Just one year from reaching free agency, Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado may go down among the most coveted players ever to hit the open market – if he does, that is. The chances of Arenado shopping himself around the majors next winter seemingly took a hit Saturday when Rockies owner Dick Monfort expressed optimism about the club’s chances of locking the four-time All-Star up for the long haul.
“I think we’ve gotten it to the point where we’re to the finals. We’re to the crescendo,” Monfort told Thomas Harding of MLB.com in regards to extension talks with Arenado. Monfort added that he’s “comfortable that we can get a number that we can get to” for Arenado, who “wants this to happen as much as we do.”
The Rockies and Arenado have already held at least one meeting this week, during which they hammered out a record-setting, arbitration-avoiding agreement worth $26MM. It seems they also used that summit to discuss a long-term arrangement for Arenado. Regardless, the Rockies will no doubt need to hand Arenado a team-record pact – one that obliterates the $141.5MM guarantee they gave former first baseman Todd Helton in 2001 – to prevent their current franchise player from taking a stab at free agency.
Although they’ve historically been middle of the pack or lower when it comes to spending, the Rockies appear ready to pony up for Arenado. General manager Jeff Bridich said in December that the Rockies could afford a $200MM-plus contract for Arenado, and Monfort noted Saturday that revenue from their TV contract – which runs through 2020 – will jump from $20MM per annum to $40MM. That 100 percent increase, not to mention a new TV deal which the Rockies will begin negotiating in the summer, should only help the team’s chances of retaining Arenado.
For his part, Arenado may simply prefer the comfort of Colorado, where he has posted far better offensive numbers than on the road, to dealing with the free-agent process. The market has become increasingly unkind to players over the past couple offseasons, evidenced in part by the fact that in-their-prime superstars Bryce Harper and Manny Machado have been unemployed for three months. Harper and Machado are eventually going to rake in huge contracts, but with fewer suitors than expected, the duo may not do as well as predicted when the winter began. And while Harper hasn’t even played his age-26 season yet and Machado won’t turn 27 until July, Arenado will be on the verge of his age-29 campaign if and when he becomes a free agent.
Despite the age difference between him and the Harper-Machado tandem, Arenado’s certainly paying close attention to their free-agent forays. The more money Harper and Machado receive, the better it will be for Arenado, whose superb all-around track record gives him a strong chance of joining the $200MM club in the next 12 months. The main question is whether he’ll get that money from Colorado or another franchise. How do you expect it to play out?
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Give him stupid money
If they do how many player have to be traded to lower payroll?
None. Gotta up payroll if they wanna win anything.
False. A’s made the playoffs with the lowest payroll last year so that ends that narrative.
Tampa Bay won 90 games too; just happen to play in a really tough division.
You can make the playoffs with a low payroll, but 2018 in Oakland is clearly the exception to the rule that dugdog83 is alluding to. The A’s were about one more injury from putting Vida Blue and Rick Honeycutt back on the mound last year, and they kept winning. Good for them, and I thoroughly enjoyed their success, but you can’t expect the A’s to win 95-plus again this year. The fact that they went one and done in the playoffs further shows that it’s a little too early to proclaim that their 2018 season “ends that narrative.”
It’s not about “making it to the playoffs”
The odds of winning a playoff series against another .600+ winning% is nearly 50/50 adding 10,20,30 even 60 mill in payroll changes those odds so insignificantly it’s not even worth talking about.
So to dumb it down for you, the playoffs are a crapshoot. All you gotta do is make it to the playoffs and flip the coin.
Rockies are in a good position to increase payroll. They have great attendance and are getting a new TV deal soon. Also replacing a parking lot next to Coors Field with a Rockies Baseball Happy of Fame.
This one is easy,Nolan will not be going anywhere are they going to play Cards,Yes! This is guy is worth It as opposed to these others on the Market now ,the Rockies know it and it’s mutual,Done
What a great player. I love the fire. How about the 3 guys mentioned in this article have all charged the mound recently. Haha
Only problem with Arenado is his splits are huge. Look how much Holliday lost when he went down from Colorado to Oakland when he got traded. Mostly any other player that leaves Colorado have the same problem. The splits.
Holliday’s issue was the change in his hitting approach in Oakland, namely, trying to get rid of his leg kick. Once he started doing the leg kick again as part of his swing, his numbers went right back up.
Using Holliday as a barometer for Arenado, especially Holliday’s half season in Oakland, isn’t a very good example. MattyHo had a very good 7+ years in St. Louis.
Okay, Troy Tulowitzki, Vinny Castilla, Seth Smith. The pitchers have the opposite effect, like Darryl Kile and Mike Hampton.
