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Colorado Rockies superstar third baseman Nolan Arenado has agreed to an eight-year extension with the club, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan:
BREAKING: Third baseman Nolan Arenado and the Colorado Rockies are finalizing an eight-year, contract extension worth more than $255M, league sources tell ESPN. Deal includes an opt-out after three years, would give Arenado the largest per-year salary of any position player.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) February 26, 2019
In addition to an opt-out after the three years, the deal also includes a full no trade clause, as Passan later reported.
Arenado would have become an unrestricted free agent at the conclusion of the 2019 season, but the Rockies were quick to engage in extension talks after the 27-year-old reached a record settlement of one year and $26 million in arbitration.
Per Passan's report, the deal makes Arenado the highest-paid position player in terms of annual salary. The extension comes just one week after Manny Machado signed a record-breaking 10-year, $300 million deal with the San Diego Padres.
Arenado has made the All-Star team in each of the last four seasons, and has led the National League in home runs in three of those. He has also won a Gold Glove at third base in every year since his rookie season in 2013, and has established himself as arguably the best player in the NL.
The Rockies are coming off of a 91-win season in which they made the playoffs and defeated the Chicago Cubs in the NL Wild Card game before being swept by the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLDS.
With Arenado now on board for the foreseeable future, the Rockies can continue to build around a strong nucleus of Arenado, Trevor Story, Charlie Blackmon, David Dahl and Kyle Freeland.
Whilst a number of opposing teams hoped to make a run at Arenado next winter, the 2019-20 free agent class could still be loaded, with names like Paul Goldschmidt, Chris Sale, Gerrit Cole, and Anthony Rendon among the potential headliners.
