The Mission Viejo Maulers continued to strip down their roster Thursday, this time dealing away third baseman Nolan Arenado (3/$38) to the Cloverdale Clovers. In return, the Maulers will acquire 1st (15th Overall), 3rd (37th Overall) and 5th (46th Overall) Round Picks in return.
Arenado has put all of the worries about how he'll perform outside of Coors Field completely to bed after a monstrous 2022 season where he hit 30 homers and drove in 103, adding big time numbers to his hall-of-fame career's line. He also brought the batting up to .293, a welcome sign after that had taken a dip away from Denver. He posted his best barrel rate since 2017 (8.5%) and took his strikeout rate down to a ridiculous mark of 11.7% (seventh best in the league). He and teammate Paul Goldschmidt were forces to be reckoned with and they both really helped each other's counting stats hitting back-to-back in the order. Nolan has now gone seven straight seasons (ignoring 2020) with 100+ RBI and hitting at least 30 homers.
With eight pitchers expected to return, including a full six man starting rotation, Arenado joins a group of just five expected Keepers on offense. He'll team with activations Adley Rutschman and Oneil Cruz as well as Xander Bogaerts and Alex Verdugo while Jarred Kelenic will try and play his way into the final spot in Spring Training.
The Maulers now hold four selections in the first round, picking 3rd, 12th, 13th and 15th along with three picks in the 3rd Round.
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