Colorado Rockies: How Robinson Cano’s 2021 suspension will impact the Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story sweepstakes

ESPN’s Jeff Passan was the first to report on Wednesday that New York Mets second baseman Robinson Cano tested positive for PEDs for the second time. His one-year suspension will likely change the market for Colorado Rockies infielders Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story.

The New York Mets received news on Wednesday that their second baseman Robinson Cano tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Since this is the second time he tested positive, he will be suspended for the entire 2021 campaign and he will have to forfeit his entire $24 million salary.

For some teams, they would think that they dodged a huge bullet as they would have saved $24 million on a player that, quite honestly, isn’t very good anymore. But this happened to the one team that said that they will spend this offseason: The New York Mets, under their brand-new billionaire owner Steve Cohen, who happens to be the richest owner in all of baseball.

The Mets have already been talked about as a team that could have interest in Colorado Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado, as we discussed in this article nearly two weeks ago, but with the recent news, the Mets now have $24 million more that they could spend this offseason, and that means that, instead of trading for Nolan Arenado or Trevor Story, if they wanted to, they could try to trade for Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story.

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Obviously, it would be a move that the Rockies fans would not like to see but if the Rockies get enough of a return in either the Mets completely covering Arenado’s salary (particularly after the opt-out) and get enough MLB talent, MLB-ready talent, and/or top prospects, a deal could get done.

As it currently stands, the Mets left-side of the infield has J.D. Davis and Andres Gimenez. Gimenez, 21, would be in a platoon with Amed Rosario, according to Roster Resource.

While Gimenez was a top prospect entering his rookie season of 2020 (he was MLB.com’s 84th overall prospect) and Davis has been good for the Mets in the last couple of seasons, they may be one of a few teams that could afford one or, if they really wanted to, both Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story.

The Mets also only have two players that are non-arbitration eligible signed after 2021: Jacob deGrom and Cano. In other words, the Mets definitely have the money to be able to get one of Arenado and Story and likely both. Especially if both Story and Arenado were traded to the Mets, the Rockies would have to hit a home run on the return. Gimenez would likely have to be included and other MLB talent like Davis, Brandon Nimmo, Jeff McNeil, and/or others.

The chance that both are traded to the Mets is very slim but the chance that the Rockies could try to trade one of them to the Mets have definitely gone up.