Fans looking for answers after Nolan Arenado’s trade to the Cardinals
Q: Hey Patrick, I am not sure if you remember but I posed a question to the mailbag last summer — during COVID-19 with no fans allowed — about whether Rockies fans will ever see Nolan Arenado play in person for the Rockies again. I’m saddened that my prediction came true.
I know you get a ton of Arenado questions, but now that this inevitable trade finally went down, I gotta tell you it’s beyond frustration. I am more dumbfounded than anything else. How could we not get more for Arenado? I mean we couldn’t even get the top prospect in the St. Louis farm system for the best third baseman in the game. I know it’s a moot point now, but I am wondering if you heard of any other teams offering any semblance of a better offer than what the Rockies settled for? Surely a future Hall of Famer and the best third baseman in the game could fetch better than what we got for him?
Can you file a complaint on behalf of all Rockies fans with the Better Business Bureau against Rockies management because this is just totally horrific, incompetent business from top to bottom with this franchise! I mean literally paying another franchise $50 million of remaining salary to take on a player. If the front office was competent they would have called Nolan’s bluff on the opt out (he plays another year at about $35 million) and if he did opt out they would be released from the entire salary, but we would have had at least one more year of Nolan and overall saved $15 million. Yes we risk “losing him for nothing,” but that is basically what we got back in this current trade and losing an extra $51 million. Feels like the ownership are a bunch of con artists scamming the public by passing off what they call a major league product on the field
— Douglas Hicks, Denver
Patrick: Douglas, I ran your entire rant/ question because it summed up many of the emails I’ve received.
I’m not sure I can give you a satisfying answer, other than to say that the Rockies messed up. Insightful, right?
It’s clear to me that the Rockies just wanted to be done with the Arenado “headache.” Dick Monfort went out of his way to make it clear that Arenado wanted out. He also said that the Rockies could get a better return now rather than waiting to trade Arenado later. I don’t think that’s true. At the summer trade deadline I think they might have gotten a better haul.
Although I thought a trade was inevitable, I was still shocked by the meager return. The deal smacks of desperation from the Rockies.
Here’s the thing. Just two years after signing Arenado to the eight-year, $260 million deal, the Rockies had become so certain of Arenado’s intention to leave via his opt-out clause, they felt they had to move him. I know many in the industry thought Colorado should have called Arenado’s bluff. They didn’t.
“To be quite honest, in all our conversations with him, he never said it was this or that or whatever,” owner Dick Monfort said. “We had the choice of waiting till the end of the year and letting him opt out … but the result was the same. So in dealing with this, we tried to find a way to get the greatest return possible.”
Q: If the prospects we’re getting from St. Louis for Nolan Arenado are so good why didn’t Jeff Bridich draft them years ago? And why aren’t the Rockies getting the Cardinals’ top prospects?
— Bob Dewhirst, Denver
Patrick: Bob, the first part of your argument is not really relevant. Comparing draft choices in baseball — unless they’re firstround picks — doesn’t get you anywhere.
As for the second part of your question, you make a valid point. In exchange for a player of Arenado’s value, the Rockies needed much more in return.
I also think that Monfort’s admission that Colorado blew it by not attempting to re-sign DJ LeMahieu illustrates the Rockies’ current dysfunction.