I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the greatness of Nolan Arenado.
Given his nightly Gold Glove work at third base and his MVP-caliber season, he’s a hard man to escape if you love baseball.
But here’s the thing. There are people within the Rockies organization whom I know and respect who still resent Arenado for forcing the Rockies to trade him to St. Louis in February 2021.
Their thinking, essentially, is that Arenado turned his back on the Rockies after signing an eight-year, $260 million contract before the 2019 season. A lot of hard-core Rockies fans that I know resent Arenado, too. They consider him a spoiled brat and a traitor.
I’m old school and I believe in loyalty, too, but the truth is, Arenado was too good for the Rockies. He saw the writing on the wall. I don’t blame him for escaping Colorado and striving for more than mediocrity. He wants to play deep into October, he wants to slip on a World Series ring.
Arenado’s talent, desire, passion, and will to win were not matched by the franchise or owner Dick Monfort.
“If I had my druthers, I would rather have Nolan Arenado, but it was Nolan’s choice,” Monfort said during that painful news conference following the trade. “He wanted to move on. I’ve speculated over the last year why, and I’ve talked to Nolan a lot about it over the last year. But the fact remains that I think he just felt it was time for him to try something else out.”
No, the fact remains that Arenado didn’t believe the Rockies were truly committed to winning.
The Rockies had a future Hall of Fame superstar at third base but they didn’t build around him. That was apparent in 2018 when they let DJ LeMahieu walk away and didn’t make any major acquisitions after the team nearly won its first National League West title. It became even more apparent during an ugly 2019 season when the Rockies went 71-91.
Throw in former general manager Jeff Bridich’s abrasive personality and it’s not difficult to see why Arenado forced his way out.
These thoughts danced through my mind — again — on Friday night as the Rockies dropped another road game, this time a 3-2 walk-off loss to lowly Cincinnati. The Rockies are on pace to finish 68-94, and with 16 of their final 29 games on the road, it could get uglier.
Also on Friday, Arenado was named the National League player of the month for August. It was the fourth time in his career that he’s won player of the month.
In the thick of the Cardinals’ quest for a National League Central title, he opened the month by homering in six of his first 10 games. He finished the month hitting .365 with nine homers, 12 doubles, 29 RBIs and a 1.139 OPS over 27 games.
And check this out: Arenado is the first Cardinals player to win multiple player-of-the-month awards in a single season since Albert Pujols in 2009.
St. Louis teammate Paul Goldschmidt will likely win the NL MVP this season, but Arenado will be a worthy runner-up.
Imagine if Arenado had toughed it out in Colorado. Would the Rockies have become a World Series contender? No. Would Arenado be in the running as the best third baseman of all time? I don’t think so.
Arenado was no saint in Colorado. He was not the kind of leader Bridich wanted him to be. He was so obsessed with baseball that he could be an island unto himself.
But those Rockies teammates, such as Charlie Blackmon, Trevor Story and LeMahieu, who share Arenado’s passion for the game, understand his obsessive nature and admire his burning desire to win, know he did the right thing.
