Nolan Arenado, you can’t be that guy and that guy

Estimated read time 5 min read


Nolan Arenado

Nolan Arenado
Photo: Getty Images

When Nolan Arenado bitched his way out of Colorado, every baseball fan understood. Arenado had signed a monster extension with the team on the back of two straight playoff appearances, and the Rockies looked at least stable for the first time in a long while, if not completely on the upswing. Part of signing that extension in Denver was Arenado’s understanding that the Rockies would make every effort to maintain, if not improve upon, that standing.

Of course, we know that the Rockies immediately backed up, didn’t add, and in fact subtracted from those competitive teams. Arenado feeling betrayed was more than understandable, and given the Rockies’ overall history of downright hilarious incompetence and waywardness, his feeling that it would never get better was also completely fair. So he asked out and got his wish.

Last week, when Arenado essentially called out his own front office ahead of the trade deadline, it could be passed off as Arenado just being that desperate to win and wanting his employers to match his ambition. Perhaps it was uncouth, but could be filed under the label of just how badly Arenado would like to get back to the playoffs and actually make some noise once there (he’s still never been on a team that’s actually won a real playoff series). Perhaps it was just Arenado saying out loud what most players think when the deadline rolls around.

Basically, Arenado wants to paint himself as the height of a guy who wants it, and he wants his team to be that too. He’s doing everything he can (152 wRC+ on the season) to turn the Cardinals into a winner, and so should the Cards’ front office.

Except, is he?

Because when the Cardinals line up tonight in Toronto, Arenado won’t be there. Neither will Paul Goldschmidt, meaning they’ll be without their two best hitters for two games. And all because neither is vaccinated, though that’s almost assuredly going to make the most righteously empty-headed fanbase you can find happy. Until they come up a game or two short of the playoffs, that is. Apparently, Arenado’s ambition goes all the way up to the point of logic and decency for others.

Y’see Nolan, if you want to be the martyr here, and scream at your front office about how hard you’re working and how much you’re putting it in and how much it means to you, you don’t get to take two games off because of your ass-brained beliefs or theories. And those two games very well might matter.

The Cardinals are only a half-game up on the Phillies for the last wildcard spot. They’re two and a half back of the Padres for the next one, though the Padres seem to be intent on making a second-half faceplant an annual tradition. They’re two and a half games behind the Brewers for the NL Central lead. With only two months or so left in the season, it’s not likely that anyone is going to pull away from anyone if they haven’t already. Things change of course, and the Cards could make any kind of move to cinch up a wildcard or the division. They are rumored to be the clubhouse leader for Juan Soto, after all. But they also might think that a wildcard spot isn’t worth selling out for either.

So what if the Cards come up a game short of the wildcards? What if they come up a game short of the NL Central and those spin-the-bottle wildcard rounds don’t go their way? And what if they look back on a one or two-run loss in Toronto where Arenado and Goldschmidt were going all “muh rights!” at home? The thing is Nolan, would you be able to claim to your front office you did all you could? That you put everything into this season?

They would never do it, but it wouldn’t be out of bounds for Mike Girsch to make minimal moves before Aug. 2, saunter down to the Cards clubhouse, and tell Arenado he put as much into the team as Nolan did.

It all rings hollow now, Nolan.

Soldier Field has bigger problems

Perhaps you don’t live in a city where the mayor is playing how high he or she can turtle-stack their own mountain of shit, but I do. Chicago’s mayor Lori Lightfoot unveiled her “plan” to keep the Bears at Soldier Field, which involves paying $2 billion the city doesn’t have to put a dome over a stadium we haven’t finished paying off the refurbishments from 20 years ago that everyone hates. It’s all a show, made to paint the Bears out to be the villains because they want a stadium that they completely own and not have the Chicago Park District pickpocketing them, or to collect all the cash from whatever event they can book, or control all the area outside of it.

Lightfoot’s plan doesn’t do anything to address the major problems with Soldier Field, i.e. that it’s far too small, the sightlines except for the highest seats on the west side suck, and the bathrooms aren’t flowthrough meaning going to take a piss will cost you at least half a quarter of viewing, or that public transportation doesn’t get you within three-quarters of a mile.

But hey, they were cool pictures. 





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