valid points but in about 2 years they will be wishing they dumped helton.

This would make sense if they were in the NL central. But since they're in the West, it'll be virtually impossible for them to win this year. Arizona and Los Angeles will both probably win 90 games and San Diego is probably good for 85. Better to deal Helton now and aim for contention in 2008-09.

Helton is necessary as the face of the playoff-less Rockies. I just wonder what effect, mental or otherwise, the trade talks has on Helton himself.

Don't understand why they didn't do the trade. Just dumping Helton for nothing would have been a good trade. The chances of him being useful in 2009 are about zero. Why that trade would have been a good deal for the Red Sox is somewhat of a mystery to me.

Mike Lowell, best defensive third baseman in the game?

Any chance the Rockies were just messing with the Sox after the whole Larry Bigbie fiasco a couple of years ago? The Rockies, back then, were furious about how the Sox handled/pulled out of that deal. Nice chance for redemption for them. Plus, the Rockies owner showed no class by naming names to the media.

As a Rockies fan living in Denver, I have been torn for the last couple years over whether trading Helton was good for the Rockies. On one hand, Helton could go to a contender and finally have a chance at a champtionship. The Rockies could also unload his huge salary and build for the future. On the other hand though, Helton is the only reason anybody in Denver cares about the Rockies these days. Ultimately, I think its good to hang on to him. They already have some talented youth (Atkins, Holliday, Francis) and with Helton, at least the Rockies are a possible contender in a weak division. Without him they are not.

Good article, Jacob, but ...

Mike Lowell, perhaps the best defensive third baseman in the majors

Have you seen Chavez play?

Maybe they think Helton will have a strong year. Then who knows what a contender that's desperate for a bat will offer at the trading deadline. Given the free agent deals this winter, if Helton does rebound this year, his deal is "reasonable".

There is a significant gap in Helton's stats between his homefield in the high country and the away games in the lowlands. Good Colorado numbers would not have necessarily translated well in Fenway Park. Glad to see the trade fall by the wayside, although I wonder what kind of toll this takes on Mike "trade bait" Lowell--whom I think the Bosox should guard with their collective lives.

In terms of fielding percentage, Mike Lowell is the best 3B in the history of the game.

Obviously there are more factors, but you can't dismiss Lowell as one of the best in the game.

The trade was never going to happen realistically. The Rockies cannot trade away the face of their organization for Lowell, Tavarez and some cost saving. And Helton is not worth the Sox giving up a top prospect as well, even more so a pitching prospect, and especially a bullpen pitching prospect.

I heard a rumor that Boston might give up either Craig Hansen or Manny Delcarmen along with Tavarez for Helton and the money, and then turn around and deal Lowell to San Diego for Scott Linebrink. If there was any truth to this, the Rockies were probably afraid to help fill a hole on a division rival.

Actually, I agree. This move (or lackthereof) is far from indefensible on the Rockies' part. It tags them as one of the two teams in NL West who have a significant shot of landing a desperation haul at the trade deadline. San Francisco, I think most would agree, would need quite a few breaks to be much more than a nuissance this year. They have some nice young pitching, but they're too old and Sabian has gutted their farm system. San Diego's pitching staff is awesome, but their roster is frought with veterans, and a few may break down. If so, their weak farm system would likely prevent them from alleviating those maladies at the break. There's a significant chance that they'll fall back to Colorado. Now, Arizona has a ton of talent, but their relief pitching is hardly a sure thing, even with some very saavy additions, and their starting rotation behind Webb has its share of question marks (Counting on Livan Hernandez and an aging Randy Johnson for significant contributions in 07 could either make Arizona's management look brilliant or idiotic). Los Angeles seems to me to be the only team in the division that Colorado couldn't catch outright. Their pitching staff is deep and figures to remain solid all year, and they have enough in their farm system and on their bench to fix any serious holes come July. My point: With Helton, they could, without too much luck, really, find themselves in second place in the NL West by years end, making them a good wild card cantidate. Especially so if Troy Tulowitski builds on his strong call-up last year. If not, there'll still be a market for Helton. I can easily see either the Red Sox or Cubs underachieving and absorbing some of that contract, or the same situation occurring in Anaheim.

There is no salary cap in baseball. In theory they could use the money saved on other players, but would they? And would it necessarily achieve better results? I'm doubtful on both counts. The real morons are the Red Sox, who passed yet again on a quality hitter just to save money they can obviously afford to spend. Let's not kid ourselves, giving in to Colorado's demands and parting with Manny Delcarmen is not equivalent to dealing Hanley Ramirez and Anibal Sanchez, especially given the number of relievers they have. They bungled the A-Rod deal, they dropped the ball with Abreu, and now they screwed up again. Of course, that makes me happy since I hate the Red Sox.

