While Nolan Arenado was answering questions about the legendary tradition of the St. Louis Cardinals, playing rivalry games at Wrigley Field, and living on an eternal playoff contender, Colorado Rockies owner Dick Monfort was asked if he’d considered firing himself.
Yes, the five-time All-Star and eight-time Gold Glove winner’s business is much better in St. Louis than in Denver. Even Monfort seemed sad that the franchise eventually agreed to Arenado’s wish, switching him from the franchise that drafted him in 2009.
“I’m a fan. I really am,” said Monfort. “I understand how they feel. To be honest, I probably would feel the same. In fact, I feel the same. When we signed Nolan, it was an attempt to keep Nolan for the rest of his career. But things are changing. “
The Rockies never won a division title with Arenado, but they did make it to the playoffs in 2017 and 2018 as a wild card (a tiebreaker match lost to the Dodgers for the NL West title in 2018). However, they went 71-91 in 2019, and Monfort said the club had tried to trade Arenado after that season when he first asked for a trade.
The Rockies then went 26-34 in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, and they discussed several trading options, eventually reaching an agreement on the St. Louis deal that brought pitcher Austin Gomber and four minor leaguers, with some cash – perhaps as much as $ 51 million – also to St. Louis to pay off the remaining six years of Arenado’s contract.
Arenado can still unsubscribe after 2021.
General manager Jeff Bridich downplayed the idea that the Rockies are now starting over.
“There are levels and variations of the rebuild process, but this is certainly not total disassembly and rebuild as certain teams have chosen,” he said. “I think if that were the case, some players would have already been traded.”
One such player would be two-time All-Star shortstop Trevor Story, who will be eligible for free agency after the 2021 season. Story is in seventh place – with Arenado – in WAR among positioners since 2018. Bridich said he expects Story to open the season with the Rockies, although he added that it is difficult to predict what will happen this season.
“His situation is unrelated to Nolan’s, as is the case with the rest of our players,” said Bridich. “We certainly cherish Trevor as a short stop. It is very difficult to predict what the next few months will look like, in terms of the deadline, in terms of this season in general … but we don’t know what the pandemic will be and what it will be like. the virus is going to do and how things will end. “
For now, the Rockies are pretending they can still compete for a playoff spot in 2021, even without Arenado and without any impact players in return or other significant off-season moves.
“We have an extremely talented team,” said Monfort. “They’re built to compete. It’s time they took the next step.”
After two bad seasons, the numbers don’t really support that assessment. The Rockies were only eighth in NL in runs in 2020 – having finished in the top three every season between 2009 and 2018. They allowed the most runs in the league. Nonetheless, Monfort believes the team can expect the pitching in 2021.
“My greatest belief is that we built up pitching and that we did it internally. We have a lot of talented pitchers. … Jeff did a good job getting young arms and not having to go into the free market. that pitching is really a core that we have never had in our history. “
Germany’s Marquez is one of the more underrated starters in the majors. Kyle Freeland finished fourth in the Cy Young ballot in 2018 and returned with a solid 2020 after struggling in 2019. Jon Gray has shown top potential but sustained some injuries and struggled with a 6.69 ERA in 2020.
So the Rockies roll on without their franchise player, and fans will wonder what will happen to Story.
As for himself – or Bridich – Monfort replied, “I’ve been thinking about firing myself, but I haven’t thought about firing Jeff.”