So you use 3 guys as your proof? Tulo’s injuries have done him in. Castilla is definitely a Coors Field product. Smith was never more than an average player, even in Colorado. His career numbers bear that out.
Smith actually became a better hitter outside of Colorado.
Bichette is another touchpoint.
Wasn’t Castilla something like 40 when he left Colorado?
Not the first time, but he was already on the decline. I think he was 31 or 32. He went back later a couple of times. I blame him for Chipper Jones getting injured and not making it to 500 homers.
Lol funny you chose the one former COL hitter that is the exception to the rule since he did so well with the Cardinals
He has 108/78 home/away home run splits and he has a .323/.263 BA for same. I agree with Connor Byrne. He should stay in Colorado
Nolan could get a contract similar to Machado when he finally signs. The career road numbers are very similar.
Leaving Colorado would be a big mistake for Nolan.
agreed…because of splits he will not land huge money unpess he proves himself out side CO.
Namely because teams are showing an unwillingness to give stupid money to FAs.
no reason the Rox shouldn’t resign him, though they dont seem so keen on it
Did you read the article?
Cora already has Nolan penciled into his 2020 Red Sox lineup…….that’s for those who are convinced that the Sox will watch their FAs leave next year, and stand there and cry about it……
Not all trolls use an ellipsis, but all comments that end with an ellipsis are trolling…
…..I have no idea what you mean…….
Dodgers plan to move Turner to first base to make room for Nolan at third base. Dodgers have a lot of money coming off next year 70 Million
With free agency the way it is now, I would hope Nolan thinks the how the market works now thru. I’m guessing 8/280 would keep him in purple for life.
I am thinking 7/210 would be good enough.
Nolan is waiting for Harper and Manny to sign.
Not sure, But I think it gets done.
If he was smart he would set the market. All these guys waiting for everyone else to set the market.
Yankees nuff said
If they’re smart they’ll trade Andujar next winter and sign Arenado.
If the Yankees didn’t go hard after Manny then I see know reason why they would go harder on Arrenado, a player 2 years older with huge road split concerns, other than the media saying they will. The Yanks should be laser focused on the purging staff since Sabathia will bff e retired and Tanaka and Paxton will only be 1 year away from FA and there are several FOR guys available next FA period.
Purging should have been pitching staff.
The Yankees have several good pitching prospects in the minors who are not far away. RH starting pitching shouldn’t be a concern in the next year or 2. The do need to find a lefty capable of leading the staff though.
why, he is an LA boy.
Beside the Yanks suck.
This is unfortunate it could push more teams to go after Machado.
I was thinking the exact same thing…I think the Yankees might get back into his market…Arenado might have affected his market more than thought
Padres
6/150 front loaded with opt-outs.
1st:30
2nd:30
Opt-out
3rd:25
4th:25
Opt-out
5th:20
6th:20
That takes him through 35, with multiple opt-outs.
Through 34. Sorry.
nope
He won’t take that. These guys wanna cry poor but will turn down contracts like that because they would have to prove themselves in order to opt out to get a bigger deal.
Opt outs for whatever reason people on here they think they’re only player friendly. I’d argued correctly for years that they’re way more team friendly and the evidence is in the way teams spend now. In order for a player to opt out he’s gotta have a massive mvp type season. So the team gets elite production and gets out of a muti year commitment. Team can than revaluate short term and long term and adjust accordingly. Very rarely would a team not want a player 30+ to not opt.
If Arenado signs an extension and Machado and Harper sign elsewhere…. Will Mookie be the new carrot Hal dangles in front of his fanbase?
If the Red Sox don’t make him the face of the franchise with a long term contract they’ll be hell to pay.
How many a right handed hitting RF does a team need? They’re committed to one for 10 years and the other is the face of the franchise. Mookie is an exceptional player, but if the Yankees are gonna get another RF, just sign Harper. Machado should sign a one year deal & enter FA next year when Yankees & Red Sox have a SS spot open.
Mookie Betts has two more years of arbitration control with the Red Sox. He can become a free agent in 2021, the same season in which Mike Trout would be eligible.
He doesn’t want to be there, he’s gone.
This is nonsense. He has said for years he wants to be in in COL.
We’re “to the crescendo”? Jesus that’s worse than a William Shatner cameo. Time to for Dick boy to be sent back to school.
It may not be exactly on topic, so I apologize.
This article made me think of how MLB can try to get more parity in the game while still rewarding players high dollar contracts
The NFL franchise tag. Or something similar.
Each team is allowed to designate 1 player per year as its “Franchise player” making it garunteed to keep said player on a 1 year contract but at the “max” salary (what would be max in MLB? Maybe 1$ more than the highest AAV that given year?)
