Easily the biggest trade of the Major League Baseball offseason took place last week as Colorado Rockies star Nolan Arenado is headed to the St. Louis Cardinals once all the financial details get sorted out.
Arenado long made it clear that he wanted out of Colorado due to their inability to compete on a consistent basis in the National League West. The relationship soured dramatically since Arenado signed a nine-year, $275 million contract extension during Spring Training in 2019.
The Rockies remained insistent they would not trade their franchise cornerstone, but with an opt-out clause looming after this season and seemingly no repair in sight, the Rockies found a solution in the Cardinals.
One team with reported interest in Arenado was the Los Angeles Dodgers, although the Rockies made it clear they had no desire dealing him within the division, let alone to the team that has won the NL West each of the last eight years.
Still though, Arenado’s desire to play for the Dodgers, who he grew up rooting for in Southern California, has been documented for a long time. That was readily apparent to Corey Seager three years ago, via Andy McCullough of The Athletic:
Before a game one September afternoon in 2017, as the Dodgers breezed to another division title and the Rockies clawed for a Wild Card spot, Nolan Arenado walked over to the visitors’ dugout at Coors Field. He waved to Corey Seager, who was conducting an interview. Seager went to greet his friend. The superstar who grew up near Los Angeles and the superstar who played for Los Angeles chatted for a few moments before the former went back to batting practice. The latter was smiling as he returned to the bench.
“That guy,” Seager chuckled, “wants to be a Dodger so bad.”
Unfortunately for the Dodgers, Arenado will be playing for the Cardinals for the foreseeable future. According to reports, he is not giving up his potential opt-out this year as part of the trade and is even getting one added after the 2022 campaign.
Turner remains priority for Roberts
As the potential of adding Arenado is out the window for the Dodgers right now, they still have to fill that position for the 2021 season.
Manager Dave Roberts recently said again that his priority remains to re-sign Justin Turner, who is one of the franchise’s all-time greats.
While Turner has received interest from plenty of other teams, re-signing with the Dodgers has always remained the most likely scenario.
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