People need to stop using last year's division results to project whether teams will finish in the running or stumble at the starting line. The NL Central will not take 85 wins to win THIS year; the NL West will probably not be as competitive as it is being made out to be. Everyone gets caught up in these stupid projections. Bottom line: the Rockies, as all clubs who start the season (see 2006 Florida Marlins), have as good a chance as any to be competitive in their division. To Rockies management, Todd Helton gives them a much better chance to do that than a couple of veteran players who may not fit their system.

the sox bungling that A-rod deal really put a damper on my 2004 Championship party.

Helton is a franchise crippling contract to the Rox, they should have cut him. As a Sox fan I'm neutral, I don't think he'll be great but 5 .400 OBP players back to back is always nice. Incidently Lowell to the Padres to fill a hole??? They just traded for their 3b of the future with the Indians...

J.D. Bolick, you are a moron. "Bungled the ARod deal...," how has that turned out? I know I was crushed that ARod was not able to enjoy the 2004 World Series Championship. "...bungled the Abreu deal...," of course, I'm sure you realize that the Abreu deal would have put them over a significant threshold as far as luxury taxes, to say nothing of trading away more prospects. "...blew this deal...," J.D., as an apparent baseball expert, how can you see the sense of giving away good young talent, especially young pitching talent, for an aging, former star who is pedestrian away from Denver? Obviously, your hatred for the Red Sox stems from your jealousy of their intelligence and baseball acumen.

Mr. (or Ms.) Bolick, your stated hatred of the Red Sox has obviously colored your perception of this broken trade. Maybe if you even got the particulars right, you wouldn't seem like such an ignorant Yankees automaton, I mean fan. The Sox didn't blow this over money, the Rox backed out when the Sox refused to include a top prospect in addition to paying over $60M of Helton's contract. As a small market Twins fan, that's what we call a good business decision.

Colorado should of made the trade
they need all the help they can get and both Lowell and Tavares
would of helped tremendously.

Another year in the cellar.

Scott & Anonymous, please do not insult me by suggesting that I'm a Yankees fan. I'm an Orioles fan, and unlike the many people who suddenly discovered they were Red Sox fans in 2004, I will be an Orioles fan until the day I die.

But getting back to the trade, we're talking about Manny Delcarmen. Given how much whining I heard from Boston fans about him last season, the idea that he was too much to give up for Helton is laughable. The Red Sox already have more relievers than they have spots for, given the free agents they signed in addition to pitchers like Hansack and Bryce Cox. Walking away from a trade because you didn't want to give up Delcarmen would be ludicrous, so it's clearly about the contract. And no, Helton isn't worth close to the money he's making, but he's still a very good hitter and it's not as if John Henry can't afford him.

tavarez, lowell, and the financial relief were a generous offer, frankly, that would set them up a little better for 2007 (a hitter not that much lesser than helton at this point of his career, plus a sinkerballer who gets groundball outs, the best kind in coors field with or without the humidor, and the sort of long reliever that is necessary for colorado circumstances) while giving them the money to have a future. but if they can get an all-prospect deal midseason, more power to them.

I think I can live with youklis at first more than I can at third, which might be his more "natural" position, but where he's actually fairly awkward. he didn't look bad at first at all last year, and the red sox had an excellent infield in spite of the limited range of mark loretta. the upgrade between lowell and helton isn't quite as significant as we think, the money is horrid and helton would be untradeable by the time the red sox wished to give him up, and the bullpen is not a strength of the red sox right now, numbers or not: this was a 5.02 ERA bullpen last year, I believe I read, outside of papelbon, a bullpen that lost a lot of games in set-up. tavarez became useful towards the end of the year, putting up some excellent starts. delcarmen isn't young any more, but he showed flashes of promise last year that I think he can build on, and obviously, all of the other more A-level prospects the rox asked for would have been major trade mistakes. it might have been nice to have helton around, but I can live without this deal. I think it's important to remember that the rox started these trade negotiations in the first place; the sox just had less riding on it.

The fact of the matter is that it makes little difference if helton is here or not this season, the rox could get by with atkins at first or even jeff baker. The real future at first for the rox is Koshansky, who will be the next face of the organization standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Holliday. forecast: Rox win the west by '09, helton will play a minimal role.

