The Colorado Rockies should not trade Nolan Arenado…yet

In a somewhat surprising pair of articles considering the team’s recent play, MLB Daily Dish and CBS Sports both recently published articles saying that the Colorado Rockies should trade third baseman Nolan Arenado, even though the Rockies enter Saturday just 2 games back of the Los Angeles Dodgers for the lead in the NL West.

It is a subject that Rockies fans don’t want to hear about: what should they do with Nolan Arenado. As you probably remember, he recently had some harsh words for the team when they were struggling. Since the article was published on The Athletic, though, the Rockies are 12-3.

With that stretch (and especially if they continue it), they should be buyers before the trade deadline. Personally, I think they need to address the pitching staff in general as the offense has been much better since their rough start.

However, if the Rockies do fall back (and maybe this is in August or maybe even some time next year), the Rockies do need to entertain the option of trading Nolan Arenado if they are not in contention.

Even now, the Rockies, according to Fangraphs, only have a 20 percent chance of making the playoffs this year. So what does that mean?

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In the words of Chris Farley on Saturday Night Live as motivation speaker Matt Foley, “JACK SQUAT!!!”

On this exact date last year, the Minnesota Twins had a 14.4 percent chance of making the playoffs…and they won the second AL Wild Card spot by five games over the Los Angeles Angels.

Would trading your franchise’s best player look embarrassing after spending a boatload of money on the bullpen that hasn’t worked? Absolutely. Would fans be upset with Arenado being traded? Absolutely, and they should be.

As Jordan Freemeyer of Purple Row said in this article yesterday on this same subject, “[n]ot only would it destroy the Rockies’ relationship with their fans, it would wreck morale in the clubhouse, causing other players to lose trust with management, seeing as they pitched guys like [Charlie] Blackmon and recent free agent signing Wade Davis on their desire to compete in the near future.”

But, even though we don’t often like it, baseball is a business.

Final Thoughts

If the Rockies don’t believe that they will be able to resign Arenado to a long term deal, they need to get as much as they can for him. Heck, you can even make the point that they should trade him even if they think they can resign him (e.g. the Yankees resigning Aroldis Chapman after trading him to the Cubs in 2016).

I don’t think it’s going out on a limb in saying that the Rockies need Nolan Arenado to contend for the NL West this year. While the division (and Wild Cards) are up for grabs, it is ludicrous to trade him away.

Next: What the path to Rocktober looks like

However, it would also be ludicrous not to considering trading him if they are not in contention.