The Rockies and/or other parties sure want to keep getting that Nolan Arenado stuff out there, eh?
Here’s the latest:
A trade of Nolan Arenado no longer seems like a preposterous idea. Story: https://t.co/YlDteldjwV #Rockies
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 19, 2019
We’ve done this dance before with Arenado, and, while I still think the enormous hurdles to a trade remain, Rosenthal’s piece suggests there are some actual talks going on, with the Rangers specifically mentioned as a suitor. Others *could* include the loser of the Josh Donaldson battle between the Nationals and Braves, as well as previous Arenado suitors like the Cardinals or Dodgers.
I mention this because of the obvious implications for the Cubs, both this offseason and in the future, though I’ll again caution – as Rosenthal does – there are so many miles and checkpoints between these conversations and actually pulling off a trade that Arenado approves, that gets the Rockies enough to justify trading their face, and that simultaneously doesn’t cost the trading team too much given Arenado’s market contract AND an opt-out. It’s basically impossible for me to see, but hey, sometimes the Rockies do weird things.
With that in mind, the Rangers make obvious sense, given the long-term hole at third base, the meh prospects available, and the available dollars. They wanted a long-term deal with Anthony Rendon, and Arenado would seemingly make even more sense, given he’s younger.
The Nationals also made a long-term offer to Arenado, and also have a big hole at third base (without much of a farm system behind Carter Kieboom), so they seem like a second place maybe.
The Dodgers don’t make a lot of sense given the intradivisional trade thing, and the Cardinals would be a huge surprise given the big contracts they already have on the books. (Or maybe I’m just scared by the idea.) The Braves are balking at going to four years on Josh Donaldson, so I wonder if they’d really be into such a huge, long-term commitment for Arenado. There is no mention of Philadelphia.
In general, it seems to me that the clubs that would be the best fits for a Kris Bryant trade (Dodgers, Braves, Phillies) would not necessarily be the best fits for a Nolan Arenado trade, which is really an entirely different ball of wax. That is to say, even if Arenado is legitimately on the market now, I’m not so sure there’s a huge impact to the Bryant market.
Instead, I’d continue to track the Donaldson market (shorter-term deal, no prospect cost) as being the one most related to whatever the Cubs decide to do with Bryant.
Oh, also, still waiting on that service time grievance.