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Bumbling Rockies owe Helton a trade
Published: January 30, 2007
Whatever the Colorado Rockies can get for first baseman Todd Helton, they should take it.
It does not have to be a name, or even an initial. Any deal that can be made, should be made.
Not for their sakes, not for the Rockies, not for some grand and careful plan that will make the Rockies better - this is too many short straws later to believe that - but for Helton himself.
Helton ought to be allowed to touch baseball's real adventure before he is through, as Larry Walker did with the Cardinals, as Andres Galarraga did in Atlanta. Aaron Miles, for crying out loud, was just awash in clubhouse champagne in St. Louis.
Even Jim Leyland found resurrection after disgracing himself and the Rockies, taking the Tigers to the World Series along with, to name three other Coors escapees, Preston Wilson, Todd Jones and Neifi Perez.
The ones who got out, the ones who just stopped by, the ones who took the bows and drank the beer, so many have gone on to something better, even if it is only a bit more regard, free of the gimmicks of Coors, if not the altitude or the humidor, last place and dead ends.
Through most of this, for too long, has been Helton, the franchise face and All-Star fixture, what passed for quality, the touch of class, uncomplaining and serving his time.
Helton is not what he was and he is still too young (33) to blame age or diminished skill for that. But if the power is less (and in Boston, his rumored destination, right field is farther away), Helton still finds the alleys and he still hits .300.
To do that again for the Rockies is to waste another season, and the Rockies have more of those to waste than does Helton.
Now that there is general agreement that Helton is going, if not soon and if not to Boston, then somewhere, there can be no turning back. As understanding as Helton might be to what is a clear dismissal, as nimble as owner Charlie Monfort might be in skating around the fact that the Rockies no longer want Helton, his contract or his dignity, an era is ending unkindly, as they almost always do.
It is only that Helton is compared to himself that he looks lacking, though you wonder if the weight of the seasons when he was what there was, when hope was less tattered and promises could be believed, are more the reason for his decline than injury, illness or age.
It does not have to be a name, or even an initial. Any deal that can be made, should be made.
Not for their sakes, not for the Rockies, not for some grand and careful plan that will make the Rockies better - this is too many short straws later to believe that - but for Helton himself.
Helton ought to be allowed to touch baseball's real adventure before he is through, as Larry Walker did with the Cardinals, as Andres Galarraga did in Atlanta. Aaron Miles, for crying out loud, was just awash in clubhouse champagne in St. Louis.
Even Jim Leyland found resurrection after disgracing himself and the Rockies, taking the Tigers to the World Series along with, to name three other Coors escapees, Preston Wilson, Todd Jones and Neifi Perez.
The ones who got out, the ones who just stopped by, the ones who took the bows and drank the beer, so many have gone on to something better, even if it is only a bit more regard, free of the gimmicks of Coors, if not the altitude or the humidor, last place and dead ends.
Through most of this, for too long, has been Helton, the franchise face and All-Star fixture, what passed for quality, the touch of class, uncomplaining and serving his time.
Helton is not what he was and he is still too young (33) to blame age or diminished skill for that. But if the power is less (and in Boston, his rumored destination, right field is farther away), Helton still finds the alleys and he still hits .300.
To do that again for the Rockies is to waste another season, and the Rockies have more of those to waste than does Helton.
Now that there is general agreement that Helton is going, if not soon and if not to Boston, then somewhere, there can be no turning back. As understanding as Helton might be to what is a clear dismissal, as nimble as owner Charlie Monfort might be in skating around the fact that the Rockies no longer want Helton, his contract or his dignity, an era is ending unkindly, as they almost always do.
It is only that Helton is compared to himself that he looks lacking, though you wonder if the weight of the seasons when he was what there was, when hope was less tattered and promises could be believed, are more the reason for his decline than injury, illness or age.
Certainly, Helton has been well paid for time served, and a contract is made by both sides, but while Helton has held up his end, the Rockies have not.
To be the centerpiece of the future, as Helton was when he signed for $140 million or so, assumes better support than he has gotten since.
There has been a comfort in failure, surely, when no matter how hard you try, no matter how much you care, the journey is all there is. And Helton has never let it show, never demanded competence to match his own.
In that way, he deserves what has happened to him. With a more outgoing personality, he would be Ernie Banks or, with greater exposure, Don Mattingly.
As the Rockies think of one thing and try another, when plans change and management does not, all that money comes as close to being a burden as all that money can.
With less of a contract, possibly Helton would be gone by now, and for more than the Rockies will get, even if they eat a lot of the contract as they must. Helton is still owed $90 million through the next five years.
It is as late for the Rockies as it is for Helton because so much more of the same stretches in front of a team that will not take a chance or leave a tip.
The reality is, with Helton or without Helton, the Rockies will wobble on to unsurprising inadequacy. Mediocrity is a reach and distinction is impossible.
For Helton to think it will be otherwise would be a complete surrender to apathy and acceptance. This is not as good as it can get. Talent should have better props.
Helton may not even realize how much he needs a fresh start, needs to be in a place where the talent is in position and not in Class AA.
Root for Helton to get what he deserves. The Rockies are on their own.
Contact Bernie Lincicome of the Rocky Mountain News at www.rockymountainnews.com.
