Nolan Arenado is slumping at a terrible time for the Colorado Rockies, but his absence from Saturday’s starting lineup against the Los Angeles Dodgers still came as an unpleasant surprise to him.
The star third baseman was held out of the lineup for the crucial weekend clash between the two National League West rivals, and he made clear to reporters that he was not at all happy about it.
“It’s obviously extremely disappointing,” said Arenado, according to Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. “I don’t make the lineup. I want to be out there. I voiced that. At the same time, I’m not performing. It is what it is. I don’t know what to say about it.”
Arenado, the four-time All-Star, is currently stuck in a brutal 6-for-42 slump, bringing his season batting average from .311 all the way down to .297. 23-year-old Ryan McMahon is getting the start at third on Saturday instead.
For his part, Rockies manager Bud Black defended the decision to sit Arenado.
“In this case we felt that giving Nolan this start off might help him moving forward,” said Black, also per Saunders. “Offensively, he just doesn’t feel right. The timing is off and there are a lot of things going on … In this case it’s magnified, because it’s September. But it’s the right thing to do.”
The first-place Rockies enter Saturday’s game with just a half-game lead over the Dodgers in the standings, and we are already getting some indications of how heated the race actually is. Simply put, Arenado is not producing right now, so a maintenance day off might not be the worst thing for him.
