Dan Szymborski likens trading Hunter Goodman to trading in . It’s not flashy. Its value is probably peaking. It gets good mileage at a time when gas prices are going through the roof.
But if someone’s willing to hand him stupid money, some crazy return, for those sexy wheels? Here’s the keys, brother. Go nuts.
“I really like my car. I’m not looking to sell my car,” told me by phone Friday. “But if someone came up to me and said, ‘Man, I sure like your car, I’ll give you $60K for it,’ for some reason, I might do that. But I’m not looking to do it.”
If a contender is from their farm system for Goodman, the Rockies catcher who’s hit more home runs before the All-Star break (27) than any Colorado player since Larry Walker in 2001, then heck yes, you bite. You’d be nuts not to.
The problem? Szymborski says he can’t see any franchise, including the oft-discussed Yankees, that would be willing to meet that asking price for the sweetest ride on 20th & Bleak.
“Teams hang on to top-top prospects a lot more greedily than they used to,” Szymborski continued. “Although Hunter Goodman is really good, you’re not going to get two top-60 guys. (If you could), you do it.”
Goodman’s 26. and is reportedly under team control through 2029. He’s on pace to hit 50 jacks while paradoxically doing most of his damage (18 of 27 homers) away from Coors Field.
“I think (Goodman’s) bat will play anywhere,” “(But) I don’t think he’s going to be a guy that’s going to hit 40 home runs somewhere else. It may be that this is as good as it gets. This may be his peak. If somebody bowls you over with an offer, I think you take it. If not, I think you wait to do this at a time where a team is desperate enough to where you can really make it work for your organization.”
at minus-2 heading into the weekend, while T as a plus-2 through 484 2/3 innings behind the plate. So that’s a wash — a playable, decent glove with an All-Star bat. A bargain who won’t turn 30 until October 2029.
The Rox still may not be any darned good by then, which is the No. 1 argument for dealing Goodman now. But that’s also why the new(ish) braintrust of Walker Monfort, Paul DePodesta and Josh Byrnes can afford to be choosy. Goodman’s the fattest goose they can take to market. If they shoot, they can’t afford to miss.
“I think I would actually be inclined to hang on to him,” Szymborski noted. “The Rockies could get a lot of value for him, but this is a team that’s finally getting the idea that they need to throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks. I think they could actually come together as a decent team in a few years.
“There’s still a lot of things to like. So it’s not necessarily a good time to trade (him). Also, catcher is a deep position around the league. So I would probably hang onto him. I would see the case for trading him, too, but he’s not going to bring back a superstar return.
“The problem is that The (Jeff) Bridich Era put the team in such a hole where they have little MLB talent and very little MILB talent. It’s hard to build from nothing.”
Which is why you can’t swap him for nothing, either. It’s easy to look at the suddenly-contending White Sox, who were somehow worse in ’24 (121 losses) than the Rockies were in ’25 (119 losses), and get stars in your eyes. Yet there are some significant circumstantial differences between the Pale Hose revival, the best story in baseball, and rebuilding purple pinstripes into a power again.
For one, the South Siders play in MLB’s version of the NFC South — and shock injuries to Detroit ace Tarik Skubal and to what feels like 70% of the Royals’ roster suddenly threw a crapola division into wide-open chaos. For another, after the Yankees and Rays, the American League this year is hot garbage compared to the Senior Circuit. For yet another, the White Sox microwaved themselves off the mat by dealing young, front-line starting pitching (Dylan Cease, Lucas Giolito), with the Garrett Crochet-to-Boston haul somehow bringing back three solid starting bats into the ChiSox’s current lineup.
The Rockies don’t have anywhere near that level of cost-effective surplus of arms at present. And while the conversion of Antonio Senzatela from failed starter to late-inning weapon has been a revelation, set-up men typically don’t bring back much on the trade market.
Outfielder Mickey Moniak could help a lot of going-for-it clubs in need of a lefty bat, but he also went into this past Friday hitting .219 with a .689 OPS outside of Coors. Which means, whatever your buddy thinks the Rox would get for Mick The Stick, take away a prospect from that package, or drop said prospect down a minor-league class.
In the meantime, arguments for keeping Goodman now keep whispering like angels from the opposite shoulder. Even with a livelier ball and a three-outcome approach, 40-home-run catchers are rarer than the Wagyu at A5 Steakhouse. What kind of message are you sending to the clubhouse if you’re flipping a two-time All-Star in his prime? What kind of message are you sending to a fan base that’s been beaten down and conditioned to expect the worst?
“I think it’s dangerous asking your fan base to be even more cynical than it already is by trading a guy away at the point where he’s suddenly of value to other teams,” Jaffe said. “But I think you always have to be listening.
“If someone offers you the next Paul Skenes, I think you make that (trade). Always. But I don’t think anybody’s going to be offering that. They’re going to be trying to convince you that getting two A-ball prospects and a grab-bag catcher is going to be enough of a return.”
It isn’t. The Rockies have gone down this road recently at least twice before and whiffed on both occasions. The Nolan Arenado Giveaway of 2021 will go down as the nadir of franchise history and the worst deal in Denver that didn’t involve Russell Wilson. In July 2015, Colorado landed Jeff Hoffman, Jose Reyes, Miguel Castro and Jesus Tinoco for Troy Tulowitzki and LaTroy Hawkins, and again, the kids that came back amounted to bupkis.
Don’t settle. Set the bar high. Yankees farmhands Dax Kilby and Elmer Rodriguez would look awfully good in purple. But if the Bronx Bombers aren’t willing to go that far, close the briefcase, pack it up and move on to a suitor who’s serious. Or more desperate.
“Everybody has a price,” Szymborski said.
And you don’t move Goodman until a contender is hungry enough to meet yours. Not while the Mazda’s got that many miles left in the tank.
