Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 269 | Rockies Trade Nolan Arenado to the Cardinals!

Episode Date: January 30, 2021

The Rockies have traded superstar 3B Nolan Arenado AND $50 million to the St. Louis Cardinals! How favored are the Cardinals in the NL Central? Is this the darkest moment in Rockies history? What's going to happen to Trevor Story? Jimm'y mic is bad because this was an emergency episode and he didn't have his good mic at home so don't worry about it!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to talking baseball surprise episode on a Saturday morning because the Rockies traded one of the best players in the game. Hello and welcome to talking baseball. Thank you very much for joining us today. My name is Jimmy. I'm coming to you from my house so I don't have a proper microphone and I apologize off the back for that. If it sounds awful, we got Trevor, California, donning his Cardinals jersey and Jake wearing a Jake sucks hat with producer. bug dude in the corner. A little surprise episode because the trade that was rumored all of yesterday came to

fruition last night. The St. Louis Cardinals are grabbing Nolan Aronado from the Rockies saying, let's get him the hell out of there. The Rockies are paying the Cardinals $50 million to take him off their hands. And they're also getting a bunch of prospects that have no real hype behind you. them just a salary dump we've seen this in the sport a rod didn't go or not a rod um stanton like when the yankees traded for stanton they just grabbed all the money and they gave them starling castro and a couple guys that no one truly cared about it all it's just these big

contracts it's it's fun it's unfun there's a ton of different avenues around it trev you surprised by this i mean no and yes like it's been rumored for a long time. That's part of the reason that it ended up happening is because there's been trade rumors with Aeronado. Mind you, he signed his eight-year, $280 million contract just two years ago. And here we are. You know, obviously there's an opt-out. There's a lot of things to unpack about this. But, you know, as soon as our boy, J. Flair put those, what do he put the Googly eyes? What do he put? He tweeted out something. I texted them right away. and I said, what is going on?

Is it Aeronado? He wouldn't confirm nor deny. At that point, I knew it was happening at some point. If you're not denying at that point, you're all in. Man, a tale of two cities. I'm going to do a reading from the book. I didn't even bring my laptop in, which I'm partially regretting and wanted to get that out there.

Didn't even think about it. It was weird. I showed up and I was like, huh, I would definitely use that. But it's also partially because, man, I mean, a huge win for the St. Louis Cardinals. You know, we've recently been the Central, NL Central. Everyone was lost in free agency. And then that number came out that only $4 million had been spent in the NL Central. And now the Cardinals make their power move.

I mean, they get a Hall of Fame type baseball player in his prime for Austin Gomer, who had a nice year last year, but he's a guy and a couple of Trev's slapdicks. And man, for the Colorado Rockies, you guys know I've got juice in Colorado. I got my Rockies purple on today. And, you know, the Rockies tweets I was seeing was this is the lowest moment in franchise history, which, hey, it's an abbreviated franchise, but, you know, there is a way to spin that. And, man, just how quickly it can turn, you know, 2018, they're 91. and 71. They go to a one-game

playoff with the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the NL West. And now we're here. And we're going to talk about what's next a little bit. And I think we're going to really poo-poo on these Rockies hard. But I think we do the happy stuff first. The St. Louis Cardinals get a stud in there. Oh,

Jimmy wants to go the other way with him. Oh, no. Yeah, let's get mean. Ficked up. Yeah. Cogumber. Yeah, I agree. rude to trade that kid makes his debut, has a good season, and trade into the Rockies is maybe the rudest thing.

Router than what the Rockies did to their franchise is what the Cardinals did to Austin Gomer, and I'm mad about it. Don't trade pitchers to Colorado. That's a personal insult and a career ruiner and fucked up move. Don't trade young pitchers to Colorado. I honestly think it's just a mean thing to do. So I feel terrible for Austin Gomer. That sucks.

Tough. Yeah, and I don't want to talk poorly about that guy. Like it shouldn't be like a ricochet shot going at him. Like it's not his fault he got traded for Nolan Aronado. Look, this guy could be a really serviceable good big leaguer. And here we are just being like, oh, all they got was him. It's not his fault. No, I'm sympathetic for him.

