Colorado Rockies: The mixed thoughts and opinions of Nolan Arenado’s Thursday comments
![DENVER, CO - JUNE 18: Nolan Arenado #28 of the Colorado Rockies celebrates with his teammates after hitting a 3 RBI walk off home run in the ninth inning against the San Francisco Giants at Coors Field on June 18, 2017 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_752,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/https-3A-2F-2Froxpile-com-2Fwp-content-2Fuploads-2Fgetty-images-2F2017-2F07-2F697414308-850x560-cb1f21a3df7a1321e8922b96569fcfec.jpg)
![Feb 19, 2020; Scottsdale, Arizona, USA; Colorado Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado (28) stands for a portrait on media day during spring training at Salt River Fields in Scottsdale. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/w_480/shape/cover/sport/https-3A-2F-2Froxpile-com-2Fwp-content-2Fuploads-2Fimagn-images-2F2017-2F07-2F14064711-2ca84e55a0113edd434ed0d519456a17.jpg)
The St. Louis Cardinals had their home opener today and former Colorado Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado suited up as a Cardinal for the first time in the regular season wearing the home, white Cardinals jersey.
After Brewers manager Craig Counsell inexplicably pulled his starting pitcher early for the second straight game, the Brewers bullpen blew the lead for the second straight game for them. (Counsell pulled Brandon Woodruff out of the game against the Cubs after tossing seven innings of one-hit ball against the Cubs on 74 pitches on Wednesday and he pulled Corbin Burnes after six scoreless innings after allowing only one hit on 86 pitches).
The Brewers bats haven’t been particularly lighting the world on fire either but the Cardinals, at least on Thursday, weren’t either. They hadn’t scored a run in the first six innings but Eric Yardley allowed a run in the seventh to tie the game at one.
The bottom of the eighth inning comes around and Drew Rasmussen relieves Yardley, still in a 1-1 tie. Tommy Edman strikes out to lead off the Cardinals half of the inning and Austin Dean, a pinch-hitter, walks.
Up comes Nolan Arenado.
On the first pitch he sees from Rasmussen, Arenado launches a 97 MPH fastball that was middle-in and it landed 373 feet away in left field for a two-run home run that made it 3-1 Cardinals where the game would stay and the Cardinals would win.
![Aug 25, 2020; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Colorado Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/w_480/shape/cover/sport/https-3A-2F-2Froxpile-com-2Fwp-content-2Fuploads-2Fimagn-images-2F2017-2F07-2F14853534-7f9be3ee6c8c62615533c657708b1d93.jpg)
There was some controversy between Rockies fans and their former third baseman.
After the game, he spoke to Jim Hayes of Bally Sports Midwest about the home run and you can watch that below.
Nolan Arenado on the #STLCards: "We're scrappy, man. We don't give up. ... These guys come ready, they're prepared and it's just a great group."#STLFLY #HomeOpener pic.twitter.com/HXxOVnLxYM
— Bally Sports Midwest (@BallySportsMW) April 8, 2021
Jeff Jones of The Belleville News-Democrat said tweeted this:
Nolan Arenado says this was the first curtain call of his career.
— Jeff Jones (@jmjones) April 8, 2021
While he did not say it in the interview with Bally Sports West, Arenado did say it .. but he told the media about it on Zoom after the game.
This may be a questionable statement from Arenado considering that you could contend that Arenado did have a curtain call in the game with the walkoff home-run that completed the cycle.
There’s semantics on whether or not it was a “curtain call” or not (like since he didn’t go in the dugout and return but just stayed out on the field after it, is it a “curtain call”) but either way, that was a pretty big moment in his career.
Arenado also acknowledged this to the St. Louis media before saying he never had a curtain call before.
“This was one of the greatest moments,” said Arenado on hitting the home run during the Cardinals home opener. “You know, I’ve been fortunate to hit a couple homers, hit a homer for the cycle one time and … that still probably tops this just a little bit. But I’ve bever gotten a curtain call before and to get one of those was just an unbelieveable feeling. Never had that.”
You can watch Arenado’s comment below.
🗣️Here is the Arenado "first curtain call" quote.
— Ryan Greene 📷 (@RyanGreeneDNVR) April 9, 2021
🤔What's weird is he acknowledges that he hit a home run for the cycle, and that it still tops today's game just a little - then says today was his 1st curtain call.
🔊 pic.twitter.com/CX7bf3lYOr
This came on the heels of Arenado’s teammate, Adam Wainwright, saying earlier that Arenado was sending video of himself hitting to show the Cardinals front office “when he was trying to get traded over here.”
Adam Wainwright said over the last two years, Arenado would send Wainwright videos of him hitting to show to "Mo" (John Mozeliak) .... "when he was trying to get traded over here."
— Katie Woo (@katiejwoo) April 8, 2021
🧐
So what we have is a lot to unpack.
![DENVER, COLORADO – AUGUST 03: Nolan Arenado #28 of the Colorado Rockies celebrates after hitting a 2 RBI home run in the sixth inning against the San Francisco Giants at Coors Field on August 03, 2020 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/w_480/shape/cover/sport/https-3A-2F-2Froxpile-com-2Fwp-content-2Fuploads-2Fgetty-images-2F2017-2F07-2F1263752893-5837c4b175dda84e11cfd1f9d267ee6c.jpg)
1) Did Nolan Arenado sign a contract extension two years ago just to be traded?
Honestly, we’ll likely never know this answer.
However, thinking is that Arenado wanted to be traded before he even signed the contract officially is … suspect.
The likely scenario is that Arenado signed the contract and then, mid-season, saw the team was on the downward slide (for which they have continued since), and then requested a trade.
But with the pandemic, he likely wouldn’t have opted out after 2021 anyways because with opting out he likely wouldn’t have gotten a better contract on the open market, especially with the collective-bargaining agreement coming up this offseason.
So, it stands to reason that he would not sign a huge contract extension and not ask for an opt-out clause. After all, Rockies GM Jeff Bridich admitted that he and the Rockies front office added it in for him.
![DENVER, CO – JUNE 18: Nolan Arenado #28 of the Colorado Rockies wipes his forehead after sustaining a cut while celebrating hitting a 3 RBI walk off home run in the ninth inning against the San Francisco Giants at Coors Field on June 18, 2017 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/w_480/shape/cover/sport/https-3A-2F-2Froxpile-com-2Fwp-content-2Fuploads-2Fgetty-images-2F2017-2F07-2F697414748-6a9921bb4a2ef19227e60eb6ca7a2663.jpg)
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2) Did Nolan Arenado never have a curtain call as a Rockie?
In short, yes. I think that likely, he meant to say that he didn’t have one of that magnitude.
Sometimes people don’t believe that athletes are fallible but they are. Sometimes, players are caught up in the moment of things and say things that they a) don’t realize they said or b) said incorrectly.
Like I mentioned earlier, it could even be a semantics game that the cycle was not a “curtain call” because it was a walk-off and he never left the field.
But he admitted that the home run that completed the cycle on Father’s Day 2017 “still probably tops this just a little bit.” So it’s still a moment that he says he remembers fondly on.
Also, the Rockies drew great attendance numbers for much of Arenado’s career with the team, even when they weren’t playing well.
So, these questions may not be able to be definitively answered (at least right now) but, there’s always some food for thought when looking back to some of the best moments in Rockies history.