How The Rockies Became The Hottest Mess In Baseball
The Lead
Wondery
3.9 • 2.2K Ratings
🗓️ 23 April 2021
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Just three seasons ago, the Colorado Rockies won 91 games and reached the postseason. Now, in 2021, they are considered by many to be the worst team in baseball. Today, we’re joined by The Athletic’s Nick Groke to look at the series of missteps that took the Rockies from contender to punchline, and how they went from one of the proudest days in their history — the signing of Nolan Arenado to a massive contract extension in 2019 — to a dramatic falling out between Arenado and the front office less than a year later.
Read Nick Groke and Ken Rosenthal’s story about the Rockies-Nolan Arenado saga: https://theathletic.com/2467223/2021/03/22/communication-failures-poor-decisions-and-messy-breakups-how-it-all-went-wrong-for-the-colorado-rockies/?source=theleadpodcast
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, prime members, you can listen to the lead ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the app today. |
| 0:07.0 | Hi there, Wondry listeners. Hannah and Sruti here from TrueCram Podcast Redhanded. |
| 0:11.0 | Your favourite podcast Redhanded. We just wanted to say how excited we are to be included in Amazon Music |
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| 0:31.0 | It's a weekly show where we deep dive into the most talked about cases like the Delphi murders |
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| 0:40.0 | Go listen to Redhanded right now on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:46.0 | It's only been three years since the Colorado Rockies won 91 games and played in the NLDS. |
| 0:59.0 | They looked like they were on the upswing, but since then they've cratered. |
| 1:03.0 | Pretty much any way you look at it. Colorado is the worst team in all of baseball. |
| 1:08.0 | The Rockies fall for the seventh consecutive time. They end up striking out 17 times in the game and a seven inning affair. |
| 1:19.0 | Today we'll talk with the Athletics Nick Broke about the series of missteps, including a bitter falling out |
| 1:25.0 | with superstar third baseman Nolan Aranato. It have taken the Rockies from a contender to a punchline. |
| 1:31.0 | The Rockies and their best player, one of the best players in their history, very quickly just derailed entirely. |
| 1:36.0 | And then from then it became a very public, very open mess. |
| 1:42.0 | The Cold War had begun. |
| 1:44.0 | From Wondery and the Athletic, I'm Joan Nieson. It's Friday, April 23rd, and this is the lead. |
| 1:53.0 | Nick, I am so excited to get a chance to talk Rockies dysfunction with you. |
| 1:57.0 | It's almost like it's 2013 and we're both working at the Denver Post. |
| 2:00.0 | Yeah, right. And we might not be at Coorsfield, but we can sort of pretend to be the best player in the world. |
... |
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