Yeah, I know you are. But I just want to make sure people don't go bash this kid. He didn't do any of this, you know, like let him. him go shine. Hopefully he does well in Colorado and, you know, finds a home. Maybe his curb ball works and nobody else does ever in Colorado. I don't know. I'm trying to be positive here. Man. What's positive is that the NL Central collectively had spent $4 million this offseason, which was just like so crazy and bizarre. The division seemed like a like a, like a pinata up for grabs, but like it bursts open and it's just shit filling up everywhere.

It just seemed like a terrible division. Now, the Cardinals go spend a ton of money. Obviously, this is a trade, not a free agent signing, but it's basically they're spending the money is the thing here. They're spending a ton of money to bring the student in and the Cardinals are going for it, which is awesome. We have a team. I think this makes them the clear cut favorite in the NL Central.

One, because they get the best third baseman going. and two, because they're like, hey, we'll try to win. And if they just continue this, we'll try to win, they might be the only team doing that. So, I mean, if you're a Cardinals fan, you're ecstatic. It's awesome, man. St. Louis, enjoy it. Jack Flaherty, our boy is.

And I can't imagine. I mean, just from a winning standpoint and, you know, having that guy at third base. Like, that's some big wins for Jack right there. And it was funny. I mean, seeing Jack's reaction as a, you know, friend of the pod now, man, we sometimes forget. Like, Jack Flaherty, you know, baseball, nothing's promised. He's a young dude in his prime who's dropping dick, and he just had his baseball window open.

Like, you know, picture, you know, some of the young guys who are on the Cubs and are like, you're training away are guys right now? Like, I'm in my prime. Like, what's going on? For the Cardinals, it's huge. I mean, him and Goldschmidt are two. of my favorites at the corners and, I mean, two of the guys that are just so solid doing it. And yeah, I think the first thing I want to myth I want to bust was, you know, talking about

this trade. I think Treve and I have been pretty much in Locksiff, Jim. I think you're on the same wavelength. But the money part here is comical. You know, I know it ties into the owners, but they're trading $50 million and a Hall of Fame third baseman to the money. the St. Louis Cardinals. And people were, you know, people were commenting on my tweets and they were saying, you know, this happens. It happens with Stanton. It happened with Kano. Kano was 36 years old going into that Mets season when they traded money with him. Aronado's contract will be up before he's 36 years old. Jancardo's contract had the potential to turn into one of the worst in baseball. It was a long, big one with a guy with injury history. You know,

was some also funny business there going back to the Marlins getting the new stadium and everything, blah, blah, blah. This isn't that. If Nolan Aronado was in this free agent class, I think he would have gotten, even with where money's at in baseball, I think he would have got close to that six for $199 that was remaining on his contract. It's a disaster. He would have been the top free agent position player easily.

You know, he's two years younger than Springer. I think he plays a slightly more valuable position at a world-class. level and it's I mean, potentially the lowest moment in Rocky's history. I'll say that line a few times. It's very similar to the A-Rod, right? A-Rod was 27 when the Rangers

traded them to the Yankees. The Rangers also sent cash to the Yankees. They sent back Alfonso Soriano and a player to be named later. That was it. Isn't it very similar to that? Well, they got Alfonso Soriano, who let's not forget, you know, he was a pretty special baseball player in his own right

and that A-Rod contract at the time. was viewed as an albatross. It was viewed that Arod's contract was killing the Texas Rangers. Nobody was saying that about Nolan Aeronado. Plus, Alfonso Soriano, a little Yankees bias, but a special player in a unique way. Yeah, but I mean, it's more,

I just think that's a little different because now you want to grab bag of players instead of one dude. It's just the way GMs, but it's similar enough to compare them. It's in the arena. Yeah, this is like... in his prime.

To me, this is a win, win, win for the Cardinals. There's nothing, there's no risk involved in this. Like, what is your risk that he's going to opt out after one season? If he does that, then you paid $25 million to go win the NL Central, get into the playoffs and see what happens. That's a win. If he doesn't opt out, you get him again for the next year at $25 million. That's a win.

