Hynick

Contreras

Brandon Hynick can juggle fire. I’m not kidding.

I asked him about his rare talent a few weeks ago and he casually turned around and pulled out the three torches he kept tucked away in his locker at Security Service Field.

In trading their fire expert, the Rockies might’ve gotten burned.

Colorado general manager Dan O’Dowd, in a move that wreaks of desperation, sent Hynick to the White Sox late Monday night for the shell of Jose Contreras. The Rockies had apparently been trying to land Jon Garland throughout the day — the deadline to acquire players and include them on the postseason roster. When Garland ended up with the Dodgers, the Rockies pulled the trigger on the Contreras deal.

It sure seems like they’re mortgaging a lot for Contreras, a “37-year-old” pitcher who has an ERA of 5.23 over his last three years – including a 7.66 mark over six starts in August. I’m sure Denver’s altitude will do wonders for those numbers.

In Hynick, the Rockies had a brainy, 6-foot-3 prospect who has displayed a keen understanding of pitching at each level of his development. His strikeout numbers were never particularly impressive, but everything else about his game was. The 24-year-old former eighth-round pick walked just 119 batters in 580 minor-league innings and posted a 3.83 ERA in the hitting haven that is the Pacific Coast League.

He’ll be best remembered for throwing the first perfect game in Sky Sox history, a seven-inning masterpiece against Portland in late June.

Altitude kills some pitchers, Hynick seemed impervious (opponents were hitting .257 against him at home, .257 on the road). Even his perfect game came here in the Springs, a thousand feet above Denver.

This ability to pitch in the thin air — where breaking balls lose their bite and location is at a premium — should not be taken lightly. Jhoulys Chacin and Esmil Rogers, a pair of prospects rated higher than Hynick, have not shown a knack for retiring hitters at altitude. In 36 combined innings in Denver and Colorado Springs they are 0-6 with 34 walks and a 10.50 ERA.

So while Hynick may never set the world on fire, he seemed a perfect fit for this organization.

All that potential is now at the disposal of the White Sox organization as O’Dowd made a move that seems to go against everything that has helped him build a contender at Coors Field.

Starting with Todd Helton and working down through the likes of Garrett Atkins, Brad Hawpe, Troy Tulowitzki, Ian Stewart and Dexter Fowler, the Rockies are a club built on talent mentored within the organization. The same is true for much of the pitching staff, as Aaron Cook, Ubaldo Jimenez, Manny Corpas and so many others came through the pipeline that often runs through Colorado Springs.

This formula has worked. It landed a World Series appearance just 23 months ago and had the team positioned for another postseason run this year.

This one deal won’t ruin the organization, but the kind of recklessness O’Dowd showed in his haste to dust off a relic of a pitcher could send the whole plan up in smoke.

(Click here for Gazette columnist David Ramsey’s take on the trade)

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