Helton's Days In Colorado Are Numbered

Helton's Days In Colorado Are Numbered

Topic Author: Josh Earl

Posted: 8:43 PM Jun 1, 2009

Replies Posted: 5 comments

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First Matt Holliday, then Clint Hurdle, now get ready to say goodbye to Todd Helton. Rocktober is officially just a great memory.

There are just 60 days remaining (from publish date May 31st) until the Major League Baseball trade deadline on July 31st. Before that deadline hits Todd Helton should be playing first base in another city.

Helton will most likely be traded and in my humble opinion he should be, for the good of everyone involved.

Before the 2007 season Helton was nearly dealt to the Boston Red Sox for third baseman Mike Lowell and pitcher Julian Tavarez. The Sox were unwilling to throw in another prospect that the Rockies desperately wanted and the deal fell through.

Ironically that non-deal worked out for everyone. Helton played a major role in helping the Rockies to their first and only World Series appearance. and in an ironic twist it was Lowell who pounded the Rockies in the series and was named World Series MVP.

In 2008 Helton's injuries piled up and his production fell through the floor as did his trade value.

Now that Rocktober is in the past and Helton is back to being a healthy and productive player, if the Rockies still want to trade the franchise they need to strike while the iron is hot.

It would be great to see Helton finish his career in a Rockies uniform, but unfortunately that's just not how sports work anymore. Helton would either have to retire at the end of his contract in 2011 (which is highly possible), or he would have to take a pay cut to finish his career in Colorado.

The Rockies pathetic financial situation would be helped immensely if they could rid themselves of Helton's contract. This season he will make 16.6 million dollars or nearly 23% of the teams entire payroll and that number only goes up over the next two years.

Helton is the Rockies all time leader in nearly every offensive category, and again I would love to see him finish his career in Colorado. However, when that trade deadline comes in July there will be some team somewhere that will be willing to overpay to put Helton in their lineup for the stretch run. Either the Rockies commit to keeping Helton for the rest of his career and in turn tie up the payroll, or get something for him now while his value is back on the rise.

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by PJ Location: Colorado Springs on Dec 23, 2009 at 07:58 PM

Jesse, I'm a huge Rocky Fan, and your right, they fired Clint Hurdle, they traded Matt Holliday which was a huge! mistake, they let players like Atkins, and Marquis go to other teams that they have just signed to, and now you think it may be time for Todd Helton to go? I can agree with you to a point, but he is the captain of the Rockies, and yeah, maybe he needs to think about his career with the Rockies. I would think it would be good for him to play maybe one more season with the Rockies, and then think about retirement? I don't know, he is the heart of the Rockies Organization. It seems kinda strange that when ever a team makes it to the World Series and wins it, at the end of the season, or a team wins their division, they start trading off some of their players, why does a winning championship team trade off some of their players? As the old saying goes, "if it ain't broke don't fix it" if you have a championship team don't break it apart, makes sense to me?

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by Todd J. Lippert Location: Colorado Springs, CO on Jul 27, 2009 at 11:50 AM

Hi Jesse Kurtz, Todd Helton is the heart of the Colorado Rockies organization! This team is headed for another playoff run. The last playoff run ended in the World Series coming to Denver and Colorado for the first time in history. I wouldn't be at all surprized if Todd wasn't being considered for a front office position as in coach to General Manager position within the organization. We need Todd Helton to continue to be the the leader not only in the club house, on and off the field leadership but also throughout Colorado! The Colorado Rockies Baseball Club simply don't have any baseball experience to lead our organization into the future. Keli McGregor and Dan O'Dowd can very easily be replaced but not Todd Helton. Keli McGregor is a football person. Dan O'Dowd isn't capable of running any professional sports organization. I wish this organization every success without Todd Helton. It my hope that they will keep Todd Helton and continue their success with

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by Dave Location: Colorado Springs on Jul 23, 2009 at 08:55 AM

This article would've made sense 6 weeks ago. The Rockies just took the lead in the wild card race, and they are looking to acquire talent, not ship it off to another team. Obviously you have no sense of what is going on with the Rockies organization. Look for them to pick up a pitcher or two for middle relief in the bullpen. Watch one Rockies game, and you'd have a better sense of what is going on. Don't write if you can't do a little research.

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by Paul Location: Colorado Springs on Jun 8, 2009 at 04:00 PM

The Rockies are now starting to play a whole lot better than they have been playing! and they have won five straight. They are utilizing their Triple A team players more when needed, which really works!! We did that when we won 21 games in a row and it got us into the World Series. So let's stick with what works for the Team! Todd Helton is the Captain of the team and he should be leading by example, which he is trying to do! I don't know if he should be traded or not, he's a great ballplayer and he deserves to stay with the Rockies Organization if he wants to retire with the Rockies, Todd should at least be given that consideration by the Management. We have already lost Matt Holliday, Brian Fuentes, and others, let's not make any more rash decisions simply by trading Todd Helton just because of financial restraints, its not fair to Todd or the team! and it would only hurt the team by losing their Team Captain. It was wrong for Management to fire Clint Hurdle, it wasn't his fault!!

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by dave Location: colorado springs on Jun 6, 2009 at 01:45 PM

NEVER, I repeat, NEVER rid yourselves of TODD the hit-man HELTON. He earned the right to stay here by not asking to be traded when the club sucked worse than now. Hurdle was the main obstacle this team had to overcome!!! there is a good team here now. Let the man retire here on his terms!!!! btw, keep TRACY as the manager. He at least has them playing real baseball again!!! and he is a very good manager!!!

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