Small market teams would be garunteed never to lose a true Star player, yet that player still gets compensated to the maximum for losing their FA rights that year. Have a 3 year cap on that player losing their FA rights, therefore they still hit FA prior to their age 30 season for players like Harper or have it expire at 29 years of age for late bloomers like Donaldson or Arenado
I feel it would help all clubs avoid service time manipulation. There would be no need to Hold a player like Vlad JR down an extra month, he could have played last year even. Likewise with Soto and Acuna.
The O’s could have used it for 2 more years on Machado and delayed the debacle that ensued trying to trade him
The rox would be in a better situation with Arenado and his contract situation.
Teams that have trouble attracting premium FA would never lose their own. At least short term.
It would help prevent what we are currently seeing in the NBA where players get to create their own teams essentially.
Yes I’m aware MLB is a team sport vs NBA only needs 2 superstar players to win, but the possibility still exists of players all gravitating to a handful of teams considering most MLB teams are in tank mode and only a handful of them will be competing in 3-5 years
Like in the NHL where younger faster teams are the new normal and older slower vets are being phased out. MLB seems to be going the same route as these early 20s players are dominating and older slower vets cannot rely on drugs to enhance and lengthen their careers
We should learn from all the other sports leagues and take the peices that work while getting rid of the things that dont.
I’m all for the players getting max value, but I’m also for having competitive leagues.
To end my long rambling I’ll leave you with this food for thought.
Do away with individual garunteed contracts.
Revenue Sharing between owners and players should be 51%-49%
The players portion gets split equally between all 30 teams, and each team pays on performance alone.
The only garuntee would be a MLB minimum salary and you’re incentivized to earn the next 30 million by actually producing
The players get more money all around, but you’re not hamstrung to a 10 year 300 million contract to a player who doesn’t actually earn it
You’re still paying that money ( or more) as the owner in the end, it just goes to a player who actually earned it that given year
Soto and Acuna could have made 20 million last year as opposed to the rookie minimum.
Pujols would have made the MLB minimum.
FA would still exist, just not driven by financial greed.
Player trades would be driven by value on the feild and not dollars on the books
Front offices would need to be on their game, their jobs becoming more than just glorified accountants
The fans come out as big winners, the vast majority of players come out big winners
The only losers are the owners (who cares if the billionaires pay out more in salaries when they are currently taking in record profits)
And the few superstars who have a few great years but thn tail off after they get their big contract.
Holy tl,dr of all time
The NHL model also has the restricted free agent rule, and given there is a hard cap in hockey a lot of teams shy away from giving offers to RFAs on other teams. Plus there will be bad blood (hypocrite Bryan Burke with Kevin Lowe).
I still believe if we as fans aren’t in this to ensure that we the fans win, it’s not worth doing. We do not win if the players win, and we do not win if the owners lose. For fans to win, and for future fans, all fans have to make a statement to both the players and owners that we won’t tolerate skyrocketing costs for a day out at the ballpark. Want to lose the next generation? Keep raising concession prices and ticket prices. No more family atmospheres and more fans throwing bottles at players at the old Skydome.
The side to choose is ours.
Player salaries have literally nothing to do with ticket and concession prices. If every player was making the ML minimum next season the cost of a ticket wouldn’t change; ticket prices are a tiny part of a team’s overall revenue, after MLBAM money, the settlement money, the gambling money and regional TV money. Ticket prices are set by the market, just like everything else. Don’t believe me? I live in a city with a major college basketball program. Guess what? The tickets are really expensive, more expensive than going to a major league baseball game. And the average ticket price for the NCAA championship football game last month? well over 200 dollars.
I see you still have difficulty with reading and basic comprehension, Starbucks. I’m here to teach you, again.
Ticket and concession prices were mentioned to further the point of AFFORDABILITY FOR FAMILIES GOING TO THE BALLPARK!!!!!!!
In case you missed it, tickets and concession prices were mentioned to further the point of affordability for families going to the ballpark.
I do not care about your college basketball tickets. Someone has to pay the overpaid professors along with administrative staff and the upkeep in facilities.
Either way, clearly you missed the point and came up with more lame garbage that had absolutely nothing with my point regarding baseball’s inability to see they are killing the next generation.
I’m sorry, explain again how player salaries determine ticket prices. I missed the causation and only read the correlation.
This is what you wrote: “I still believe if we as fans aren’t in this to ensure that we the fans win, it’s not worth doing. We do not win if the players win, and we do not win if the owners lose. For fans to win, and for future fans, all fans have to make a statement to both the players and owners that we won’t tolerate skyrocketing costs for a day out at the ballpark. Want to lose the next generation? Keep raising concession prices and ticket prices.”