And if he stays with you, like, again, a guy of this caliber, you're fine with paying that money to. And Treve, I think they're pushing that opt out back a year. There's some weird stuff going on. He added one. He added one. Right, right, right.

He had the no trade clause, gives him leverage. He could have done whatever he wanted. He said, okay, you know what? After this next season, we have the CBA, it could get ugly. I'm probably not going to opt out. Let me add one more when situation's clear for everybody. Even at that point, though,

if he likes it in St. Louis, and he's getting paid his whatever 30 he's getting he's getting the 30 whatever he's promised it's just that the cardinals are only going to have to fork out 25 because the carackeys will be paying the rest of it so for him like is he going to get that deal again in a in a post um pandemic world i don't know and i don't think so i think he's going to be a cardinal the length of this contract and i think he's going to love it there because they love him and the fans are going to love this guy as they should He's in a fantastic position for him. He's got the no trade and two opt-outs if the market changes, if it doesn't.

I mean, no-or-n't. Did he retain his full no-trade clause, too? That was, I was trying to find that and I could not find it. It seemed wiki-washy if he was going to retain it or not. I think he was. I think he was getting everything. He was getting all the up-outs. He's got all the power right now, man.

He's got so much power. Yeah, which is pretty cool. For the Cardinals, I think. Carpenter, I don't know where Carpenter's going to go. He was kind of at third base. And then Edmund will probably move to second base. Edmund goes to second base. I mean, they're pretty easy to figure it out.

Yeah, Carpenter's the only guy who's kind of on the island right now. And hey, you know, if the DH gets dropped the day before opening day, you kind of have a solution because his defense at third base has been in decline. You know, they were trying to get him over to first base, and then they got that Goldschmidt guy. so that kind of took priority. So, yeah, he right now is kind of the floater, which, hey, you know, in the National League, you can make that work either way,

and I'm sure injuries and blah, blah, blah, everything else. I mean, if you're the Cardinals, it's 11 out of 10. I just talked about Jack Flaherty's excitement. We're a fan pod, and, man, if you're a Cardinals fan, like, you're in it. You're the favorite in the Central now. You're probably going to the dance, And if you've got Jack Flaherty right for the playoffs, if you've got Waino, I mean, just snapping curveballs.

If you've got Kim doing it, like, you know, I want them to see, and it's tough, maybe it's a trade deadline thing, and they've got some young guys. Let's see what they turn into. You would like to see that one lefty bat to pair with Goldschmidt and Aeronado. You know, they've got the switch hitters with Edmund, Fowler. So we'll see what they turn into. in my head, and I like those kind of, you know, me and Jimmy dream of that old,

Yankees lineups that had that crazy balance up and down, lefty, righty switch. Man, if, you know, and it could just be a trade deadline hitter. It doesn't have to be a big piece. It could just be a threat. So, man, I love it. I love it. A baseball team going for it that hasn't been the story of this offseason so far. Yeah, and unlike the NL East or the NL West where you have like such competition,

this move alone and bringing Wayno back kind of makes them the frontrunner easily. And they have the freedom to kind of just play out the first half of the season, assess it at the deadline, and then sprinkle in what they need to compete in the playoffs. You know, where other teams are like have to build their team for those first three months, Cardinals should be, they're sitting pretty. All the other teams, all the other teams in the NL Central are not trying to win. They're just not. The Cubs did sign Jack.

I mean, that's like... They're an interesting case for me. Yeah, I don't understand the direction of the Cubs whatsoever. It seems to me like they've already shut Bryant. So, like, if they go out and give him to the Braves or whoever they're going to give him to, possibly the Dodgers. I mean, I don't know. But I just don't think they're putting that, like, winning, like, we want to win vibe out there. You know, so I think right now it's the Cardinals and everybody else.

And I think it was really funny last night. Our boy, fooling. that foolish baseball. He tweeted out, it's like the other teams didn't even know they could trade for Paul Goldschman and Nolan Aeronado. The Cardinals just happened to ask first.

