Arenado ready to get to work with Rockies — for now

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. >> Nolan Arenado said he never went as far as to request a trade from the Colorado Rockies in the wake of feeling a “disrespect” from the club given he was part of trade discussions this offseason, and the All-Star third baseman is ready to move forward despite frustrations with a quiet winter by his team.

“There was different talks. I wouldn’t say it went to those lengths,” Arenado said Sunday, when he reported to Rockies camp ahead of Monday’s first full-squad workout.

It has nearly been a year since Arenado signed a $260 million, eight-year contract — and now it’s unclear how long he will stay.

“I’m committed here. I’m here and I’m ready to go out there, I’m going to play hard,” he said. “I’m not going to be a negative presence in that locker room. That’s never really been my style. So I feel like I’m going to be me, nothing’s going to change. I want to win.”

Arenado said he sent text messages to teammates and that he is committed to Colorado as spring training begins — “that was good,” manager Bud Black said — even if Arenado is unsure if he will be around for all of 2020. The Rockies went 71-91 last season for fourth place in the five-team NL West.

The uncertainty wasn’t something Arenado let bring him down or distract him from his offseason work, the seven-time Gold Glover said.

“I wasn’t panicking at all about it,” he said. “It is what it is. It didn’t really fluster me or anything. These talks are what they are, they happen. Sometimes there’s a little bit of friction, and that’s OK. It didn’t affect me.”

The slugging third baseman did hear the chatter about a trade to the Cubs for fellow third baseman Kris Bryant, saying “it would have been interesting.”