I.e. ; siding with billionaire owners as if somehow that will lower ticket prices. we can agree that this kind of profiteering is wrong, but that’s not a baseball argument. Corporate profiteering has nothing to do with the players and everything to do with the owners; the owners don’t need fans in the seats to profit.
The percentage of revenue being spent on players has been declining while the price of tickets has gone up
If there’s any link, then logically you should want salaries to go up so they push prices in the opposite direction
Or you can just concede one has nothing to do with the other since it’s demand and not cost that dictates prices…
Do you even read your own comments Starbucks?
Huh?
If every fan stopped buying a ticket, a piece of merch and dropped all TV and internet viewing of Major League Baseball you would most certainly get the attention of every owner in the league.
The players? Well, they can go to Japan or wait it out. That’s the penalty for change. We can call it a fan strike.
Franchise tag – The equivalent for MLB is called the Qualifying Offer.
Are you suggesting the qualifying offer essentially be forced upon players? They have to accept it and the team can make that qualifying offer 3 consecutive years? If you’re going to use the NFL’s broken “franchise tag” rule, fine, but even the NFL doesn’t allow the tag to be applied multiple times.
Most MLB teams are in “tank mode.” None of the other major 4 sports have the same level of competition as MLB. MLB teams, despite having far longer odds to make the playoffs, see more playoff and championship turnover than the NHL, NBA or NFL. Most MLB teams are not in “tank mode.”
Do away with guaranteed contracts? So toss out the type of contract all the other sports are moving towards and go backwards?
More revenue sharing? So you mean, like, force every single team to compete in the exact same manner like a NASCAR race? Right now there are multiple ways to be successful in the MLB. Small market, mid market and large market teams can all employ different successful strategies to compete. When you crush everybody into the same box, the same strategy, it takes away flexibility and it brutally punishes contract mistakes. This is the same false logic as hard salary caps and floors employ.
There are no contracts in baseball which prevent a team from competing. Even a small market team can handle 2 really big, really bad contracts before everything falls apart.
Basically everything you’re suggesting gives way more power to the owners when it’s clear the owners already have more power than they should.
Can we PLEASE stop acting as if the owners are evil actors here? If we can all agree that 8 to 10 year deals are bad for teams then they’re just adopting to common sense. This year can we really claim teams are cheap when we look at what Corbin, McCutchen, Happ, Britton, received? I think teams would line up and pay Manny and Harper $35-$40 per if it were limited to 5 to 6 years. It’s the 8-10 that’s the problem. It ONLY benefits the player/agent and rewards for declining years. Why should I pay record setting aav (or closer to it) for the worst years of your career?
I agree. I don’t think the owners are going to continue to be as stupid as some of them have been in the past. I think the higher AAV/shorter term contracts are the future. The union should focus on a higher minimum salary and reducing team control from 6 years to 4. Let players hit FA when they are younger.
I think small market teams would have a problem with fewer years of control. It’s bad enough that they have such a short window to compete before they become FA. It’ll just make it tougher for them to compete without spending wildly on FA.
I think fewer years of team control and especially increasing minor league pay should be key. Listening to an interview this week with George Gmelch who was a minor-leaguer in the 60s and is now a professor of Sociology at UCSF. When he played the minor league standard salary was 500$/month, which, adjusted for inflation, is 3800$/month now. But now, in large part bolstered by legislation passed by Congress last year (the “Save America’s Pasttime Act”), minor leaguers who haven’t ever reached the majors make around 1200/month. That is, of course, less than minimum wage. And then we wonder why so many elite athletes are choosing soccer and basketball and football over baseball. Kyler Murray, even if he doesn’t pan out in the NFL, will make more money in the next year in the NFL than he would make in the next 8 or ten years playing baseball, assuming he even makes the majors.
@knickscavsfan – actually, more free agents on the market earlier will actually suppress free-agent salaries over time. If you have thirty extra job candidates for the same job salaries will reduce, naturally.
I don’t think we’ve reached an agreement on 10 year contracts. This board is no where close to it
We have some that think the owners are benevolent gods and only do right by us fans. And the others seem to think that players are gods and deserve this crazy amount of money for being athletic. We rarely hear a rational, centralized argument on this topic. Chit, you can’t even get fans to agree on how their wallets are affected by all this
So far I have seen just as many examples on both sides of the argument that make sense. Really there is no agreement
Harper and Machado are asking for ridiculous contracts. No doubts there.
