Not every team gets to see the annual success within the National League West that Los Angeles Dodgers fans have become so accustomed to recently.

While many projected the NL West to be the most competitive division in the league, four of the five teams have drastically underperformed. However, the most eye-catching of the four has to be the Colorado Rockies.

The Rockies were anticipated to part ways with star shortstop Trevor Story and starting pitcher Jon Gray at the 2021 trade deadline, though decided to retain the players in hopes of extending or resigning both in the off-season.

Neither of these absurd thoughts materialized.

The Rockies 2021-2022 off-season consisted of losing Story and Gray to the Boston Red Sox and Texas Rangers, respectively. In contrast, however, the Rockies did sign big-name infielder Kris Bryant in a surprise 7-year, $182 million contract.

This shocked many, as the Rockies had recently sent one of the best third basemen in the sport, Nolan Arenado, to the St. Louis Cardinals following the 2020 season. Was this a make-up move?

Many fans of Major League Baseball had low expectations for the Rockies entering this season, with ESPN predicting a 66-96 record, ending the season in a fourth-place tie with the Arizona Diamondbacks for the NL West.

Following many tough injuries to star players, including Bryant himself, the Rockies entered the month of August with a 46-57 record, which put them on pace for a 72-win season. While that’s nowhere near horrible, it was also nowhere near good enough.

Thus, the Rockies found themselves selling at the Aug. 2 trade deadline – yet again. Right?

The Rockies approached the 2022 deadline much like they did in 2021 – only they somehow did even worse.

By the end of the 2021 deadline, the Rockies had completed one trade, sending reliever Mychal Givens to the Cincinnati Reds. This came as a shock to many, since they were expected to ship off at least one of Story or Gray.

Going into the 2022 deadline, Colorado had starters German Marquez and Kyle Freeland – as well as power-hitting first baseman CJ Cron – drawing notable trade interest. By the buzzer signifying the ending of the trade season, the Rockies had completed zero trades.

Cron, a strong draw from contending teams, is going to enter the 2022-2023 off-season as a free agent, meaning it’s more than likely the Rockies will lose him regardless. Now though, the team gets nothing in return.

Due to the confounding lack of moves, the Rockies did not acquire any helpful pieces to bolster their minor league teams. Instead, due to drafting well in the 2019, 2020, and 2021 drafts, the Rockies secured their first top-10 ranking in MLB.com’s farm system rankings since the 2017 preseason. 

They leaped from rank 24 in the 2022 preseason poll all the way to rank 9 in this year’s midseason rankings.

As far as 2022 goes, the Rockies have very little to fight for. As it currently stands, their greatest ambitions lie with securing strong draft lottery odds entering the 2023 MLB draft.

While the team likely will not pose any risk to the incredibly well-constructed Dodgers, the gleaming light of the 2023 NL Wild Card shines on.