Nolan Arenado and Giancarlo Stanton are in tough spots. A trade between the Colorado Rockies and New York Yankees might be logical. Here’s why.
Nolan Arenado is livid with the Colorado Rockies front office and utterly discontented in his situation there. New York Yankees outfielder Giancarlo Stanton essentially seems like the odd man out in the Bronx.
Is there even a slight chance that a swap of these two stars could be agreed upon?
The Rockies, unlike Arenado, seem to have simply accepted their fate after a 71-91 season. They followed up a 91-win season in 2018 with a putrid 20 games below .500 effort in 2019.
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The Rockies front office invested a sumptuous allotment of money into the roster over the last few seasons. Yet all of this spending seems to have been made in vain, as the end result in 2019 was a pitiful season and a bleak outlook to the future. The philosophy, in short, is why sink even more money into a failing enterprise, especially one with only slight prospects of improvement.
As regressive as it may seem, this is the current mentality in the modern game of baseball, and teams understand that they must find intuitive methods to win, ones that do not include spending large sums of cash. Therefore, one might propose a swap of two players with massive capital attached to each.
One such swap could be Arenado for the New York Yankees’ Giancarlo Stanton. Other than his tendency to blast Ruthian home runs, Stanton is often characterized for his distinct lack of discipline at the plate. When he connects with a ball, it can travel obscene distances. However, the connection is often the issue and under the intense spotlight of New York, it can become further amplified.
A lofty deal such as the one proposed has a sensational tone to it – often toted by an insatiable fanbase. Still, in this case, Yankees fans have been permitted to dream, as a perfect opportunity might have presented itself.
Two preeminent questions are arisen by this proposal. Firstly, if Arenado has such public vitriol against the Rockies organization, what kind of value can they expect to recoup? And more importantly what teams could possibly possess the money and payroll to afford such a luxury?
The Yankees not only have a perfect slot open on their roster for Arenado to slide into, but they also have the money to exchange.
The Stanton contract has once been traded with little value returning to Miami in the swap and, similar to that occasion, Arenado may have placed himself in a similar status of limbo with his recent comments to MLB.com. Colorado might be able to fetch slightly more than Stanton’s bulky contract but would not acquire anything as substantial as one might hope in dealing a player of this caliber.
After the contract swap, Miguel Andujar and a middling level prospect could easily be sent to the Rockies to make up the difference. Andujar could take up third base – seemingly having been displaced during his prolonged absence in 2019.
Arenado is under contract through 2026, for a total of seven seasons at an exorbitant salary totaling over $30 million per year. On the other hand, Stanton is under contract for one extra season, and possibly even a second, with roughly a $30 million annual salary. In the end, the deals even out and being attached to would appear to be very strenuous, esepcially for a club, such as the Rockies, who have to be money conscious.
Each of the respective players would prosper and most likely thrive in their new environments. Arenado would be a member of a team that is not only in a winning situation but would do anything to pursue a championship.
Stanton would then be in a situation that is conducive to his strengths as a batter –with the obvious advantages of Coors Field – and a situation out of the media frenzy of New York. Therefore, he can refocus on playing the game and have the weight of thousands of booing fans lifted.
In conclusion, such a deal is highly unlikely and even the most distinct possibility of it happening during the reaming offseason is far-fetched. However, there is a slight glimmer of hope that New York Yankees fans can anchor themselves to.