While Nolan Arenado asked questions about the famous tradition of St. Cardinals. Louis, playing rivalry games at Wrigley Field and living in a perennial contender for the playoffs, Colorado Rockies Mountains owner Dick Monfort wondered if he had thought about saying goodbye to himself.
Yes, the five-time All-Star trade and eight-time Gold Glove winner falls much better in St. Louis. Louis than to Denver. Even Monfort seemed saddened that the franchise would eventually accept him according to Arenado’s desire and change him from the franchise that hired him in 2009.
“I’m a fan. I really am,” Monfort said. “I understand how they feel. To be honest, I would probably feel the same way. I even feel the same way. When we signed Nolan it was an attempt to keep Nolan for the rest of his career. But things they change. “
The Rockies never won a division title with Arenado, but they made the playoffs in 2017 and 2018 as a wildcard (losing a tiebreaker to the Dodgers for the 2018 NL West title). Still, they went from 71 to 91 in 2019 and Monfort said the club had tried to change Arenado after that season, when he first asked for a trade.
The Rockies went from 26 to 34 in the 2020 season, reduced by COVID, and discussed various business possibilities, eventually agreeing to the St. Louis deal. Louis who brought pitcher Austin Gomber and four minor players, with some cash, maybe as much as $ 51 million – I’ll go to St. Louis too. Louis to help pay the remaining six years of Arenado’s contract.
Arenado can still stop participating after 2021.
General manager Jeff Bridich downplayed the idea that now the Rockies are starting again.
“There are levels and variations of the rebuilding process, but this is certainly not a total demolition and rebuilding as some teams have decided,” he said. “I think if that were the case some players would have already been traded.”
One of those players would be the double field Trevor Story, All-Star football field, which can qualify for free agency after the 2021 season. Story is tied for seventh place – with Arenado – in WAR among positioned players since 2018. Bridich said he expects Story to open the season with the Rockies, though he added that it’s hard to predict what will happen this season.
“His situation is different from Nolan’s, as is the case with the rest of the players,” Bridich said. “We certainly love to have Trevor as a short point. It’s very difficult to predict what the next few months will be like, in terms of time, in terms of this season in general … but we don’t know what the pandemic is and what the pandemic will do. viruses and how things will work “.
For now, the Rocky Mountains act as if they could still fight for a playoff spot in 2021, even without Arenado and without receiving any impactful players in return or making any other significant moves in the offseason.
“We have an extremely talented team,” Monfort said. “They’re built to compete. It’s time to take the next step.”
After two poor seasons, the numbers don’t really support that assessment. The Rockies were only eighth in the National League in races in 2020, after finishing in the top three each season between 2009 and 2018. They allowed the most races in the league. Still, Monfort believes the team has the playing field to fight in 2021.
“My biggest belief is that we’ve created pitching and we’ve done it in-house. We have a lot of talented pitchers. … Jeff has done a good job getting young guns and not having to go into the free agency market. I think the pitch is really a core we’ve never had in our history. “
German Márquez is one of the most underrated headliners in the category. Kyle Freeland finished fourth in the Cy Young polls in 2018 and bounced back with a solid 2020 after fighting in 2019. Jon Gray has surpassed the maximum rotation potential, but has had some injuries and has struggled with an ERA of 6.69 in 2020.
So the Rockies will continue, without their franchised player, and fans will wonder what will happen to Story.
As for saying goodbye, or Bridich, Monfort replied, “I’ve thought about saying goodbye, but I haven’t thought about saying goodbye to Jeff.”