“ONE CHANCE”
Arenado wants to be a winner
Nolan Arenado is getting in his swings, fielding grounders and making throws, he’s just not doing it with his Rockies teammates. Not yet.
The all-star third baseman, who’s been embroiled in an offseason feud with general manager Jeff Bridich, has not shown up to spring training yet. He’s expected to do so on Sunday when position players officially report to Salt River Fields.
In past years, Arenado would show up early with teammates such as Charlie Blackmon, Trevor Story and David Dahl, all of whom are already in camp. This year, Arenado has been hitting and taking infield at nearby Phoenix Municipal Stadium, the home of the Arizona State baseball team. Friday, Arenado’s younger brother, Jonah, threw him batting practice.
After his workout, Arenado talked to Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports.
“You know what, and I want you please to write this down, the perception of me right now, some people have different things, right?” said Arenado, who last February signed an eight-year, $260 million contract. “It’s, ‘Oh, you make money, keep your mouth shut. You signed this deal and this and that.’ But, at the end of the day, man, people misunderstand. Us, as players, we only get one chance at this. I only get one chance at this. I have seven years left on my deal. I don’t know how it’s all going to turn out. And I want to win.
“I’ve been to All-Star games. I’ve done some special things, you know? I’ve won Gold Gloves. Those all mean a lot to me. At the end of the day, the goal is to win. They signed me to win. And I want to be on a winner. If that’s in Colorado or somewhere else, I want to win.”
Two weeks ago, Arenado issued a statement to The Denver Post, saying he was done talking about the controversy and persistent trade rumors.
“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,” Arenado’s statement read. “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.”
Hoffman rebuild. It’s an age-old rite of spring training: pitchers tinker with their deliveries, develop new pitches, tweak old ones and try to perfect their best ones.
Right-hander Jeff Hoffman, a candidate for the back of the Rockies’ rotation, is taking all of that to another level.
Hoffman, part of the Troy Tulowitzki trade with Toronto in 2015, is working on a whole new delivery. It’s shorter, more compact and hopefully, more reliable over the long run.
The 6-foot-5 right-hander served up 21 home runs in 70 bigleague innings last season and posted a 6.56 ERA. He’s out of minor-league options and is running out of time to stick with the Rockies, so he decided to drastically shorten up his long, sweeping motion.
“It puts my body in a better position,” Hoffman said. “The arm (strength) has always been there, but I wanted to shorten things up … and help me command my pitches better. I’ve thrown some good bullpens down here.
“I’m in a better position now, physically, to cut it loose. I think that with my long arm motion, that’s where some of the erraticness would come from.”
Manager Bud Black said the Rockies didn’t force the change on Hoffman.
“From a coaching standpoint, you never mandate or give a directive to change the way your arm works, your natural throwing motion,” Black said. “But we’ve seen it done. It’s happened before, and in Jeff’s case he felt he needed to do this for his career.”