Nolan Arenado Signs Extension With Rockies

One of the best players in baseball over the past four years has been Nolan Arenado of the Colorado Rockies. He has led the National League in home runs three of those seasons. He has also been to the All-Star game four times and won the Gold Glove for defensive excellence all four of those years. His seasons have been so big that he has been in the top 10 in the Most Valuable Player voting the past four years. He has established himself as a true superstar. He was rewarded for his talent with a contract that is worth $260 million over the next eight years. Arenado now has the highest average salary in Major League Baseball.

There were many big market teams who were looking forward to talking to Arenado when he finally became a free agent. The New York Yankees were rumored to be a team that had their sights set on him. However, they will not get the chance to sign him because he will be playing for the Rockies for the foreseeable future. The deal is good for both sides. Arenado will get financial security and the Rockies will get a player who has elite level skills as a hitter and as a fielder.

According to roxpile.com, the deal signed by Arenado comes as free agent outfielder Bryce Harper still has not signed with a team. February is coming to a close and spring training is already well underway. There has been a great deal of speculation about where Harper will sign. It is believed that Harper is looking for the biggest contract in the history of professional sports. Only time will tell if he gets it.

One of the reasons that Arenado and his agent agreed to the contract extension is the fact that huge free agent contracts are becoming harder to come by these days. Therefore, Arenado did not want to take the chance that this amount of money would not be there for him once he hit the market. He wanted to lock himself in to the guaranteed money instead of rolling the dice and waiting for an even bigger payday down the road. Other players will most likely be taking this approach in the future after the way teams are spending their money in a more conservative manner. The Los Angeles Angels are rumored to be working on a huge extension for Mike Trout that will make him the highest paid player.