As usual, San Diego is getting shortchanged here. They arguably improved their pitching staff that already ranked very favorably in team ERA and have a nice blend of veterans and youth in the lineup. I think people are quick to move Arizona up in the standings, there are an awful lot of young bats that need to produce at the major league level before I'll believe. The Dodgers are going to need three hits each inning to score a run, no power to speak of in that lineup. I think San Diego has to be the favorite going into this year.

Based on the comments "we're not just giving Helton away", I'd think that it was the Rockies and not Boston that backed out of this deal.
And one more point. Doesn't it seem odd that the Rockies wanted Manny Delcarmen so much?

While this may not be the primary reason why they should be glad they kept Helton, is he really much of a box office draw? Or, better put, would his absence from the team really lead to a drop in attendance? After a city has seen a quality player (not even a superstar any more) play for a few yaers I highly doubt that fans still come to the park just to see him play unless it's a de facto farewell tour or he's chasing some kind of record.

Now that he is healthy again Helton is a lock for a .325 average, 20 HR and 100 RBI in 2007. That will be a great help to the Rox, and would have been a great help to the Sox. Meanwhile Delcarmen and Hansen will have a minor impact in '07 and will pitch well enough that the Sox finish 5 games behind the Yanks. Sorry Sox fans, but Theo is just gun shy after trading away three blue chip players last year (H. Ramirez, Meredith, Sanchez) and it will cost him.

Look at what Matsui did after leaving New York last year - there's at least a chance he just needed to get out of New York. 2B may not be the empty spot in the Rockies lineup people are thinking now.

let me get this straight,the deal doesn't get done because boston doesn't want to give up manny delcarmen whose upside is an okay middle reliever.i don't get it.

Don't give too much credit to what is without a doubt, the worst ownership/management team in baseball. There unwillingness to pull the trigger on Helton is just another ode to their cheapness and inability to field a com.petitive team in Denver, not a strategic move. Its a disgrace and insult to the people of Denver to have to put up with these jokers in a town that tries to support its teams in all sports.

As Colorado is still couple years away from a playoff birth, it was a good move to keep Helton, who will sell some extra tickets for the team. Beside, you can still explore other trade options with Helton around July or August when teams get really serious about make the one key deal to win it all.

I stand by the idea that the Red Sox were right in setting acceptable terms for themselves in the negotiations and not bending from them. Under the right set of circumstances, Helton makes them 2 wins or so better this season and next, but would start to become a slight liability or break even proposition for the remaining years of his contract. You don't overpay for that type of player. You only pay what you are willing. And the Red Sox weren't willing to part with young talent for more long term dollars than they wanted.

The Red Sox didn't blow this deal...the Rockies did. Look at Helton's recent health, decline in production and monster salary. Anyone remember Mo Vaughn? Lowell, Tavarez and 60 million would have been a steal.

I would trade Todd Helton for a bundle of firewood at this point to get out of his contract. Heck, I think I could hit 25-30 homers at Coors Field.. I don't see the Rockies competing anytime soon with the likes of the NL West.

Joe

Unlike other cities in the US and Canada, it's not a mere matter of "we want to win," in Denver we also want to know our team. If the Broncos had traded Elway in 92-3, there would have been rioting in the streets. But the big talking heads of the sports world considered it, and in some cases favored it. Trading away our last tie to the team we knew before the bumbling Dan O'Dowd would have been a mistake. Frankly, more teams in MLB would be wise to remember the roots, and stick with the names that make the team. All the nonsensical trading and pivoting for better deals has taken away from the pastime feel. The Rockies made the first right decision about whether or not to trade since 1999.

Also, in context to the NL west, the Rox have a game that wins in Coors Field. The All-Star game from 97 is proof that contact hitting triumphs over the long bomb due to the size of the outfield. The Blake Street Bombers of old were never true power hitters, but like Dante Bichette, clutch contact hitters. With the fast and clutch hitting team they have created for 2007, the Rox have a shot at contending for at least a wild card spot.

It would appear that the rockies were simply trying to determine a market value for Helton and didn't realize Boston was actually very interested in the possibility. Rocks got cold feet when they realized they haven't got anybody else to promote for ticket sales.