That said, the system is broken and it’s broken in favor of owners right now. I can’t fault owners for taking advantage of their situation, but I can blame the situation for existing. As baseball contributions continue to shift to younger players, the system favors owners more and more because free agency rules and compensation structure was designed to compensate already established players at the expense of younger players who are are peaking.
yeah but for every Aaron Judge how many prospects never make it to AAA. im not an owner first person but we only focus on the situations where 1 guy is underpaid and not the 30 that were complete wastes. There’s a ton of overhead and no one seems to understand that. you can’t compare mlb salary structure to any other sport. huge variables.
MiLB pay is sometimes an issue, but the signing bonus for many, many players is more than enough to overlook the salary issue.
The first 314 draft picks in 2018 10 rounds of drafting all received a slot signing bonus value of at least $136,800. That more than compensates the players for several years of team control, especially considering the players can have off season jobs.
It’s pretty rare to see a MiLB be an actual prospect and not have a major bonus to fall back on.
MiLB players do not get off-season jobs because they have off-season conditioning routines and for a lot of them winter and over-seas leagues they need to keep improving.
Being a pro baseball player is a full time job, it just doesn’t pay like one.
If you don’t go in the first ten rounds, your lucky to get more than 5 grand to ‘fall back on’, and even if you try to find a second job, it has to be one that’s okay with you leaving at a moment’s notice if you get reassigned, which means one with no real prospect of a career…
It’s actually pretty rare to find a MiLb player that has much of anything to fall back on
Here’s an article you should read… about how MiLB players have off-season jobs.
cleveland.com/tribe/index.ssf/2016/02/many_minor_l…
another article including tips from a MiLB player on offseason jobs.
deadspin.com/how-to-get-by-in-the-minors-on-1-500-…
Maybe… I don’t know? Research before you form an opinion.? Plus, under the current draft slot system, MiLB draft picks usually have far higher signing bonuses than years ago.
I think the MLBPA will fight a push for a franchise tag per se, but it could be part of a grand bargain. The one thing it would go for would be the elimination of a deadline to accept a QO. That way it would be on the table the entire time and players like Mike Moustakas wouldn’t be forced to take a low-ball contract if the market doesn’t develop.
Or they could, you know just accept the QO.
They’re starting to accept it now and teams have responded by being a lot more careful in regard to when they extend the offer.
I think the QO rule is working just as intended at this point. It’s being offered only to really good players because it’s being accepted on occasion.
Neither teams, nor players, would want the acceptance of the QO to become mandatory. It hurts everybody.
Nobody suggested it should be mandatory to sign. There’s no worst suggestion though than keeping the QO on the table the entire offseason though. Lol so a player can just wait till the season starts and says well I guess I’ll accept that QO since I incorrectly and stupidly priced myself out of the current market. How are teams suppose to budget if they don’t know if a player is going to accept 18 mil?
You had me at “I apologize.” The rest was superfluous.
“The only losers are the owners (who cares if the billionaires pay out more in salaries when they are currently taking in record profits)”
Your ignorance showed through. Took awhile, but it was in there.
Not going to happen.
There will probably be a strike coming up.
Players do not feel there are getting there fair share (may be right).
Players want the right to play where they want.
The NFL Union is weak compared to MLBPA.
A for effort
Can we just freeze the cost of everything for about a decade and let fan salaries catch up with the cost of seeing this game?
One thing we should all be able to agree on. The owners & players make enough money
@ SwingingFriars.
Salary caps in other sports don’t reduce the cost of seeing a game – ever priced an NFL or NBA or NHL game recently? Or how about a major-college football or basketball game? Ticket prices don’t really have correlation with player payroll anymore; teams have way more profitable revenue streams.
I’m not one to argue for a cap
The price increases absolutely are sold to us as cost of doing business.. Each year the owners cry poor and each year the cost of everything goes up. Enough is enough
If the owner’s want to convince me that the players make too much money then they will also need to stop over charging me for everything. There is so much money in this game right now. There is no excuse for raising prices year after year. This product has exceeded its ceiling. The only reason baseball is losing fans (assuming that’s not a con game too from the owners) is because they are getting priced out. When something becomes too expensive to consume you stop. Yes we will cry loudly on our way out, but the net result is less fans showing up to watch. Less fans willing to buy merchandise….and on and on. It even starts to show up in cable subscriptions. Most people I know that have cut the chord did it because they thought sports had ran up the price too high.
Cap is not needed for rosters. But it is badly needed everywhere else in sport
The price of everything goes up year after year; I mean, I remember when a cup of coffee was 50 cents. The market will charge what the market will bear; that’s standard Capitalism. You can choose not to participate but there are plenty who will. I mean, look at it this way; if you put your 20-year-old car on Craigslist for a thousand bucks would you say no if someone offered you 2000? Of course not.
