The Toronto Blue Jays and Colorado Rockies have now matched up for the third time, and this one may tell us more about the state of the trade market than either team probably intended.
Toronto trades SP Scott Garrelts to Colorado for OF David Dellucci.
Let’s start with Colorado, because at this point, you have to respect the hell out of what they’re doing.
We’re six weeks from the trade deadline, the league is full of sellers, and plenty of owners seem content to sit on their hands and see what happens.
Colorado is doing the exact opposite.
They’re going for it.
José Rijo?
Added.
Mark McGwire?
Added.
Now Scott Garrelts?
Added.
Garrelts is doing what Scott Garrelts does. He’s pitching well, posting a good ERA, sitting at 7-5, and providing the kind of consistency you’d expect from a veteran starter who has been around the block a few times.
Now he joins a fascinating Colorado rotation that already features a Top-10 pitcher in Chris Nabholz, Curt Schilling and Rijo.
That’s a pretty damn good 1-4.
And for a Rockies team that clearly sees an opportunity to win a division that appears very much up for grabs, I love the aggression.
Someone has to actually try to win this thing.
Colorado apparently decided it might as well be them.
The price?
David Dellucci.
And this is where things get interesting.
Dellucci is young, cost controlled and, frankly, exactly the kind of player teams have been telling us they want.
Toronto is getting a young bat they can control while they continue their on-again, off-again flirtation with contention.
He’ll most likely form a platoon with Shane Spencer, which isn’t exactly the kind of pairing that makes you want to start printing playoff tickets.
But they’ll hit some home runs.
And in a league where teams are looking for cheap production, that has value.
Which brings us to the bigger story here.
What the Hell Is Happening to the Starting Pitcher Market?
Scott Garrelts was one of the better veteran starting pitchers available.
He wasn’t some reclamation project.
He wasn’t a Triple-A lottery ticket.
He wasn’t a guy you’re hoping can eat innings.
He’s a proven veteran who’s currently pitching well and can step directly into a contender’s rotation.
And Colorado just got him for David Dellucci.
No offense to Dellucci, but if you’re another team sitting on a veteran starter hoping to cash in before the deadline, I would be slightly concerned.
Because there are a lot of these guys still sitting around.
Melido Perez.
Ramon Martinez.
Aaron Sele.
Jay Tibbs.
Mark Portugal.
Bob Sebra.
That’s a pretty damn long list of pitchers who could theoretically help a contender.
So the question isn’t just who is buying?
It’s who is willing to pay more than David Dellucci?
Because we’re six weeks from the deadline, and the clock is already running.
If you’re selling one of these veterans, you don’t have six months to wait for the market to magically improve.
You have six weeks.
That’s it.
Colorado has already taken one of the better options off the board.
And they didn’t have to surrender some blue-chip prospect or a premium draft pick to do it.
They gave up a young, cost-controlled outfielder.
That’s going to make every other seller with a veteran starter start asking some uncomfortable questions.
Maybe Garrelts was simply a unique situation.
Maybe Toronto valued Dellucci more than everyone else did.
Maybe Colorado was willing to pay a little differently because it desperately wanted another arm.
All of those things can be true.
But if you’re Melido Perez’s owner, or Ramon Martinez’s owner, or Aaron Sele’s owner, or any of the others sitting there watching this happen, you’re probably staring at this trade and thinking:
That’s it?
That’s what Scott Garrelts brought back?
Because if that’s the market, somebody is going to have to blink.
And with six weeks left before the deadline, it might be the sellers.
Colorado, meanwhile, gets to keep doing what nobody else seems particularly interested in doing.
Buying.
They looked at their division, looked at their roster, looked at the available pitching and decided they’d rather have Scott Garrelts than David Dellucci.
Fair enough.
That’s what contenders should do.
But for the rest of the sellers?
I’d start making some phone calls.
Because if you’re holding one of those veteran starters and waiting for the market to get better, Colorado may have just made your life considerably more difficult.
The starting pitching market isn’t dead.
It’s just apparently worth a lot less than everyone thought it was.
And with six weeks left, that’s a problem somebody is going to have to solve.