IMHO history will show that the Rox blew a very good opportunity to receive a good quality 3rd baseman and SP/RP; Tavarez has proven he can fill both roles. The amazing thing in all of this is the Rox GM/Ownership talking it up as though there was never really anything serious there. This couldn't be farther from the truth. Helton's contract (1/3 of the team) is over the top, and they wanted to dump it. Good for the Sox that they didn't turn sucker on what I perceived to be a less than smart move. With the Rox current makeup, I can't see them finishing above .500, at best. Whether the Rox GM/Owner wanted to rub the Sox face in the mud with foolish demands for a quality prospect in addition to Lowell and Tavarez or dropped names is not relevant in my book. Professionals know at this stage that it's all business; nothing personal. The Sox, in the long run, will be better off w/o Helton; his quality years are over and the Rox know it. He will probably be above average for a couple of more years and then slip to average before he fades away. The Sox meanwhile have a quality 1B who is younger, more durable and will become better as time evolves. The quality prospects will step up in light of being put in an extremely difficult situation last year due to the overwhelming injuries the Sox suffered. All in all, the projections are the Sox fighting hard for 1st against the Yankonits and no less securing 2nd before they move on to the playoffs.

As a full fledged memeber of the "nation" , I am for one, glad the sox did not pull the trigger on the trade. Helton is really, one of the best hitters in the league, and would be an exciting part of the red sox lineup, but really..... giving up the house for him? way too steep. Bias aside, Lowell is really on par with Chavez in terms of fielding and i'd say , he was deserving of the gold glove last year.

Tavarez filled in magically at the end of the season , and there is no way the sox are parting with young pitching prospects Declarmen and Hansen. No way. Not with the steep price for even just medicore pitching in the majors. This was a one sided deal with a huge contract.

Bottom line is: Pitching is key for the Sox, they more than made due with Lowell at third (fantatic glove) and Youk at first (great bat, OBP). Expecting improved numbers from Crisp and naturally assuming Drew fills in (Trot Nixon, The Nation still thanks you)with his common performance, the Sox will be just fine without Helton.

* Note to the Sox haters posting out here. Keep it to the story. A Rod is old news and obviously can't do enough to please the fans of NY, Abreu decision can be second guessed all you want....but baseball is baseball, for every smooth move there is a dumb move. It evens out on performance on the field. Down year last year, not alot of quality pitching in the Fens, but.....
Spring has arrived! With Big Papi, Schilling, Beckett, Papelbon, and Manny, i'll take that anyday over what you got.

They should have traded him last year and kept Ryan Shealy. Shealy had a pretty good year last year with the Royals and is more productive than Helton is on the injured list. I would bet the Yanks or Sox would have taken him down the stretch in a trade last year.

There are only two things that are a definite. 1: There are no guarantees in baseball. 2: The only thing the Rockies need to get rid of is the purple in their uniforms. NO MAN PLAYING PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL SHOULD EVER HAVE PURPLE ON THEIR UNIFORM.

I personally believe the Rockies were smart to see how the season unfolds before giving up Helton. I believe the risks out-weigh the rewards to deal him to the Sox for Lowell and Tavarez. If he's healthy, he will either be a vital component of a wild card race for the Rockies or a vital component to some other team's playoff hopes and land them more $$$ or better players. Knowing that baseball GMs and owners are some of the most creative deal makers - If his back acts-up rendering him useless to the team and as trade bait, they should still be able to deal him in 08, but for a lot less than Lowell or Tavarez and $$

What's happening with Helton isn't the big issue. The Rockies are a living catch-22. Management won't spend money till the fans show up and the fans won't show up until they see a better product on the field. The Jennings trade was as clear a signal to the fans as can be. The Rockies are willing to develop players into major leaguers but they aren't willing to pay market value once they establish themselves. This franchise is in a death watch till the Rockies get major league ownership.

People have been saying the Dodgers would 90 games for 2 or 3 years now .. fact is the NL West is up for grabs and this young Rockies team is going to play a big part in the outcome of this Divison and the WC race.

This is a good player (not great) with a bad contract, and a team that cannot afford to have it. Either load up, to make a run at the playoffs OR tear it down and start again with the kids. That's the difference between the Marlins and the Rockies.

They should have made the deal, recognizing that Lowell will never make his 2007 salary again and might just be a steal.

This is a good example that pennants are won first in the front office.

Defensively, i'll take Joe Crede over Lowell or Chavez.

Scott Rolen has fielded balls than Mike Lowell would have never touched....and Lowell would be the first to admit it.

If you look at the 60 million Boston was paying for 5 years and then subtract the 12 million in unneeded payers they were taking (Lowell and Tavares) They end up getting him for 5 years at under 10 mil a season.

JD Bolick,

I was going to write in an rip you a new poopy hole for your ignorant uneducated comments, but then I saw your second submission where you said that you are a Orioles fan and i decided not to do it, your in enough pain as it is.