There was a good monthlong stretch in the offseason where you couldn’t look up without seeing two names, connected by narratives and rumors: Nolan Arenado and Kris Bryant.
There was the longstanding debate about player value, there were constant rumors about a trade involving the two (and a whole lot of money), and there were questions about which of them was a better bet to keep on being great for years to come.
Perhaps it’s darkly appropriate, then, that each guy suffered what could be a season-ending injury on the same dang day. As you know, Bryant left last night’s game with an oblique issue (full scope of the injury TBD), and on the same day, the Rockies placed Arenado on the Injured List with a shoulder issue that ends his season.
Like Bryant, Arenado has been playing through physical ailments this season, and like Bryant, his numbers have been brutally bad:
You can see more under the hood in Arenado’s numbers to suggest some flukiness this year compared to Bryant, but, by the expected metrics at Statcast, Arenado mostly earned his results this year (just 14 spots ahead of Bryant, and near the bottom of the 254 included hitters). Yikes.
Coupled with the shoulder injury, I doubt the 2020 season does much to improve the value of Arenado’s monster contract in the current financial environment. Over the next six years, Arenado, 29, is owed $200 million. He can opt out after 2021, but it’s pretty hard to see that being a desirable option at this point.
Arenado is expected to rest up over the next month and be healthy for next year. Whether the trade talk – and his unhappiness with the Rockies – will kick back up remains to be seen. Of course, if the Rockies are gonna deal him, the amount of the contract they’ll have to eat just went up dramatically.
Pretty unbelievable what has happened this year for Bryant and Arenado given what the conversations were back in January and February, eh? Some of that speaks to the unprecedented nature of 2020, but some of it is just a reminder of how rapidly things can change in baseball.