Sources: Arenado, Rockies settle on $26M deal

All-Star third baseman Nolan Arenado agreed to a one-year deal with the Colorado Rockies on Thursday.

The contract is for $26 million, sources with knowledge of the agreement told ESPN. It sets a record for a one-year salary for an arbitration-eligible player and avoids a contentious hearing a year before he’s slated to hit free agency.

Arenado, 27, is one of the best two-way players in the game, winning Gold Gloves in his first six seasons and finishing in the top five in National League MVP voting the last three years. Over the last four seasons, his 158 home runs rank third in the major leagues and 503 RBIs first, and the combination of them and his defense emboldened him to ask for a $30 million salary. When the Rockies countered at $24 million, the parties agreed to continue talking before a trial in which a three-person panel would have chosen one of the salaries.

Settling near the middle bested the previous arbitration record, set last year by third baseman Josh Donaldson at $23 million.

Colorado’s desire to lock up Arenado to a long-term deal is clear, according to sources, though just how amenable Arenado is – or what sort of financial commitment from Colorado it might take – remains opaque. Rockies owner Dick Monfort and GM Jeff Bridich flew to California to meet with Arenado, sources told ESPN, during which they negotiated the $26 million settlement with agent Joel Wolfe.

While much of Arenado’s market could depend on his performance in 2019, executives around the league are enamored with the notion of signing him. Similar sentiment, of course, was expressed last winter with Manny Machado and Bryce Harper, the two marquee free agents this offseason who remain unsigned with pitchers and catchers less than two weeks from reporting to spring training.