I Was Curious About How Nolan Arenado is Doing with the Cardinals, and How That Trade/Contract Looks Today

I have been meaning to check in on Nolan Arenado for quite some time, but with the Cubs out of the race and the Cardinals still kinda in it, I wasn’t looking to do any sort of petty neener-neener-your-trade-sucked type of deal. Or at least that wasn’t why I was curious.

Mostly, I was just curious how Arenado’s offense would translate outside of Coors Field, given all the consternation that goes into every single quality offensive player who departs Denver for another home (see the recent discussions of impending free agent Trevor Story for the latest example). And I also wanted to check back in on the trade/contract to see if all that “fleecing” talk from January still held true.

First, let’s talk about Arenado’s performance this year.

Nolan Arenado with the Cardinals

The thinking has long been that, for the most part, a great offensive player on the Rockies is going to be a great offensive player elsewhere, for whatever he loses in offense at Coors, he’ll effectively gain it back by virtue of not having to constantly adjust to the altitude difference (i.e., the Coors hangover effect, which causes disproportionately bad road numbers for Rockies players).

Has that been the case for Arenado with his new home in St. Louis?

Well, while you have to account for aging as part of the equation, it generally looks like he’s still been a good offensive player overall. Still, it doesn’t seem like he’s been anything close to the guy he was at his best for the Rockies.