DENVER -- The Rockies entered 2019 committed to spending, and they were willing to spend more. But their 6-19 performance in July, which dropped them to last place in the National League West, defeated the purpose of adding players at Wednesday’s Trade Deadline.

However, Colorado general manager Jeff Bridich still believes in the plan of maintaining the team's core and being willing to increase payroll.

“I still very much believe in this group,” Bridich said Wednesday, adding that he waited and hoped things would turn around before mostly standing pat at the Deadline. “Do we have things to improve on? Yeah. You betcha. And this last month of games has shown us that.

“We’ll see what the winter brings, but there is a strong core. I think it’s a core that hopefully is learning some things about itself and each other. But it’s still a strong and talented core. We just need to learn how to be a better team and a more consistent team.”

Once a team with a miserly reputation, the Rockies have raised their payroll from $107.9 million in 2016 to a club-record $148.8 million this year. That payroll, with big contracts at the top end counterbalanced by affordable starting pitching, ranks 12th in the Majors -- $3.5 million above league average and about $12 million above the midpoint among the 30 clubs.

Strong attendance in recent years has fueled payroll increases, as Rockies owner Dick Monfort noted before the home opener.

Bridich said the payroll should continue to grow. Colorado's attendance is just shy of 2 million and ahead of several contending teams. Several players, including All-Stars shortstop Trevor Story and outfielder David Dahl and pitcher Jon Gray, are in their arbitration years and are candidates for multiyear deals. And that’s not counting the spending it may take to fill holes.

“This year’s payroll is higher than last year, which was higher than the year before, and plan on the same thing for next year,” Bridich said. “You can see that. Like I’ve said before, it’s not crazy, crazy outlandish types of leaps in payroll from year to year, but it is, I would say, appreciable growth.”

If the Rockies had performed as they did the previous two years, when they reached the NL Wild Card Game, they could have been players for a front-line starting pitcher (possibly one with deep playoff experience) -- someone like Marcus Stroman (who went from the Blue Jays to the Mets) or Zack Greinke (D-backs to Astros). They could have asked about the Giants’ Madison Bumgarner, or the Mets’ Noah Syndergaard and Zack Wheeler.

Instead, the Rockies’ only deals were with the Yankees for hard-throwing right-handed reliever Joe Harvey, who has bounced between the Majors and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this year and will report to Triple-A Albuquerque; and for Cubs Minor League outfielder Jimmy Herron, a second-round pick last year who will report to Class A Advanced Lancaster.

The Rockies pinpointed areas of need at the Deadline the past two years -- reliever Pat Neshek and catcher Jonathan Lucroy were acquired in 2017, reliever Seunghwan Oh last year -- and received needed help. This could have been the year for a splash, the way the Astros did in acquiring pitcher Justin Verlander in '17 and winning the World Series.

Instead, it’s a year of what could have been.

“It’s been difficult, but at the same time I haven’t played great, either, and I’m not pointing fingers at anybody,” said third baseman Nolan Arenado, who is at the start of his eight-year, $260 million contract. “Everyone goes through slumps and goes through struggles, and I’ve gone through one at the wrong time, when the team needed me most. But that’s part of it.

“There’s a lot of baseball left. I feel a lot of things can turn around. I can’t pinpoint it, but it’s a collective group, and we haven’t played great baseball.”

Bridich said the Rockies were open to a number of deals, which he didn’t specify. Many contenders pursued relievers, but Colorado didn’t deal Bryan Shaw, Jake McGee or Wade Davis, and it had little intention of trading Scott Oberg. Even Gray and outfielder Charlie Blackmon had their names bandied about in the media. But, Bridich said, “nothing big formulated.”

Story said the players could not have expected anything more.

“We’d like to be closer in the hunt,” Story said. “It’s nothing new. It’s been going on for a long time. We feel like we should have played better. Maybe we could have made a move.

“We’ve dug ourselves a hole, no doubt about it, but we’ll never give up. That’s for sure."