Colorado Rockies: Here’s why the Nolan Arenado trade rumors *are* worth your time

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 25: Nolan Arenado #28 of the Colorado Rockies reacts and tosses his helmet away after striking out swinging against the San Francisco Giants in the top of the seventh inning at Oracle Park on September 25, 2019 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 25: Nolan Arenado #28 of the Colorado Rockies reacts and tosses his helmet away after striking out swinging against the San Francisco Giants in the top of the seventh inning at Oracle Park on September 25, 2019 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

My fellow co-expert Kevin Henry wrote an article three days ago delving into why the trade rumors behind the Colorado Rockies trading their franchise stalwart third baseman, Nolan Arenado, are not worth your reading time. Before the article and when the article was published, I agreed with Kevin but in the recently, I have changed my opinion on it.

Before I present you the case of why the Nolan Arenado trade rumors are worth your time, just think, did you ever think that just ten months ago, we would even be hearing, let alone *considering* trade proposals for Nolan Arenado?

It has all developed because the Colorado Rockies had an atrocious season in 2019, after reaching the postseason in each of the previous two seasons.

When I first heard the rumors, I thought they were just talk; something for writers to try develop some content to get the juices flowing for fanbases. However, with the amount of speculation that there has been in the past three days or so after the MLB.com article (including this article by Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic), particularly with the Rockies trading Arenado to the Texas Rangers, I actually believe that this is an example of the old adage raised up by our friend Bryan Kilpatrick on Twitter: “when there’s smoke, there’s fire.”

Now that’s not to say that the Rockies will trade Arenado to the Rangers or even trade him at all but is it out of the realm of possibility? Absolutely not.

Should the Rockies listen to trade offers on Nolan Arenado? Absolutely.

And the simple reason for that is that if, no matter what, you respond with a flat “no” to trade proposals, you could miss out on some trades that might blow you away.

For the Texas Rangers, they have desperately needed a third baseman ever since Adrian Beltre retired. They are also moving into a new ballpark.

They are looking to improve upon their 78-84 season and they have already proved as such this offseason by trading for 2-time American League Cy Young award winner Corey Kluber and signing free agent starting pitchers Kyle Gibson and former Rockies starting pitcher Jordan Lyles.

The problem that the Rockies have is that they don’t have a ton of trading power for Arenado because they decided to put in an opt-out clause for Arenado after the 2021 season so an acquiring team, conceivably, could only be receiving two years of control on Arenado. The difference between two years and seven years of control is humongous.

And it was an opt-out clause that the Rockies GM Jeff Bridich pushed to be in the contract so the Rockies potentially shot themselves in the foot with that.

That still doesn’t mean a team won’t overpay for him, especially if they can rework a deal with Arenado in that they will get more team control.

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As my fellow co-expert Kevin Henry noted about the recent MLB.com’s trade proposals on Arenado, they are not going to get the job done…or at least shouldn’t. The Rockies need to be blown away by a trade deal.

I’m not talking about a trade like the trade that the Oakland A’s pulled the trigger on when they traded Josh Donaldson to Toronto for Kendall Graveman, Sean Nolin, Franklin Barreto and Brett Lawrie. That kind of a trade could put the Rockies back a decade.

The Rockies need to get 3-4 MLB.com top 100 prospects, 3-4 MLB All-Star caliber players with three or more years of team control, or a combination of both and perhaps, possibly some lower prospects too.

The Rangers do have three of MLB.com’s top 100 prospects (third baseman Josh Jung (#55), catcher Sam Huff (#73), and right-handed pitchers Hans Crouse (#78)). None of the three have played higher than Single-A, though, so the Rockies may not be willing to bet on them considering how far they are from the majors so the Rangers and Rockies may not be a match.

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Whether it’s with the Rangers or another team, much to the dismay of Rockies fans, I think it may be a case of “where there’s smoke, there’s fire.” Whether that fire comes next week, next month, next trade deadline, or even next offseason, don’t be surprised if the Rockies do end up trading Arenado.