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Dodgers Insider Feels Rockies Would Never Have Traded Nolan Arenado to LA

The biggest rumor that the Dodgers were attached to this offseason was with Nolan Arenado. Since the season ended, there have been rumblings about the possibility that Colorado would deal away their star third baseman to a team already on top of the division. 

Those rumors reached a boiling point when The Athletic’s Jim Bowden said that Arenado would be a part of the Dodgers by Christmas. Obviously, that never happened. Instead, the Rockies waited until this week and dealt the perennial All-Star to the St Louis Cardinals. That deal saw Colorado send the Cards $50 million to help with his contract. 



But according to David Vassegh, his belief is that the Rockies never had any intention of sending Arenado to the Dodgers. Maybe it was a way to boost competition and drive up the price, or it could be as simple as rumors that got out of control. 

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It does seem odd that a team would trade their franchise player to a division rival. But there is little doubt that the Dodgers would not be able to top the offer from St. Louis as well. The opt-out in his massive $260 million contract this year essentially put the Rockies in a position where they had to move him. 

If the Dodgers were going to go after him, Arenado would’ve likely needed to waive his opt-out. That would have made him their third baseman for the foreseeable future, removing Justin Turner from the conversation.

Regardless, it appears as if they had no desire at all to do business with the fellow NL West team. If the Dodgers are still looking to get a big right-handed bat in their lineup, the clock is ticking. 

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7 Comments

    1. Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. The Cards got Arenado and a ton of money, but still could use young prospects. What about trading Arenado to the Dodgers, keeping the money and using it to pay free agents, clearing salary room for those free agents and, meanwhile, getting a couple pretty good young, major league ready prospects) from the Dodgers. Maybe Lux and Ruiz. They need a catcher and a second baseman. Lux has not produced at the level expected and there is a top prospect in the minors (five-tool Michael Busch) almost ready for 2B. Ruiz is a great prospect, but given the presence of the young tandem of Smith and Barnes, he is expendable.

      1. The details of the deal haven’t been released, but it is highly unlikely colorado will just send 50M in cash over to st louis, almost surely it will be structured like the Price deal, where the red sox pay half of Price’s salary, thus rockies will have Arenado on their books for about 8M a year the next 6 years. Of course that makes Arenado more tradeable [though he does have a no trade clause plus opt outs for the next 2 years as issues], but they don’t get to keep the 50M.

    2. Maybe bur if he has a good year with the Cards,Arenado may waive is opt out clause and stay there, especially if Cards make the PS. No excuse for Dodgers to be unable to get that RHB they so desperately need. If it means giving up some prospects knowing they can’t keep them all anyway, then so be it. They can deal from their excess of LHB to begin with.

  1. “It does seem odd that a team would trade their franchise player to a division rival.”

    Why?

    Farhan Zaidi, shortly after joining the Giants said it best when he said he has no problem trading within the division as he can do his best to deplete the other teams farm system. and load up with prospects trading a veteran.

    But then Colorado has to be one of the worst run sports organizations in any league. They could have done better improving their own team dealing with the Dodgers and even though they would face their previous player, they could gloat on the prospects they got and how they weakened the Dodgers in the future.

    The Rockies are just dumb.

  2. We can all be happy that we’re not Rockies fans.
    Really does look like the Cardinals took the Rockies to the cleaners. None of these prospects look like future stars–and the Rockies even tossed in about $50 million to help the Cards pay Arenado.
    Bizarre.
    Interesting notion that Cards could flip Arenado to Dodgers. But I don’t see that happening unless the Cards somehow collapse and need to rebuild.
    Still expect Turner to return, but if three other teams are really in play, he might leave. (Perhaps everybody is waiting on definitive guidance of the DH, which would affect Turner’s value and probably length of contract.)
    If Turner really does departs, Kris Bryant or Suarez suddenly seem more interesting. One rumor has Cubs willing to package Bryant with veteran SP Kyle Hendricks. Another has the Angels interested in catcher Wilson Contreras…
    So my October Freeway Series fantasy now envisions a 3-way blockbuster in which Angels offer deliver a stud prospect like Adell or Brandon Marsh to Dodgers; Dodgers send Keibert Ruiz and Gonsolin (or top SP prospects) to Cubs; and Angels get Hendricks and Contreras.
    Dodgers would wind up with Bryant to play 3B plus the Angels prospect and possibly another sweetener from Cubs.
    Rough outlines, of course. Smaller pieces could include the Angels’ Rengifo and Taylor Ward, who by some reports were discussed inthe aborted Pederson-Stripling deal. Plus, Max Stassi would be expendable if the Angels have Contreras backed by Suzuki. My guess is that the new Angels GM wants to make a splash and they’d decided against Bauer. Reuniting Joe Maddon with Contreras and Hendricks would be impressive.
    Boy, it’s fun to play GM!

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