And like, it's true, like they just get these guys without giving out much, taking on some salary, sure, but two of the best to ever do it at their respective positions, man. The Cups can be good. I mean, their lineup is like,

hey, you got Hap, Rizzo, Bryant, Contreras, jock, hobby. Like, that can very well be a good lineup. And just the direction of the front office isn't screaming, we're going to try to win. Where I think now the Cardinals aren't saying that, which is the difference. So like the vibes are a little better. It's where are they going to get enough pitching to. I mean, it's Hendricks. They got Davies from the Darvish trade who's a guy. And then their three-starter is your boy, Alec Mills right now. Alex Mills, you're saying, don't forget. No, I would never. I would never. So let's see where

the Cubs can find innings. But yeah, no, it's the Cardinals Division to win now. And that's, you know, getting into the dance and position yourself is the best way to do it. I mean, look at, you know, the playoffs were funky this year, but the Astros going into this playoffs, they looked awful. And then

they got it going, and everyone kind of went tight butthole for a little bit because it was like, holy smokes. They look pretty nasty right now. So, man, huge for the Cardinals. Rockies. They have to trade everyone. I tweeted it out. I mean, story has one more year left on his contract.

$18.5 million. He's a free agent after this season. The rumors now are the Rockies are trying to extend him. Story, why don't get out of there? Like, you're, that would be like, you know, you're about to get paroled from jail and they're like, you want to stay a little longer? That's a, the Rockies to prison. That was the first thing that came right. They're sorry to all prisoners listening. That's a bad comparison. Getting paid $18 million to play baseball is not prison. But if he's close to getting away, I would not send an extension that you're just going to get traded anywhere somewhere soon anyway. I would, hey, he's going to get the bag and then be like, hey, trade me. Okay. Yeah, Jim. It's more insulting for the Rockies to act like they're

trying to win this year than to clean house and go get a ton of return and prospects. Like the Dodgers and the Padres, you're not. competing with them you just traded the best player on your team away trade story trade your pitchers gray and givens only have one year left i'm sure there's teams out there that would love the package deal on those guys and give them a shot to pitch outside of colorado there's some other people too like desmond's got a year left blackman's kind of got a lot of money i think he's actually player options so deck blackman's got one year left 21 mil i hope they're shopping everyone.

This is turning from positive for the Cardinals into nightmare scenario if you're a Rockies fan. I mean, this guy, British is basically, we could talk about the feud with Aeronado that basically led to this, but here's what you got really got to think about. Now he's talking about extending Trevor Story. They're not going to extend Trevor Story. They don't want to do that. They want to trade him.

But every team knows that now. So his value, you know, clearly he's still going to be valid. valuable, but your leverage is gone. If you wanted to trade Trevor's story and I knew this was going to happen, you'd trade Trevor story first because you don't, Aaronado's values already in, you didn't get anything for Aronado. So it's not like you're like holding Aronado's value up by keeping story. Like you should have traded Trevor's story first.

Then you can trade Aronado because now people know you want to get rid of story. They know there's no chance you're going to sign to extension one year before the CBA is up. Post-pandemic, it's just not going to happen. So they, not only did they give away Aeronado last night, now they've lost leverage with Story. It's just a complete mess. And this is what we kind of talked about before the show. The Ivy League Bros. coming in and just looking straight at numbers, not realizing the value of a franchise player like Aeronado. And getting budding heads with not only him, but saying ridiculous things about the media.

I tweeted out last night. There's a quote by hand that says 99% of them. They've never even led anything in their lives. And he was talking about the media and how he's above criticism. Like, you don't say stuff like that, dude. Like, I don't understand this guy's, his demeanor, his actions,

they're just so arrogant. And now, look, I mean, where do you go from here if you're him? You lost all, your fan base has lost all faith in you. He ran a fun franchise guys into the ground and they're uh it's going to be interesting to see if they fight back i mean when when we let fans and everywhere and what it looks like uh jim i know you're a numbers guy uh ratings attendance is the original ratings and the rockies always do really well in attendance it's a

beautiful stadium it's a beautiful atmosphere um i think the people need to fight back they've been mad at ownership they've now they're mad at the gm and they they have the right to be so yeah i think the other side of that. Treve, I don't fully agree with the Aeronado Trade Story first thing. I think either way it's out there. The landing spots for Trevor's story aren't a ton. I was going through the

competitive teams and who would fit him in for one year. There's not a ton. It almost comes back to the Dodgers almost and if they'd slide Seeger over or something. But yeah, I think the Rockies are going to try to make him the face of the franchise and say, hey, you could be

