Disgruntled Rockies franchise player Nolan Arenado and general manager Jeff Bridich still haven’t met this spring in an effort to repair their damaged relationship, but the third baseman suggested Tuesday that will change (via Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post). “We probably will (meet),” said Arenado, who went on to state: “People are putting a light on us, saying, ’Nolan and the GM aren’t talking.’ But the GM doesn’t come around a lot. It’s no different this year than how it’s been every other year. I think when we start trimming down the roster, then we can start having talks and see what we can do.” Those sound like somewhat optimistic comments from Arenado, but the expectation remains that the Rockies will wind up dealing him, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan, who observes that a trade is “inevitable.” Thanks to the whopper of an extension Arenado signed in February 2019, he could remain Rockies property for the next seven years. However, if he’s as fed up with the organization as he seems, he could choose to opt out of the deal after 2021. So, perhaps a trade will come together before then.
More on Colorado and one of its NL West foes…
- Hard-throwing right-hander Tyler Beede is a strong candidate to grab the fifth spot in the Giants’ rotation, but he’s now dealing with a potentially troubling injury situation. Beede exited his start against Texas after one inning Tuesday with tightness in his pitching elbow, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle relays. The severity won’t be known until Beede undergoes testing on the joint. For now, he remains in the race to earn a spot in San Francisco’s starting staff, with Logan Webb seemingly representing his stiffest competition.
- Infielder Matt Duffy signed a minor league contract with the Rangers in January, but they weren’t the only team he talked to in free agency. Duffy told Schulman that the Giants were among the teams to “check in” on him in the offseason, but Schulman writes that it was only a “brief” conversation. Now 29 years old, Duffy got his start with the San Francisco organization. The Giants chose him in the 18th round of the 2012 draft and eventually saw him develop into a solid contributor. During the best season of his career, 2015, Duffy racked up 4.4 fWAR with the Giants.
- The Rockies are optimistic that righty Jose Mujica, the lone major league free agent they signed during the offseason, could debut in their rotation “sometime in the near future,” according to Kyle Newman of the Denver Post. Mujica, formerly with the Rays, didn’t pitch professionally last season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in September 2018. The 23-year-old’s still working back from that procedure, but he did flash quite a bit of potential during his Triple-A debut two seasons ago. He tossed 36 2/3 innings of 2.70 ERA/2.81 FIP ball with 8.35 K/9 and 2.45 BB/9 at the minors’ highest level before going under the knife.
Bridich must figure Arenado will come around after the Rocks win 94 games this season
They’ll have to include spring training wins to get go that number.
Lol
“But the GM doesn’t come around a lot.”
Then why is he GM?
Yea all i got from that comment was another shot taken by Arenado ha. The GM should be present and around the team.
How often does ANY general manager make his appearance in ANY “normal” company? Also this article states NOTHING new. I don’t need to hear about anymore non-updates re this “situation”.
An article from a couple weeks ago indicated that when Bridich DID walk through camp Arenado didn’t speak to him but did give him a nod. In Bridich’s mind that was probably confirmation that they’re good.
Oh my lord we really do have the worst GM in the MLB don’t we
Really? Really? I can think of at least 6 teams that would HIGHLY disagree with you.
That contract is so bad for the Rockies it’s ridiculous. Not because he isn’t worth that price, but because of the GM’s failure to properly judge their contention window.
To not only give him that much money, but then double double with an early years opt out is just asinine. Without that contract, they might’ve been able to get a good package back for him.
Even with the Stanton and A-Rod contract dumps, Miami and Texas were able to get some salary relief and some decent pieces back. I don’t know you could get any value back. If he continues to produce he could walk soon. If doesn’t, then he just becomes extremely overpriced.
Maybe the strategy for Bridich here is to continue to fuel Arenado’s disenchantment to the point that he opts out after ‘21 just to get out of Colorado.
I played HS basketball and baseball with Beebe he’s a really great kid — I hope he can stay healthy and finally put together a decent season after struggling a bit thoughout his minor league career. The talent is there — best of luck to him finally putting all the pieces together!!
Arenado can ‘start having talks and see what we can do’. What does that mean?
As a Rockies fan, it makes me feel really good that Jeff Passan thinks an Arenado deal is inevitable. That pretty much means Arenado is there to stay. I’m happy.
Passan is one of the best in the business imo. Now if it were Heyman on the other hand…
Agree to disagree. I’ve never read any of Passan’s stuff that seemed particularly insightful.
Will he be traded midseason or remain with the Rockies? That’s a big contract to take on with a possibility of him opting out. And the prospects plus Major League talent.
Yikes. That’s a not-so-thinly-veiled shot at the GM for being completely invisible year after year.
Those quotes have the look of words taken out of context. He may or may not want out of Colorado but the whole deal is being pushed by reporters. If he is being the baby they are portraying I wouldn’t want him on my team, but I have a feeling he said the original things in a frustrated moment and since then it has all been news driven.
There was a report that the two of them were screaming at each other and close to throwing punches last year. If that’s even remotely true than I wouldn’t call this news driven at all. It’s telling that Bridich still has yet to even have a conversation with him about it
Who’s portraying Arenado as a baby? I see him as someone who is pissed off that he was lied too before he signed a contract with the expectation of having a solid team around him.
Makes you wonder what went wrong behind closed door in that organization.. After all he was happy enough to put pen to paper for that extension.
Is that question? It’s already been addressed. Arenado signed after being assured of having a competitive team around him but Bridich lied.
Worse even, maybe he doesn’t think this is lying and considers this a competitive team. We haven’t really taken the stance that Bridich is delusional yet.
The Rockies set a team record for payroll in 2019. Monfort loosed the purse strings, finally, and Bridich promptly blew it, starting with The Ian Desmond Contract. But it has not been a lack of available funds that has been the problem.
The Rockies’s farm system ranks in the 25-ish range across MLB, so Arenado pretty much sees a roster that isn’t ready to compete right now with very little help on the way. That’s also on Bridich.
How Monfort cannot recognize the common denominator in all of these problems is pretty baffling.
Arenado likes Colorado, and Arenado wants to win. It’s a dilemma for him. Having Bridich around as GM makes it all tougher to deal with. Bridich is a total bonehead. Good prospects Welker and Rodgers can play 3B.
This high school drama is simply ridiculous. Bridich needs to crawl out from underneath whichever rock and take care of this. Step up and be a GM.
The St. Louis Sports writers are still saying that Nolan Arenaldo is still on the Cardinals radar. If the Cardinals are in the play off hunt at mid July, you might see the Cardinals come off of their tears and actually trade for a young Major League Star. That is providing Colorado is willing to take some salary off the Cardinals books such as Matt Carpenter along in the mix.