Teams don’t shunt the money from the gate into player salaries; most of that money doesn’t even leave the stadium (40% of it goes to the away team and most of the concessions are run by contracted businesses). It’s okay to be dismayed by the cost of going to a game, but don’t blame it on player salaries. They aren’t the reason games or hot dogs are expensive.
The NFL has a salary cap. The average ticket to an NFL game in 2018 was well over 100 dollars; the average ticket to see a Chargers game was 200 dollars. NFL teams have smaller payrolls than MLB teams, even though they have larger rosters. And they have better attendance.
Your points on the cap we can agree on
Right now there are two very real narratives being pushed by the owners. There are others, but these two exist and are pushed constantly. 1: The game is losing fans 2: The owners need more money to keep this current level of product on the field. Both of these narratives are so very false
The fact that we are constantly talking about shortening the game to attract new customers suggests that people are choosing not to pay up and the owners are desperate to find new customers to replace the ones they are losing. It is not clear that others will step up, stadiums are empty everywhere. It’s so bad that owners are now downsizing their seating capacity
They have plenty of revenue, this is true. So why try to justify raising ticket prices every year? The cost of coffee is so ridiculous, I’m glad you brought that up. I finally hit my breaking point last year when my cup of coffee passed $4. There is no longer a justification to go out and get coffee. Pizza is another example, not long ago the cheapest large on the market was $20. People stopped eating as much pizza and a few years later shops popped up offering $5 larges.
This idea that the market is setting the prices is just absurd. The owners set the price. They guess at what amount will be the most their consumers will pay and they go just past it. You see it everywhere. We are also starting to see corrections everywhere too. Baseball will eventually have its day of reckoning
Yes; so you just agreed that salaries have nothing to do with ticket prices. Just like the cost of a pizza (It costs like $1.38 in ingredients to make a cheese pizza), corporations will charge what they can. it’s never about the cost to produce the item.
I got super high this morning. It made me go into deep think mode.
I never said it was the best idea, just an idea.
No need to be all negative
I dont understand the ill will towards making players earn the dollars they receive in any given year.
I also dont understand how its aiding the owners in any way. In my limited mind they are giving away more as opposed to the current system, but both sides benefit regardless.
The owners deserve compensation for putting the large dollars out there to make the industry exist
The players deserve to be compensated for their talents time and effort.
The system is broken when Pujols is being paid more than Soto and Acuna in my opinion.
The owners use the contracts as a crutch to say they are hamstrung even tho simple math indicates otherwise.
Remove the crutches from the equation and make everyone earn their fair share.
The market will correct itself vis-a-vis Pujols-type contracts. That was stupid at the time, and I’m sure Arte realizes it now.
The internet loves to hate…. We need more wake-n-bake warriors out here!
The idea itself isn’t horrible. Fans should definitely be open to any idea that makes things more competitive. You are caught in the classic American war of ideals. Who deserves the most money? Never seems to be a fair split discussed
The system isn’t broken.. It actually works exactly the way the owners intended it too. Pujols didn’t get paid when he was Soto’s age, this is how they set it up. The system sucks actually, but the owners have done a great job of controlling the conversation
You have some good ideas here. One thing that gets me is this idea of a team being from a particular city. The owners and team force this blind allegiance on the fans of that city while reciprocating none of it. This idea seems like it would make it possible to have players spend their career in any given town. It also feels like you could capture that hometown feel like in youth sports…where everyone actually is from that town they play for
At least you tried. Eventually an idea will come along that will work
Arenado has two choices:
1) Stay and potentially be in the Hall of Fame
2) Leave and become one of the worst contracts in baseball
Colorado effect. He will be affected.
His batting average may drop on the road but he still drives the ball out of the year home or away
No team wants to pay $150 for 6 years to a guy hitting .260 with an under .800 OPS hitting 25 homers per year. He might hit 30, but based on his career totals it seems 25 is more appropriate.
At what point is his defense not part of the equation. He is perhaps the greatest fielding third baseman of all time. Plus he is known to be a terrific base runner, albeit without great speed and has always been awesome in the club house and with the fans. It isn’t always just about hitting.
Don’t come at this crowd with intangibles, they’ll lose their chit
If he can’t hit for war he’s garbage
Fine, remove the intangibles. His defense alone doubles his value. Again, it isn’t just about hitting.
And where does Arrenado play most of his away games? San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego? Only Arizona is a hitters park, not to mention the pitching staffs in Arizona, Los Angeles, and San Francisco over the past few years.
