Colorado Rockies: Nolan Arenado situation may force the nuclear option

By Aaron Hurt | Jan 21, 2020

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - APRIL 13: Nolan Arenado #28 of the Colorado Rockies argues with home plate umpire D.J. Reyburn #17 after Arenado was called out on strikes against the San Francisco Giants in the top of the six inning of a Major League Baseball game at Oracle Park on April 13, 2019 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /

What an unbelievable mess the Colorado Rockies have made for themselves. It’s a mess that quite possibly could put the franchise back five years.

A whirlwind of events Monday night has left many Colorado Rockies fans out for blood. After the announcement by GM Jeff Bridich that Nolan Arenado would not be traded before the season, Arenado started a huge firestorm by stating that he feels “a lot of disrespect from people there.” This revelation has fans wanting Bridich’s job with #FireBridich trending on Twitter.

It is easy to see why Arenado feels disrespected. Eleven months after signing an eight-year, $260 million contract, Arenado has seen Bridich shop his name in countless number of trade rumors, spent zero money this offseason (besides some minor league deals) to try improve a roster that only won 71 games in 2019, and bickered with Trevor Story over a mere $750,000 in arbitration negotiations.

So where do the Rockies go from here? I do agree that Bridich and the rest of the front office needs to go due to utter incompetence with this Arenado debacle and his many horrible free agent signings. However, that might not be enough.

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Bridich may have created such irreparable damage that even his firing can’t fix it. Even if the Rockies bring in a new general manager and front office, Arenado could be so jaded over this that he will still opt out of his contract in 2021. The only option left for the new GM would be is to go nuclear and blow up the entire roster.

The Rockies have approximately $50 million coming off the payroll after this season with the contracts of Wade Davis, Bryan Shaw, Jake McGee, and Daniel Murphy and another $8 million in 2021 with Ian Desmond. With no other choice but to trade Arenado, the Rockies might as well keep going and get what they can for Charlie Blackmon and Story (he becomes a free agent in 2021 and would likely not resign after this fiasco).

This option would give the new GM a complete clean slate and a ton of payroll to build the franchise from the bottom up.

Next. Why Rockies players will need their best PR skills this season. dark

Sadly, this means the Rockies could face multiple losing seasons before they finally turn things around. However, awful decisions have left them with no other choice. This nightmare of an offseason has gotten worse.

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