SAN DIEGO -- What happens if there’s a Trade Deadline and nobody comes?

Or goes?

The Rockies found themselves in that situation Tuesday afternoon, when the Deadline passed during their 13-5 loss to the Padres in the first game of a doubleheader at Petco Park without them making a trade. The long day ended in last-swing disappointment, when reliever Alex Colomé -- who had not yielded a homer this season -- gave up a ninth-inning walk-off drive by Trent Grisham for a 3-2 Padres victory.

The only significant move of the period leading to the Deadline was the team’s signing of closer Daniel Bard -- thought to be their best trade chip -- on Saturday to a two-year, $19 million contract extension.

• Here is every Trade Deadline deal

While the Padres collected a who’s who of trade chips on a whirlwind day, the most-discussed action of the Rockies’ day came on the field. Manager Bud Black was ejected for protesting after catcher Brian Serven was ruled to have violated the home-plate collision rule in the fifth inning.

But with the Rockies languishing well below .500, Trade Deadline concerns were followed more closely than action on the field, including Randal Grichuk’s second-inning, two-run homer and Brendan Rodgers’ leadoff homer in the fourth, both off Yu Darvish. The news on the minds of many fans: The Rockies were the only team not to make a trade during this busy trading period.

“At the end of the day, we weren’t able to pull anything off that we thought made us better at this point in time going forward, so we decided to stay where we were,” general manager Bill Schmidt said between games of the doubleheader.

Before Rockies players arrived at the clubhouse Tuesday, the Padres had set the rumor mill aflame with news they were acquiring transformational outfielder Juan Soto and first baseman Josh Bell from the Nationals. The Padres also acquired All-Star closer Josh Hader from the Brewers and infielder Brandon Drury from the Reds.

The Padres’ bender came a year after their Southern California rivals, the Dodgers, snatched pitcher Max Scherzer from the Nationals -- when much of the world had already assumed he was Padres-bound. It seems the Dodgers, winners of eight of the last nine National League West titles, and Padres are going to play a game of “any trade you can make, I can make bigger.”

Meanwhile, the Rockies have gone the other way. Last year, Schmidt’s first Deadline as GM, they dealt reliever Mychal Givens to the Reds for pitching prospects Noah Davis and Case Williams but didn’t deal shortstop Trevor Story nor pitcher Jon Gray. Story and Gray left as free agents.

This time, they held onto not only Bard, with whom they reached a deal without having to outbid other teams, but also Colomé and shortstop José Iglesias, veterans who are due to be free agents after the season.

While Schmidt has said repeatedly that he is happy with having players who want to commit to the process, the squad is far from perfect. The list of shortcomings, which will have to be addressed through moves or improved performance, is deep.

“We’ve got to get better offensively, because the lineup coils still could use another bat or two in it, and pitching depth and the bullpen,” Schmidt said.

Those needs make the team’s wallflower stance head-scratching.

“If we had put our team in a better position early on, something like that [trade activity] would have happened,” third baseman Ryan McMahon said. “I don’t think we gave the front office or ownership a good enough reason to really go out there and try to get some pieces for this season. It’s on us, man. We’re here to continue day by day and try to win games.”

Are players on board with the strategy? Schmidt said he has talked with them and will continue to do so.

“This is one of few road trips I haven’t been [on] -- I’m available to those guys, and I have conversations with them,” Schmidt said.

The Rockies remain on a much quieter path than their competitors. They identify core players and lock them to multiyear contracts. There have been years when such an approach led to a surprise postseason trip. But quite often years end up like this one. 

The key free agent, outfielder Kris Bryant, has done two stints on the injured list with a back issue and on Monday went back on the IL with a left foot bone bruise and plantar fasciitis. And while Charlie Blackmon has returned to key player status and Rodgers has emerged as one, many other mainstay players have had uneven years.

When a mix of players doesn’t work during a given season, many teams part with key players, either to change the makeup of the big club or to build for some future year.

Partly because of the difficulty in building a starting rotation that can handle Coors Field -- a condition that led the Rockies to sign multiyear contacts with Kyle Freeland, Germán Márquez and Antonio Senzatela -- the Rockies tend not to make starters available for trades, although Schmidt said on Tuesday that some came up in discussions.

With the Draft not having produced a regular starting position player since Rodgers was selected third overall in 2015 (Garrett Hampson, a third-rounder in 2016, is a part-time starter), the strength of the Minor League system is below Double-A – the type of talent a club sends to a selling club for help in a postseason race.

The current answer is to stick with the core players and try in the offseason to improve.

“We’re not where we need to be,” Schmidt said. “Are we improved? Yes, and we continue to grow it. We have to always continue that. The last four months, I’m very happy with some progress some guys have made in the Minor Leagues.”