The future of Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado has been one of the dominant stories in baseball this week. Arenado has been the subject of trade speculation for weeks, but Rockies general manager Jeff Bridich shot down the possibility of a deal Monday, saying the Rox “have listened to teams regarding Nolan and really nothing has come of it.” Bridich added that he wants to put the Arenado rumors “to bed” and look ahead to 2020, though the five-time All-Star reignited the fire shortly after with some scathing comments regarding the Rockies.
Arenado stated that the Rockies have “disrespected” him this offseason, reportedly because he’s unhappy with the higher-ups’ lack of effort to improve a roster that suffered through a dismal 2019 season. Now, though, Arenado says he’s done talking about his relationship with Bridich or the ongoing trade rumors.
In a texted statement issued to Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post, Arenado wrote: “There has been a lot of stuff going on that nobody knows about and I was reacting to what was said, and (that) was out of character for me because I’m very private with my life. The Rockies have been talking to my agent and me this offseason about a number of things that will remain between us. I will not speak on these things anymore. I’m getting ready for the upcoming season. I’m working hard to get better for my teammates and fans.”
Whether this means the two sides will move forward together heading into the season remains to be seen. Arenado’s the Rockies’ franchise player, so even though he’s on a seven-year, $234MM contract with an opt-out clause after 2021, they’re not just going to give him away. Jon Morosi of MLB.com reported Tuesday that the Rockies have informed clubs they aren’t trading Arenado if a deal doesn’t improve their roster this year. The odds of that happening seem very slim, needless to say.
In the event the Rockies do get an offer to their liking, the soon-to-be 29-year-old Arenado – despite his full no-trade rights – might jump at the chance to play for a contender. Several playoff-caliber teams, including the Cardinals, Braves, Dodgers, Cubs, are among those that have shown interest in Arenado in recent weeks.
It looks like that the general manager spoke with Arenado.
Not sure that is true, the owner might have spoken to Nolan.
Probably a number of high-powered attorney’s representing the Rockies.
more like Arenados agent
this
Jeff Passan said on the radio…I’ll give you one name they wanted from the Cardinals…Jack Flaherty…He also said it wasn’t getting much Cheaper after that…if that is the asking price he isn’t going anywhere
BREAKING: Cardinals trade 24 year old pitcher who is under control until 2023 that just placed 4th in Cy young voting for the luxury of a 1 win upgrade and taking on hundreds of millions of dollars worth of risk….Passan might have just been parroting what he had heard from an inside source but what a joke
B I N G O
P.S. MLB ownership and the Commissioners office will not allow it to become the NFL or NBA. Where the players run the league – decide who and where they’ll play, who they’ll accept as a coach and GM, push around refs, etc. – even if they have a signed contract.
MLB is being run as an professional adult league. That’s why it’s growing. Its contrast to the other 2 leagues is stark.
NFL allows players to run the league? Is that why Tom Brady was suspended even though in a court of law he would be found not guilty?NBA yes but not shocking when it allows Lebron James to run the league. He openly said human rights is not for everyone and his actions show if you aren’t black you should have no rights. MLB is a professional adult league? Please explain why when a couple of players get upset everyone runs out from the dugout and pen but nothing ever happens???? Hey I’ll believe it’s a professional sport when Altuve,Cora,Beltran,Fiers etc are not only banned for life but are put in prison for the rest of their lives because they fixed games to get more money, win awards, Championship etc. If all the players don’t say hey we are not playing until every single member of that team is banned for life from baseball it means they are complicit in cheating. Sorry baseball tried covering it up but now everyone knows it’s as real as WWE. It’s in the entertainment business unlike NHL which is the only true sport in NA
Lmao MLB is run like a joke. There is no more corrupt sport in the U.S. Anyone who thinks MLB is run more maturely than the NBA, NFL, etc. is very naive.
Grab the reins johnnydubz, grab the reins.
MLB can’t even urinate without the MLBPA’s permission. It allows anything to go unchecked as long as the public does not find out about it. Hence all the cheating. MLB is far from a “professional adult league.” The fact that you think it is just shows your complete ignorance of the league in general.
NBA is more WWE than MLB and NFL.
False. You are clearly just biased. MLB is the king of scandals as far as professional team sports is concerned in the United States.
Can’t let the inmates run the asylum.
Enjoy losing him for much less in a year!
