Nolan Arenado, Colorado Rockies agree to two-year deal

According to multiple sources, the Colorado Rockies and star third baseman Nolan Arenado have agreed to a deal over the next two years, buying him out of arbitration. Arenado still remains under team control until 2019. Jerry Crasnick breaks down the agreements as follows:

Nolan Arenado’s new deal with #rockies will pay him $11.75M in 2017 and $17.75M in 2018, per source.

— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) January 13, 2017

This is good news for everyone involved. Arenado receives a substantial pay increase but still not as much as he likely could have gotten had he taken the Rockies to arbitration. The Rockies get two years of financial certainty, get one of the best players in the game at a reasonable but still bargain price, and they can now turn their focus to filling out the budget with players who won’t take up quite so much of it.

Arenado is coming off of two consecutive 40-home-run seasons and four straight Gold Gloves.

The only real surprise here is that the Rockies shored up the next two years instead of just one, but clearly they aren’t worried about a drop off in production in 2018 when the superstar will be 27.