{"id":742874,"date":"2026-07-04T12:12:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T12:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/742874\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T12:12:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T12:12:15","slug":"rockies-could-get-ripped-off-by-trading-catcher-hunter-goodman-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/742874\/","title":{"rendered":"Rockies could get ripped off by trading catcher Hunter Goodman now"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dan Szymborski likens trading Hunter Goodman<\/a> to trading in his Mazda<\/a>. It\u2019s not flashy. Its value is probably peaking. It gets good mileage at a time when gas prices are going through the roof.<\/p>\n

But if someone\u2019s willing to hand him stupid money, some crazy return, for those sexy wheels? Here\u2019s the keys, brother. Go nuts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really like my car. I\u2019m not looking to sell my car,\u201d the longtime FanGraphs.com senior writer and baseball analyst<\/a> told me by phone Friday. \u201cBut if someone came up to me and said, \u2018Man, I sure like your car, I\u2019ll give you $60K for it,\u2019 for some reason, I might do that. But I\u2019m not looking to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

If a contender is dangling two top-60 prospects<\/a> from their farm system for Goodman, the Rockies catcher who\u2019s hit more home runs before the All-Star break (27) than any Colorado player since Larry Walker in 2001<\/a>, then heck yes, you bite. You\u2019d be nuts not to.<\/p>\n

The problem? Szymborski says he can\u2019t see any franchise, including the oft-discussed Yankees, that would be willing to meet that asking price for the sweetest ride on 20th & Bleak.<\/p>\n

\u201cTeams hang on to top-top prospects a lot more greedily than they used to,\u201d Szymborski continued. \u201cAlthough Hunter Goodman is really good, you\u2019re not going to get two top-60 guys. (If you could), you do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goodman\u2019s 26. He\u2019s making $810,000 on a one-year deal this season<\/a> and is reportedly under team control through 2029. He\u2019s on pace to hit 50 jacks while paradoxically doing most of his damage (18 of 27 homers) away from Coors Field.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think (Goodman\u2019s) bat will play anywhere,\u201d Jay Jaffe, senior writer at FanGraphs.com, told me recently.<\/a> \u201c(But) I don\u2019t think he\u2019s going to be a guy that\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baseball Savant pegs Goodman\u2019s \u201ccatching runs saved\u201d<\/a> at minus-2 heading into the weekend, while The Fielding Bible rated his \u201cdefensive runs saved\u201d<\/a> as a plus-2 through 484 2\/3 innings behind the plate. So that\u2019s a wash \u2014 a playable, decent glove with an All-Star bat. A bargain who won\u2019t turn 30 until October 2029.<\/p>\n

The Rox still may not be any darned good by then, which is the No. 1 argument for dealing Goodman now. But that\u2019s also why the new(ish) braintrust of Walker Monfort, Paul DePodesta and Josh Byrnes can afford to be choosy. Goodman\u2019s the fattest goose they can take to market. If they shoot, they can\u2019t afford to miss.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I would actually be inclined to hang on to him,\u201d Szymborski noted. \u201cThe Rockies could get a lot of value for him, but this is a team that\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s still a lot of things to like. So it\u2019s 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\u2019s not going to bring back a superstar return.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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\u2019s hard to build from nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Which is why you can\u2019t swap him for nothing, either. It\u2019s easy to look at the suddenly-contending White Sox, who were somehow worse in \u201924 (121 losses) than the Rockies were in \u201925 (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.<\/p>\n

For one, the South Siders play in MLB\u2019s version of the NFC South \u2014 and shock injuries to Detroit ace Tarik Skubal and to what feels like 70% of the Royals\u2019 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\u2019s current lineup.<\/p>\n

The Rockies don\u2019t 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\u2019t bring back much on the trade market.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019re flipping a two-time All-Star in his prime? What kind of message are you sending to a fan base that\u2019s been beaten down<\/a> and conditioned to expect the worst?<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s dangerous asking your fan base to be even more cynical than it already is by trading a guy away at the point where he\u2019s suddenly of value to other teams,\u201d Jaffe said. \u201cBut I think you always have to be listening.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf someone offers you the next Paul Skenes, I think you make that (trade). Always. But I don\u2019t think anybody\u2019s going to be offering that. They\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t. The Rockies have gone down this road recently at least twice before and whiffed on both occasions. The Nolan Arenado Giveaway of 2021<\/a> will go down as the nadir of franchise history and the worst deal in Denver that didn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t settle. Set the bar high. Ask for at least two players listed among MLB.com\u2019s Top-60 minor-league prospects, minimum, as a starting point.<\/a> Yankees farmhands Dax Kilby and Elmer Rodriguez would look awfully good in purple. But if the Bronx Bombers aren\u2019t willing to go that far, close the briefcase, pack it up and move on to a suitor who\u2019s serious. Or more desperate.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody has a price,\u201d Szymborski said.<\/p>\n

And you don\u2019t move Goodman until a contender is hungry enough to meet yours. Not while the Mazda\u2019s got that many miles left in the tank.<\/p>\n

Want more Rockies news? Sign up for the Rockies Insider to get all our MLB analysis.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dan Szymborski likens trading Hunter Goodman to trading in his Mazda. It\u2019s not flashy. Its value is probably…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":742875,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2405],"tags":[3569,5,141,8073,167,52,4316,1009,1040,44015,2092,3530,59359,380,1112,18056,2083,1023,853,3568,11612,1199,4,1027,1028,58626,877,709,168,2094,33567,2095,185,430,1036,27108],"class_list":["post-742874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-colorado-rockies","tag-antonio-senzatela","tag-baseball","tag-boston","tag-cars","tag-colorado","tag-colorado-rockies","tag-coloradorockies","tag-coors-field","tag-denver","tag-gas-prices","tag-hunter-goodman","tag-injuries","tag-jay-jaffe","tag-jeff-hoffman","tag-jesus-tinoco","tag-jose-reyes","tag-josh-byrnes","tag-larry-walker","tag-latest-headlines","tag-mickey-moniak","tag-miguel-castro","tag-milb","tag-mlb","tag-more-rockies-news","tag-nolan-arenado","tag-paul-depodesta","tag-paul-skenes","tag-prospects","tag-rockies","tag-rockies-takes","tag-russell-wilson","tag-sean-keeler","tag-sports","tag-sports-columnists","tag-troy-tulowitzki","tag-walker-monfort"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=742874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/742875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=742874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=742874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=742874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}