Umm, fielding is not an “intangible.” We can measure it pretty well. Arenado gets a boost in fielding by playing in Coors field, of course, but he’s a very good fielder everywhere. But “best defensive third baseman of all time” is stretching it. Nettles, Beltre, Boyer and Robinson probably start that list, and then you have to throw in the dead-ball guys as well.
I’ll take Caminetti over him too right now.
Who hit’s for war?….. ;0) I complain mostly but sometimes I kid
Spud – you want to pay a guy over $30-mil per year on defense? Ok, good luck with that.
People realize players defends generally gets worse as they age into their 30s and if they sustain a major injury ala David Wright they might not be able to play in the field at all. But these people will just say trade him to the AL than lol.
Proof doesn’t agree. HR per plate appearance.
@ Home 1:17
on road 1:24
Now do ops or OBP home and away splits
What a ridiculous comment lol
Your comment didn’t exactly enlightened anyone.
Nolan will get a contract similar to Machado (when he finally signs). Funny how people are quick to to look at Coors Field effects numbers, but ignore other friendly hitter parks like Camden Yards.
I wasn’t going to bring up Camden Yards when reference Nolan Arenado nor would I compare the two (for now) because Machado hasn’t signed anywhere. Plus Manny is 26 while Arenado will be 29. Regardless, every human being would rather hit in Colorado than anywhere else. If they choose another park they should choose a different sport to follow.
Charlie Blackmon was smart to sign that extension due to the fact that he doesn’t have that much value outside of coors and he was already in his 30’s. Arenado isn’t that much better on the road either
He was definitely smart to sign that deal, mostly because of his age. I think Charlie could be very successful outside Coors though. His bat doesn’t play up in every park but a lefty with good gap power and lift can hit successfully in a lot of parks. Boston, Baltimore, Philly, NY etc…
If they add 7/224 onto his 26 mil arb that’ll be 8/250. Looking at Harper and Manny, he’d probably have to think long and hard about it.
His future? Reach free agency as an undisputed superstar, ask for 10/300, and then have only two teams interested in him at half that price.
nailed it
What’s great about Nolan is the money is not top priority. He wants to get to the World Series. If the Rockies don’t convince
Him they are 100% committed to getting a
Competitive he will sign with a contender in 2020
The Rox may have gone further last year if Arenado had a better post season. He shouldn’t blame the management on that one.
Arenado turns 29 when he’s a FA. My guess is he’s looking at 7yrs/$210MM = $30MM AAV
Away from home he’s a .263 hitter, with a .318 obp. His hrs and rbis translate to about 28hrs and 88rbis a year away from coors field, with an ops+ of 79. In other words, he’s as average as it gets, to not say below average.
The Rockies can give him 25m a year, but no other team should be willing to give him more than 15m a year considering those statistics.
Denver is a fairly big market. They need someone to build around. 6 years and $160 “doesn’t sound like much”, but it would leave him an opportunity for another decent contract.
Depending how the Harper and Machado contracts turn out, Arenado and his agent may well decide it would be much better to take a solid Rox offer instead of going on the market that has not been conducive to teams getting into major bidding wars.
if he ever wants to build upon his career and make a case for the HOF, get out of Colorado. Larry Walker and Todd Helton are HOF worthy and they watch Harold Baines and Edgar Martinez get in before them. why? Colorado biased. get out Nolan, get out before its too late.
Still cannot believe that Harper and Machado are not signed.
As if it weren’t already evident that mega free agency is something of the past, the results of those contracts will help dictate Arenado’s fate I believe. I’m putting Arenado in the Trout file, since they’re closer in age, production, etc. Trout still holding top title as best player. I peg Trout at 6 years and $200MM in free agency next year. Machado for example, would be in the range of 8 years and $242M (that’s his real value in my estimation – $32M x 6 + $25M x 2 = $242M. Trout is older, but should trade for a premium, thus making him the highest paid position player in baseball history – $35M x 4 + $30M x 2 = $200M. With Arenado, I figure he’s somewhere in that $28M-$32M a year type of player for 3 years and maybe $28M for 3 years so 6 years and $180M. That would be the extension I offer Arenado. I don’t think he would get more than that on the open market.
I’ll say it for the 15th time. Harper made a mistake passing on that $300M 10 year offer from the Nat’s. We may never know why.
Boras told him that he would get a better deal on the free market. Harper believed Boras. He may well still get that much or more but several teams still in on the bidding, why would Harper or Machado stop the bidding? They will,sign soon enough.
