of this team, and can feasibly see Drew Romo, Nolan Jones, Brendan Rodgers and Victor Vodnik continuing to factor into this team's growth. I can see all of those guys hanging from banners outside Coors Field in the foreseeable future. Romo, the big prospect who came up recently, has yet to hit consistently in the majors, but all signs point to him being the backstop of the future in Colorado, and for a franchise that's never truly had a homegrown multi-tool catcher, that's a reassuring forecast. 

But the thing is, as reliable as some of these people are, will they come close to the wall-to-wall impressive nature of the LeMahieu-Blackmon-Arenado-Story years? The Rockies had a goldmine of contact hitters and only could do so much with them. So this franchise needs to build something better, and from the looks of what's coming around now...they may need more time to flesh out. Which isn't the worst thing, but I don't think anyone wants it to be another, like, 5 years before the Rockies can compete again.

Coming Tomorrow- They asked him upon getting here if he could play third base, and he seemed to be alright with the prospect. Which is not how I figured the answer at third would arrive in New York.