Nolan now. Like, you know, Trevor story doesn't get a lot of love. I think they're going to throw the bag at him. And Jim, I think what I reference it as is the George Hill. George Hill's an NBA player. You know, good role guy, blah, blah, blah. He, you know, he should have been a fit on a contender. Like, he should have gone to a contender, been the six man, take an average contract. The Cavaliers, they stunk. They paid him a big bag of money. And everyone was like, oh, like, that's, okay, George Hill, whatever. And then George Hill demanded a trade, like, 18 games in. He's like, we stink.

So if you're Trevor's story, go get the biggest bag. Tell him, I don't want to be treated like that. And he can also, you know, life's about limiting risk sometimes. If Trevor's story were to have a bad year this year or get hurt and he enters free agency, we've been talking about how that year entering free agency changes your whole outlook. Look at Marcus Simeon. Look at everything we did with him. If Trevor's story gets hurt or has a bad year and this is his free agent year,

and then he's going up against Seeger, Lindor, whichever one of these other short stops make it, you can find yourself in a tight spot where you have to go for the one year make good. He could get the bag thrown at him right now, and if he signs, I don't fault him, I would just tell the Rockies, don't fall for that fan service. Don't say we've got a face, because you're right. There is no world where they are competitive in the NL West for the next three years. There's no way they're going to start. Would you rather Trevor Story for $18 million?

Trevor Story one year, $18 million or Marcus Simeon one year, 18 million? Oh, it's story and it's not even close. Do you think if the Blue Jays knew they could go grab them, they would have inquired? Do you think they're like, shit, we just paid Simeon 18 mail? We could have traded for Story for 18 mil? You think there's teams out there? Like when that infield sweep just happened with Simmons and Simeon and all these guys, you think some GMs are like, wait, hold up.

We didn't know that guy was available. Yeah, I agree, especially because they know, like I said, the leverage is gone. He's not going to cost a bunch of prospect capital. So, yeah, one year great. Then you get a chance. If you're an actual franchise that's trying to win, then you get the first crack at, you know, trying to extend him. Because he's obviously worth an extension. There's just no way the Rockies are going to do it.

Why would they do that now? Yeah, and I don't even get it. Like they wouldn't, if they were to extend him, they would have to make sure it's a reasonable extension that when they eventually do trade him, because he's probably going to want to know trade clause, so then story's going to have saying where he lands, then they are going to have to make it a reasonable cost.

So when they do trade him, they can actually get a return instead of just getting money off the book. So it makes no sense to me for the Rockies to try and extend him. I think the only reason, Jake, is because it would be fan service like you're saying, which, I mean, that's transparent as it gets. That's a bunch of bullshit. So, I mean, someone go trade for story.

Who did you land on, Jake? What teams do you think are options? Guys, this is the part that's kind of insane and it's going to blow your mind. For one year of Trevor Story right now, there's not a ton of landing spots. I mean, maybe the Phillies could get in the mix if they really wanted. But we just mentioned all those shortstop teams that have kind of gone.

The two teams that are supposedly left looking for shortstop, are the Phillies and the Reds. Dedea Gregorius is still in free agency, and we're thinking he's going to sign with one of those two teams. But, man, if you go around the league, it's already done because we've only got so many teams competing this year. There's no room on the Yankees. There's no room on the Mets.