Trout is not a free agent until after the 2020 season and will command a 400 million dollar contract that he will sign with the Angels …
I wonder if the Rockies owner is trying to undercut Nolan’s market. If Machado signs with SD or the White Sox, then Nolan will be more heavily courted by the big market clubs next year. If Monfort influences NYY, LA, Philly etc. to go after Machado this year by making them think Arenado is re-upping, that will be one fewer big market teams the Rox will have to compete with to get Arenado next year.
Arenado is ONE YEAR OLDER than Harper and Machado. Stop with this age difference nonsense narrative.
Arrenado’s bday is in April. He’ll turn 28. Harper turns 27 in October. That means that for session perspective, Arenado plays most of 2019 at age 28 and Harper plays all of 2019 at age 26. Big difference.
Wow I never looked at just how drastic his Home/Road splits were — he’s actually just an average player away from Coors – hitting something like .263 – I’m not one who thinks he couldn’t anywhere else or he “isn’t that good or anything” but those are pretty shocking splits so I do think it’s at least worth taking a look at both for him in terms of if he does want out – and then also in terms of teams interested in acquiring him as a FA.
He’s too good for Colorado. The stupid mascot could hit .300 in that joke of a park.
So Arenado, according to you, is only hittingn so much better than what the mascot would? That helps the case for Arenado how?
Machado’s career Home/Road splits:
Home = .295/.353/.534 = .887
Road = .271/.319/.442 = .761
I’m not too worried about Nolan adjusting to whatever park becomes his home park.
Wish Dodgers could get him, but I can understand becoming the best Rocky of all time and the HOF and everything. When you hit there for 10 years I’d be tough to leave.
IMO Harper and Machado are still unemployed because you have very patient ballclubs in a different environment from even 2 years ago, and they are playing chicken with who signs first, and one has an agent willing to drive off the cliff (Bora$$).
There are good offers, but they are not going to get what they demand. The economics of the game have changed, regardless of all the cry babies saying they are due their ‘fair share’.. So I think it is only a matter of time before one, or both, cave, as I’m guessing they want to play this season and not have to play catch-up at the AS break when they finally sign a deal. This could be the year Bora$$ finally ‘loses’ on a deal.
Would love to see the Pads make a run at him next season if the Machado signing doesn’t happen. Back to SoCal
He’s more valuable to the Rockies than anyone else. Would 7 for 200 do it?
He should stay in Colorado. At this time, he’s a sure HoF. If he leaves and struggles like his splits indicate he might, he might lose his bid.
MLB should:
Raise the MLB minimum to $1M.
Raise the minor league salaries.
Either reduce the number of years of MLB control. or grant arbitration a year earlier.
Increase the rosters to 26 players.
Limit teams’ rosters to 13 pitchers.
Give each team five 10-day DL’s per season. The rest would be 15-day DL’s or longer.
Well done, particularly the roster increase and raise to minor leaguers. While we are at it, remove the second line on the way to first, it is impossible for right handed hitters to obey, remove the catcher’s box, nobody ever calls a catcher’s balk, and change the pitcher’s ability to make the spin move to second, it deceives the runner which is in violation of the rules, and would increase base stealing in the era of homer or nothin’ ball.
Yes more appearances from RP is what the game needs, that’s what happens when you increase the roster size…
Fun story from a couple seasons ago. Was on the rooftop party deck grabbing a couple beers in the first inning. The stadium game/prize guy grabbed me and asked if I wanted to participate in the first inning HR challenge. Basically if a Rockies player hit a home run in the first, I won $1000. We were hosting the Dodgers and Kershaw was pitching. I thought no way, but my boy Arenado came through and took Clayton deep. The prize was actually $500 cash and a $500 gift card for the Tavern bar. Needless to say, Nolan is my favorite player.
Arenado to the Rangers
He’ll be a Phillie in 2020. Tell your friends I made the call on Super Bowl Sunday 2019…
1. The superbowl is fixed
2. New England cheated again not only to get there. They cheated in the superbowl too..
3. Arenado is not going to philly. Especially if they get Machado or Harper.
I know. I was just f#€&ing with yous guys…
Yes I know. I don’t think even bandwagon Patriots fans liked that game maybe besides the end result
Arenado is a Colorado player all the way and wants to get into a World Series. The guy knocks in lots of runs and would hit big league pitching anywhere. There are lots of hitters ballparks around baseball. And defensively, Arenado defends the hot corner better than anyone and has a strong arm. Come on Monfort–Bring out the big money or trade him for pitching and catching help.
They’ll do what they need to do to keep him. He’ll get at least 7 years and 190mil and even that is only 1.42 mil more than his arb deal. 27.142 aav. 280/8 is 35mil aav.
Arenado will sign with the Cardinals.