Colorado Rockies manager Bud Black on layoff, return, Nolan Arenado, David Dahl, and you

Black on the Nolan Arenado trade rumors

"“I texted with Nolan through January and his responses were great. Obviously, I’m in contact with [Rockies GM] Jeff [Bridich} all the time and when we got to Arizona, I saw Nolan in the clubhouse. He was unpacking his bag and he came up to me and gave me one of the best handshakes I’ve had all winter, a big smile, the guy hug, and he was fine and he was ready to play and get after it like Nolan does.”"

Black continued:

"“The thing that everybody has to remember is that both guys are extremely competetive and both guys want to win and the thing about it [is] we’re all trying to acheive the same goal: we’re trying to win a World Series,” said Black. “Jeff is, Nolan is, [Rockies owner] Dick [Monfort] is, all of us are so never be confused with what our goals are. Both of those guys are aligned on the same thing on what our outcomes want to be… “He and Nolan have interaction and everything was fine as far those two guys and where their heads are and what that means for the Rockies this season and moving forward. With that, rest assured that both guys are true professionals who understand what they need to do in their job."

Black explained that he thinks that the Rockies third baseman reached a new level of leadership in the abbreviated spring training that they had before the layoff.

"“I think Nolan, for me,” said Black, “took it to another level this spring as far as leadership and setting the right example about what we want to do as [an organization] and it was really great to see.”"