2 years.
That’s what I’m saying…if Rockies even let arenado play one inning in spring training they fail
Yup, remember when Reggie Jackson tried that?
A soon-to-be 31 year old Arenado opting out of $164m guaranteed will be the guaranteed money opt out record by how much?
Will be topping the opt out record, that is.
Strasburg had $100m remaining.
A-Rod had $72m remaining.
Good luck to the Rockies if that is the case. I would love nothing more to see Flaherty traded, but I am a Cubs fan. Lol
Agreed, but I really like Arenado. And that sure would suck seeing him go to the Cardinals.
Jeff B messed up.
Rockies could have pick up a Miley, or someone like that.
They could have improved the Pen.
Spend less 15 mil, and told Nolan, the big change is coming at the end of the 2020 season.
But know, Jeff is not smart enough
Have you not noticed that starters do not sign with Colorado? The only pitchers they bring in are relievers on bloated long-term deals.
The change won’t come at the end of this season either. They are a mid market team who can’t sign any of the top starting pitchers because of the environment they play in. They have to strike lightning in a bottle with several homegrown pitchers at once like they did in 2007. Odds are stacked against them more than every other team because they can’t sign difference making pitchers.
Go Cubs Go
And take the Bulls with you
So…no new news here? Just the continual beating of the dead horse.
Unfortunately, most of the articles here recently are just that.
They don’t get off a soap opera until a juicier one comes along.
Oh my gosh guys I just can’t believe that MLB Trade Rumors keeps writing these silly posts regarding MLB trade rumors
@ JD396;
I’ll give you that one (upvoted it).
This has nothing at all to do with MLB, the game, and the sport of professional baseball.
At least 90% of the “rumors” here prove to be untrue – just look back at the past 3 months.
People in the comment section are arguing over planted leaks coming from FO’s, agents, lawyers, as well as made up nonsense from writers being paid by the number of clicks.
Without some integrity in the stories, this is no different then a poster stating that Player X doesn’t like this or that, or other nonsense.
Some people love chasing their tail.
And yet here you are Vandals.
He’s very fond of his own tail.
If this has nothing to do with mlb trade rumors, why do so many people think Nolan will he traded because of this….
Oh yeah, cause it absolutely has implications on trade rumors
Irony so juicy it’s a Kool Aid Jammer
90% of the rumors are untrue?
Suppose a rumor states that five teams have made trade offers for Billy McBallplayer. If one of those teams executed a trade for him, does that mean there were four untrue rumors and one true one?
Half the lies they tell me aren’t true. — Yogi Berra
Have to laugh at Arenado claiming the team should be spending more money elsewhere after he raided the franchise for $235M for ;his 122+ Career OPS.. If Clowncar Arenado was what he was being paid to be, along with the free agent duds they signed last winter, the team would be competitive. As if any other team wants his albatross contract.
I think Nolan did his part
No.
He signed a contract to play for 7 years. Not to be the teams GM. He’s only played one year.
If he doesn’t play out the contract then he hasn’t done his part.
Here’s a solution – the Rockies let him buy his way out of it.
Rockies lawyers look at how much money they’ll be losing due to him leaving. He reimburses them. Then he can become a free agent and get what he can from some other team…..a lot of whom are not going to be standing in line to sign a guy that played one year of a 7 year contract and went moaning to the media about the people that employ him.
Not quite. He signed a contract with an opt out after next season. If he plays out those 3 seasons, he’s done his part in fulfilling the contract. That opt out was added in at the insistence of the Rox, btw.
It appears the opt out covers this “solution.” Also, in your spicy hypothetical, are we just going to ignore any costs avoided by the Rockies to offset what Arenado “would owe” them?
Actually—-The salary wouldn’t bother the Cardinals. Trust me! The opt out clause would have to be flexible with Arenaldo first. 3-4 years instead of 2. Flaherty is definitely off the table for 2020 and possibly 2021. Besides Goldschmidt, DeJong, Molina or Wainwright, and possibly Hicks and Gant, everyone else could be on the table for the Rockies and the Cardinals to come up with a fair trade.
Why do people think that Nolan’s value is determined by OPS+? He is arguably the best defender in the league regardless of position. That adds a little bit to your single stat argument.
Plus, by your argument, Mike Trout must be awful because he is being paid a lot of money and the Angels aren’t competitive.
