👋 Good Morning!

It’s the quietest time of year on the sports calendar and nobody loves that more than my dog. It does get a little boring, though, if you are not a passionate baseball fan or soccer supporter.

While football will be here before we know it, I thought I would throw out a couple of book recommendations for you to check out during the slower weeks. You’re all sports fans, so here are a few of my favorites.

With the MLB All-Star Game one week away and the trade deadline fast approaching, it’s going to be interesting to see how the Rockies handle things. Will they move on from Ryan McMahon while they can still get a decent return for him? Or will they keep him around to be the face of the franchise like they did with Charlie Blackmon — the one familiar player on the field who the casual fans can recognize, the good solider who they use for bobble head night, commercial promos, t-shirt giveaways, etc.

The Rox have been reluctant to deal McMahon in the past and it’s understandable. He’s an above-average fielder who offers positional versatility and he’s on pace for his sixth season with 20+ home runs in nine years with the club. He’s a solid starter.

The question the Rockies should ask themselves here is simple. Is there a realistic timeline in which the team is going to be push for the playoffs with McMahon still in the picture? And the answer to that is almost certainly no.

With two years left on an affordable contract for a player of his caliber, now is the time to move McMahon for some pieces you can build around. This isn’t like the ‘Tulo’ situation or the debacle with Nolan Arenado. Ideally the outcome would be closer to when the Rox ended up getting Huston Street and Carlos Gonzalez in the Matt Holliday trade. But if they can do this right, there’s an opportunity here to add a key piece or two for down the road.

The Rockies need to build from the ground up if they are ever going to be relevant again. Hanging on to pieces from playoff teams over a half-decade ago might help sell some jerseys but it does little for improving their chances of being competitive in one of the toughest divisions in baseball. You can put another coat of paint up but if the foundation is flawed it doesn’t really matter, right?

2018 was a long time ago. The team is going to lose 100 games for the third year in a row and 90+ for the fourth. It’s time for a reset.

The Colorado Buffaloes had two players selected for the preseason All-Big 12 team. Junior cornerback DJ McKinney and sophomore offensive tackle Jordan Seaton were both honored among the best players in the league. Although the conference has elected to forego a traditional preseason media poll, Phil Steele has CU projected to finish 13th in the league, ahead of Oklahoma State (14) and Arizona (15).

The Avs recently re-signed Sam Malinski with a one-year deal. Check out what AJ Haefele had to say about it here and why he was more of a solid contributor than the goal total shows.