Mookie Betts, Francisco Lindor, Nolan Arenado. For the third time in less than a calendar year, a homegrown franchise superstar in his prime is on the move. “Financial flexibility” and the dream of building “a sustainable winner” are more important than keeping a player who could wear your team’s cap all the way to Cooperstown.
Viewed from the office of the accounting department, such trades have merit. And by trading Arenado to St. Louis, the baseball ops department of the Rockies will buy itself time, one of the game’s unspoken valued assets, as it concedes to the Dodgers and Padres.