Where do you get the comp to Mike Trout from? I don’t see him complaining to the media.
Oh you fools love to spark off
Arenado signed with the assurance they were going to spend more money to compete with La. he said as much in the presser
after one year, the Rockies stopped spending money on the roster. They haven’t signed a single MLB deal this offseason
Blame whoever you want- but nothing. Arenado could have been a FA and certainly has grounds to feel lied to and slighted. If the gm said “if 2019 goes bad, we will not spend money”… Arenado is gone. They lied. And now deserve to face the backlash
Your post is quite ironic.
Arenado didn’t “raid” the organization. The organization offered him a contract and he accepted it. It’s pathetic that so many people do not understand such a simple truth.
A certain sign of altitude sickness is when they pay you 35m a year and you truly think you own the team…..He has a – no trade- and – opt out – and he still feels the team is disrespecting him, get real!
This.
How do either of you know “this”? Are you really saying that employees should just keep their mouth shut, keep their head down and deal if there work environment is toxic? That doesnt make for a productive workforce. Quite the opposite.
We don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes and the relationship is still a human one. Respect is a two way street and when it’s changed to one way there is bound to be a feeling of distrust, anger, or resentment. Regardless of the positions we hold or the money we make this holds true as a human. I’ve never ever heard Arenado complain about anything so when he did speak up this week there was obviously a tipping point for him behind the scenes….w a common denominator of Bridich.
If you sign a contract with a guarantee and it’s not fulfilled, that’s called false pretenses and can get you sued
That’s exactly what happened here. His salary has nothing to do with it
Please provide evidence to back up your claim. In 2019 the Rockies ran their biggest payroll ever. Don’t give me this BS that they didn’t spend money, they did, just poorly. They tried, but failed.
Demanding they trade their prospects to try to squeeze a crappy team into the playoffs is weak too.
He was already planning to opt out so he couldn’t even see how bad it would be to cripple the future to go from a 1% chance this year to 5%.
And he will opt out
One of a series of teams in on game changer Brock Holt, and now more Arenado trade-em-don’t-trade-em fluff. Slow press day, apparently.
One of a series of teams in on game changer Brock Holt, and now more Arenado trade-em-don’t-trade-em fluff. Slow press day, apparently.
Can the Angel’s go for him..why not throw him in that lineup and move him over to 2nd and call it a off season :)
Why would the Angels go after Arenado when they just threw big money at Rendon who plays the same position?
Why would you trade for the best 3rd base defender since Brooks Robinson and move him to 2nd?
Move Rendon to 2nd. That was hus natural position anyways.
DFA Arenado.
No one will claim him. Send him to the minors or Arenado can ditch his contract and become a free agent.
DFA is the answer for the Rockies. If not then shut up and learn to love the contract.
Put down the drugs
@ ForestCobraAL;
I’ve skimmed a lot of your stuff, but this on beats them all…….
Every team in MLB will claim him.
They pay minimum wage. Rockies are responsible for the rest of the contract.
It’s getting to be too much here.
If Arenado is DFA’d, he would absolutely be claimed.
And say he isn’t. There is no way he would opt out if sent to the minors. All that would do is kill his trade value more, because teams would know they would have to trade him.
That has to be one of the most absurd ideas I’ve seen in some time.
You DFA him, you owe him the rest of the his contract.
With the NO-Trade, the can refuse to to any time, and Say PAY ME.
MLB contracts are guaranteed.
You might want to learn how DFA’s work
If an organization does nothing to improve and is staring at 75 win seasons in the short term, why in the world would you want to KEEP a $35 million a year player on your team. Your priority should be clearing out that money. By the time they are good again, Arenado will be in his decline years or would have opted out.
If there are at least a handful of teams interested, solicit best and final offers and move on.
Sorry, there is a big precedent.here……
This will turn MLB into the NBA and NFL – once a player gets a large long-term contract, he creates a disturbance and forces a trade because his team is not one of the 20% of contenders.
That will lead to teams continue pulling back on granting long-term contracts – as they’ve already started doing. It will then cause friction between the players union and owners, resulting in fans turning elsewhere for entertainment.
Colorado is the west coast Marlins pretty much same style of contract and after this season they won’t have any value and he will walk.
Huh?
Walk how? Into court for not honoring a contract he signed?