There's no room on the Braves. There's no run, you know, they're not going to slide Dansby or Trevor Story over. Like, if you start going through all the competitive teams, the only landing spots right now are like the Dodgers in Philadelphia, if they put the right trade package together. If they trade Trevor Story to the Dodgers, Rockies fans will be jumping off buildings,

and I kind of just stumbled in the Phillies thing, and it's a lot of fun, but we also like Dede, so I'm in an interesting spot on it. I wonder if Dede's agents are like, oh, no, who should have signed when all that sweep was going, all these interiors are signing,

because now we're competing with Trevor Story potentially. What about the Brewers? Where are they at in all of this? They're not trying, but they're not... trying like i think he's a fit there he would crush in milwaukee i don't know what the financial situation is there necessarily but i think a lot of teams would love to happen they try to make room for a guy like that you know you you would move some people you know a divisional battle that would be fun i don't know i don't know their situation though

yeah i mean it uh on paper it's awesome i i think the brewers are a smart franchise that if they did that, they'd want to have like basically an agreement in place that story is going to say. Unless, I mean, if it's... It was D.C., man. Yeah. If it's minimal prospects for the one year, you could see it pair them up with Yelich, and that's the lefty-righty dream, and you just locked up your shortstop position, RCA has been there for a few years, not really doing it.

That would make the NL Central a little more fun. I mean, I would love, you know, go to the brewers, lock them up for seven years, and him and Yelly, like, hey, you guys are about to own. Milwaukee for the next seven years. Have a blast. Guys, the Trevor story numbers, once you get into them, I mean, they're gross. He's awesome, offensively and defensively. And I think maybe there's some people out here that are listening and saying, you know, screaming course field, course field, course field, I hope Aronado, and when story leaves

and DJ LaMayhew keeps doing it, that they keep bucking the course field thing, the chorus field effect. We'll see. I mean, Aaronado. You're a converted course field effect so you can be the leader of future converts. Hand to God. I hope they help get Todd Helton into the Hall of Fame. I was against it. I was, you know, if you're a ball player, you're a ball player. Figure it out.

Figure it out how to go hit on the road. Go check out all the Rockies numbers during time. Go listen to Rockies hitters talk about when they go from homestands to road stands. And Trev, I also think it starts looping into confidence. Like every time you go on the road, you're like, oh boy. you know, about to go into a slump. Like, that's the worst feeling in baseball. So I don't know.

And I saw some of the smart people were tween out numbers, and they were like, yeah, Nolan Aronado on the road with the Coors effect over a 162 season is still like a 35 home run hitter. So I'm expecting his numbers to be near it. I do think you get some Coors boosts sometimes in the good years. Your batting average ends up being crazy high or whatever it is, a couple other ball sneak out. He is going to rake.

third baseman special defensive third baseman they age pretty well you just need that first step and you know this also follows scott roland finished up his career with with st louis and the people are going to be referencing that a lot bad rockies good cardinals bad rockies good cardinals i got to go to a farmer's market so trev any last words now you got me looking at the home road splits and i'm a little bit you know i'm into it so for anywhere that's not familiar Everyone always talks about the course field effect and how it boosts home numbers. And that was like the first thought. Like, well, you just hit better when you're at course field.

And what they're saying is it may boost home numbers a lot, but it tanks your away numbers because you go home and balls aren't breaking and you're not used to it. And when you go on the road, all of a sudden like, you know, the donut gets put back on the bat and you're just training wrong. So they're like, they both go opposite directions. So when the guy leaves cores, they both come back to the middle, and there's a lot of effect on that. So it's more that the road gets harder when your home field is course field, then home field is easier. Stories splits are a little bit more, 994 OPS at home, 760 on the road.

And his babbip is actually pretty similar. And both, Iranados are not as severe. The splits aren't as severe. But his babip is 322. at home and I assume that's right around league average, right around there, but only 274 on the road. So I think that has something to do with it.

But these guys are both special players because they do it on both sides of the ball. It's a tough day to be a Rockies fan. Cardinals, you guys have to be I mean, Jack is so happy. Everybody should be happy if you're a Cardinals fan. You just won the NL Central. Yeah. All right, baby,

cue the music. I'm going to go buy a pig's ear and some soup. Farmers Market. Thank you.