Benji Troutman doesn’t care if Ryan McMahon is C-level at sea level.
He loves the big lug. Always has. Always will.
“It’s hard,” the Rockies fan from Colorado Springs said Wednesday while Colorado was blanking Nolan Arenado and St. Louis, 6-0, at an overcast Coors Field. “It (stinks). It’s a hard thing, as a Rockies fan, to see someone who’s been here for so long go.
“But I understand, at this point in our franchise’s existence, he’s more valuable to us as a trade piece than on the field… I think it’s his time to move on and hopefully go win a championship.”
Wednesday was the Rockies’ last home game until Aug. 1. It’s also the last one before the July 31 Major League Baseball trade deadline.
No coincidence, then, that a lot of Ry Mac replica jerseys were on hand — Troutman brought a white one — to mix with a sea of the usual “ARENADO 28s” in purple and red.
Speaking of McMahon — you know, the Yankees still need help at the hot corner. So do the Tigers, Mariners and Cubs.
“Yeah, it’s hard to avoid it, man,” McMahon, the Rockies’ 30-year-old third baseman, told me after an 0-for-3 day that included a walk and a run scored. “… I’m a baseball fan, so I follow a bunch of baseball accounts on all my social media. I like to stay up with the game. So, you definitely see it. But you show up to the field, you see the guys — I mean, that kind of resets you, right? You get in here with guys you care about, that you like playing the game with, and it’s just, ‘All right, let’s just go play ball.'”
Rockies fans I talked to had already skipped several stages of grief at the idea of losing No. 24 before the end of the month. Tom Lathrop, also of the Springs, hasn’t just let go. He sounded as if he’d rounded “bargaining” and slid into “acceptance” about three homestands ago.
“I think they can get some really good (prospects) for him,” offered Lathrop. “And with some of the (Rockies’) starting pitchers, I think it’s probably time.”
Past time, now that you mention it. Dick Monfort’s nostalgia streak has left an organization naked and afraid.
Last week, I asked the hottest GM tandem in town, the Nuggets’ Jon Wallace and Ben Tenzer, if they’d ever thought about moonlighting in a baseball front office. They laughed. They also got the point.
The Nuggets had to shake off any personal affections for Michael Porter Jr. in order to move forward again as a franchise. If you love a player and hate a contract, that contract probably needs to be moved. Lesson learned.
McMahon, a glove-first All-Star with home run pop, is one of four players left from those heady #Rocktober runs of 2017 and 2018. Seven years later, every one of those guys is on the wrong side of 30, and on deals that are a pain in the rump to get off the books.
“I’ve loved playing here,” McMahon continued. “I’d love to continue playing here and hopefully win.
“But again, whatever the organization decides to do, I can say from the bottom of my heart, I’ve enjoyed every moment I’ve had interacting with fans here.”
This could be it for McMahon. This could be it for Jake Bird. Maybe even for Mickey Moniak, who, like Tyler Freeman, has been useful salvage during a season that’s otherwise turned into the mother of all dumpster fires.
“I would love to stay,” said the 27-year-old Moniak, who’s posted a .275 average and a career-best 15 home runs with Colorado. “I’ve said it the whole time since I’ve got here. The Rockies have always shown confidence in me as a player. When I got released … they were the first to call.
“I love the city of Denver. The fans have been awesome, even through this tough stretch of games we’ve been playing. So, yeah, we’d definitely love to be a Rockie for as long as possible. If I were to get traded, I’m just grateful to be playing.”
Troutman was grateful, too, toasting the pair from the left-field concourse while wishing they could be flipped for prospects tomorrow.
He also knows the Rox might not get much. McMahon was a career .819 OPS hitter in Denver going into Wednesday with a lifetime OPS of .664 away from Coors. This is a front office, after all, that shipped Arenado and cash to St. Louis four years ago for Austin Gomber and a ball of lint.
“If the return is like what happened to Nolan, then we have an issue,” Troutman cracked. “If it’s a good trade, then, good for (McMahon), good for us. I understand it. And I think it’s probably in the cycle of the Rockies’ life to let that happen.”
A gentleman in one of those white-and-green Ryan McMahon City Connect jerseys made a point to grab a bite on the main concourse in between Ry Mac at-bats, midway through the sixth.
“He’s the reason why we’re here,” the man told me. “Just don’t use my name.”
“Why?” I wondered. “Are you playing hooky on a Wednesday?”
He grinned.
“Sort of. But McMahon is why we wanted to be here.”
One last look.
Probably.
Maybe.
“He’s been pretty good for us,” Troutman said. He nodded up the third-base line as McMahon’s glove kissed the corner where so many doubles went to die. “But it’s just time to move on.”
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