How Kevin Gausman's success sent me down a Monfort rabbit hole

Although my Rockies attitude this season has been at best apathetic, and at worst actively rooting for losses, I couldn't help but enjoy them winning 3 out of 4 from St. Louis over the July 4th weekend. It looked like July was going to pick up where June left off for the under .500 Cardinals, as they continued west to face the Giants and their best record in baseball. 

Kevin Gausman, who might very well be the NL Cy Young frontrunner if not for the superhuman season from Jacob DeGrom, started the series with 6 no-hit innings against the Cardinals on Monday night. Gausman and the Giants did their best Mets impression, with minimal run support despite a gem from their starter allowing a mediocre opponent to win late.

Kevin Gausman, 2021 NL All-Star and (in a normal year) Cy Young contender. 

Seeing the performance from Gausman, a 6+ inning statement that neither the Giants nor their ace are flukes, reminded me of a brief glimmer of hope I had almost 2 years ago to the day. The former Orioles top prospect, Gausman had never fully reached his potential, finally getting waived by the Braves in early August of 2019. The Rockies had the perfect opportunity to buy low on a 28-year old Grandview High School product and former elite prospect whose recent struggles could mostly be attributed to injury.

When the Reds signed him instead, I sent the following text to my fellow GFW contributor:

It felt like such a no-brainer for the Rockies, who at the time were 8 games under .500, made literally zero moves at the trade deadline a few days earlier, and were clearly on the brink of having their playoff appearance streak end at two. The Reds flier did not amount to success, but it did give an actually competent franchise in the San Francisco Giants all the information they needed to conclude that Gausman still had potential. 

The Giants signed Gausman to a 1 year, $3.33M dollar deal for the shortened 2020 season, and bumped that up to $18.9M and an opening day nod for 2021. That sounds like more than the Rockies would have been willing to pay, but is comparable to what they paid Wade Davis, or any pair of the Bryan Shaw, Mike Dunn, Jake McGee trio, or Ian Desmond, in single seasons over the last several years. Instead, the Rockies, despite their well documented successes at Coors this year, are still going to flirt with 100 losses, The Giants are meanwhile storming towards the best record in baseball, despite being picked by most to finish under .500, on the back of the now 30-year-old Denver native. How could the Rockies have missed out on such a good opportunity?