Fall 2024

Colorado Rockies 3B Nolan Arenado signs 8-year contract extension

Rest assured Rockies fans, Nolan Arenado won’t be leaving Colorado any time soon.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported Tuesday that Arenado and the Rockies are finalizing an eight-year contract extension worth $260 million. The deal would give Arenado the highest average annual salary of any position player in baseball history. It includes a full no-trade clause and a player opt-out after the 2021 season.

In January, the Rockies and their All-Star third baseman reached an agreement on a $26 million salary for 2019. The deal was for one year and would have allowed Arenado to become a prized free agent after the season, but Arenado’s new extension will replace that contract.

Only 27, Arenado has already been to four All-Star games and won a Gold Glove at third base in each of his six seasons in the majors. Yet his value isn’t restricted to the defensive side of the ball, as he led the National League in home runs for the third time last season with 38.

Arenado has established himself as one of the best players in all of baseball and could have garnered millions elsewhere if he chose to enter free agency. Yet, Arenado is content to remain in Colorado with the team that drafted him in the second round in 2009 and has made the playoffs each of the past two seasons.

“I think (free agency) always worries you, but at the same time I have bigger things to worry about,” Arenado said last week. “I’m trying to do my job at a high level and that’s it. Everything else can take care of itself.”

This contract extension could set Arenado up to become the greatest player in Rockies history — as well as one of the greatest third basemen in MLB history. But Arenado — who has a small tattoo on his left forearm that says Matthew 19:26 — strives not to let that speculation get to his head.

“When it comes to baseball I start to become a different animal. I start to just focus on the game. But my faith keeps me level headed,” Arenado told Mile High Sports in September 2016. “It makes me know that I have someone to rely on … I feel like it gives me peace of mind when things are going tough and when things are going good. Don’t get too high, don’t get too low.”

“Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’” — Matthew 19:26

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