He had the year wrong, it’s 2 years… but he clearly meant the Opt out
you didn’t have to sign that 8 year extension and put the the team in a position where they can’t afford to aquire much more talent then you, whiny little b
@lfcredsox
You might have to run that by me slowly. It’s Arenado’s fault for being shown a $260 million cheque?
If the Rox have strangled themselves whilst allegedly promising their star player “a contender” who is responsible? Who is responsible for promising a quarter of their payroll to one of their 26 man squad?
No As fan, he wants Arenado to be blamed for being lied to and mislead into signing the contract
However one must consider that Arenado is not stupid, so he was likely well aware of his percentage of the team’s total budget. A big part of the problem, as many have accurately stated on this thread, is that some players want the huge checks, get them, and then are disgruntled when their team can’t compete. It’s the proverbial cake scenario. But, teams should not promise the world to get a huge signing either – that’s an integrity issue.
I think he’s creating all of this as justification to walk so he’s not hated by the fans. That said, he’s one of the best third-baseman in MLB.
Hopefully both sides realize continuing this is fruitless and will only damages both sides.
Why does everyone blame the player?
Maybe the team shouldn’t sign a deal they know they won’t do anything to support, but tell the player the exact opposite and say more money is coming? Then not be shocked when said player feels lied to?
Why do you keep spouting the same stupid bs?
They spent the most they ever have. You keep saying he was lied to. How? They spent money to try to improve, it didn’t work.
234 million reasons to zip it.
Colorado is “effed”. Dodgers laughing spread their wi-hi-hings.
Hoodat- Did you just go straight Black Sabbath? Very nice indeed.
It’s a pipe dream for the Braves at this point, we’re at a record payroll. But if they traded Inciarte, Melancon, Riley, and Wright for Nolan wow, what a lineup. You could still ship off Green and Duvall and save a few more bucks.
Rockies are nuts if they think they get immmidieate help this year by trading a guy with a $230 million contract attached to him. If STL offered Carpenter, Bader and Gorman they should take it and run. But of c course most fans don’t comprehend teams are trading contracts as well as players and Arenado isn’t a surplus value at $35 mil a year.
So a trade is Are-no go.
good thing he signed that huge deal
Guarantee you what is being discussed behind closed doors is “Nolan, you want us to improve the roster. But, with your big contract we don’t have the money“. Honestly very surprised they have not contacted the Yankees that is one team that could absorb the contract and intern give them pieces that can help them right now it would be a win-win for both sides.
Arenado has more control over this situation than he realizes. He could have walked straight to the front office with a list of teams he would go to and waive the no-trade with the new team. He goes to a contender with a fresh start and plays out the rest of his excellent contract. Instead, he remains a Rockie and will sit in 4th place purgatory while putting up excellent numbers thanks to his cozy hitter’s park.
Sounds like he’ll opt out.
It’s hard to trade a guy to another team when he only hits at his current home ballpark.
Two things would have to happen; trading a bad contract to Colorado in-return and not give up the prospects Colorado expects to receive. His road numbers falls well short of that contract.
Only making a trade to improve this years roster…. I would think prospects would be better as it is doubtful 2020 will be their year.
What a piece of work Arenado is. Signs an extension one year from free agency, that at the time made him the highest paid position player in baseball. Even though he is not the best position player. Then complains they aren’t carrying the yankees payroll. Anything short of Cole and Strasburg and they remain a non-world series contender. The Rockies weren’t signing either pitcher for less than 50 per year. Top pitchers is what they need. Top pitchers will not sign there with less than a dramatic overpay. Arenado didn’t know this? Please. Wait less than a year and become a free agent. Good luck getting 33 per from a team that doesn’t play 81 games at Coors. If he opts out after 2021, he’ll get less AAV. Him opting out is a smoke screen.
You assume you know what was said in private conversations that have occurred between Arenado and the Rockies this offseason, which of course you don’t know. You also assume you know about assurances the player may have received when he signed the extension, which of course you don’t know. All you’ve proven here is how difficult it is to assume your way to the truth.
So, does this mean the deal is on again for the Cardinals to acquire Nolan Arenado for Matt Carpenter, Dexter Fowler, and a bag of broken bats?
How much of his salary equals the total of the Rockies budget ? I get that the players deserve there money but he knew they weren’t the Yankees when he signed .. just saying he seems kinda like a rich dude with entitled vibes … just my opinion tho