Colorado Rockies: Reading between the lines of Nolan Arenado’s Sunday comments

Arenado and his teammates

Arenado did discuss that through this entire process, there have been some things out there that were not true so he felt that he needed to discuss it with his teammates to clear the air. He said that he talked with them via group text.

“There are a lot of things I discussed with them,” Arenado said. “There were a lot of things that were thrown out there that weren’t true. … I explained it to them, and they understand.”

What Arenado meant

He’s concerned with his teammates on the entire situation and wanted to make sure that they knew what was going on so they understand his perspective. Whether that be on if he requested a trade, trade rumors, how he felt “disrespect” from the Rockies front office.

Arenado as a voice in the Rockies plans

Arenado also discussed whether or not he should have a voice in the Rockies plans.

“At times, I think that, but that’s not necessarily the case,” Arenado said. “And I’m OK with that. I’m not worried about being a voice. I’m more worried about being a voice to my teammates than anything else. As an organization, they’re going to do what they want to do. I don’t think I have a whole lot of say in a lot of things the organization is going to do, and that’s all right.”

What Arenado meant

He is more worried about being a good teammate, a clubhouse guy, and his performance on the field now. “They’re going to do what they want do” is saying, like his comments regarding the Rockies front office believing that they are a 94-win team, he doesn’t agree with their sentiment at all. However, there’s not a thing that he can do about it.

If the Rockies start the season off to a great start, that’s great but that’s not what he’s expecting.

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The 2020 Rockies are going to be a 94-win team?

Another one of the coinciding stories of the offseason is that Rockies owner Dick Monfort said that he believes the Rockies will win 94 games in 2020. That number was reached by “an analytical staff” that “interpolated” that number based off of what the 2007, 2008, and 2009 Rockies achieved.

Arenado discussed those comments on Sunday, as well.

“We’re here,” Arenado said. “They believe it. They’ve said some things in the paper that they believe we can win, so I have to be optimistic. I can’t just sit here and just mope about this. I’m optimistic. It’s Spring Training. You never know what can happen.”

What Arenado meant

He says that “they” believe that they can win 94 games. He does not share that belief. This is further backed up by his comments to Tim Brown on Friday and the comment in the next sentence of the quote where he said then, and on Sunday, that “I have to be” optimistic. He is not optimistic, at least fully.

Obviously, anything could happen since baseball is actually played by humans and not on a computer or on paper but since all we have currently to tell us what to look forward to in the season is computer projections and what the team looks like on paper, the Rockies are, as currently constructed, not close to a 94 win team.

If you have doubts on that, that record would make the Rockies the best team in franchise history? Is this team better than any Rockies team ever?