Marc Craig says, "Paying $44B to break Twitter is almost as bad as paying $50M just to trade away Nolan Arenado"

Nolan Arenado moved to the St. Louis Cardinals from the Colorado Rockies in the 2021 offseason. The star third baseman was highly influential for the Rockies, with many fans questioning the trade. As part of the deal, the Rockies also had to pay an additional $50 million to the St. Louis Cardinals to trade Nolan Arenado.

In regards to the style of the deal, The Atheltic's Marc Craig went on to state that he felt Nolan Arenado's deal signing could be compared to the current Twitter ownership debacle. Marc Craig tweeted, paying $44 billion to break Twitter was the same as paying $50 million to trade away a player like Arenado.

Paying $44 billion just to break Twitter is almost as bad as paying $50 million just to trade away Nolan Arenado. -Marc Craig, via Twitter

This is in reference to multi-billionaire Elon Musk taking over the ownership of Twitter by buying out the company at a mammoth $44 billion. Elon Musk's policies for the Twitter overhaul have turned out to be controversial, with many users of the app lashing out at the Tesla boss for the type of policies he wants to introduce.

Analysing the background of Nolan Arenado's trade

Arenado's trade came at a time when the third baseman had just signed an extension with the Rockies. Before the extension, the Rockies finished with two playoff appearances, getting close to ending the Los Angeles Dodgers at the top of the NL West division.

The extension was worth $260 million for a period of two years that ran through to the 2026 season. The deal also had an opt-out clause for Arenado in the 2021 season. However, a poor 2019 for the Rockies, who went 71-91, meant a restructuring of their roster was needed.

Arenado did everything he could to make the Rockies a competitive set-up, with a .315/.379/.583 slash line, 41 homers, and 118 RBI. Yet the Rockies chose to trade him away to acquire the services of Austin Gomber, Mateo Gil, Tony Locey, Elehuris Montero and Jake Sommers along with $50 million in exchange.

The move has turned out to be a mixed bag for the team from Colorado, with them finishing outside the playoffs in the last two seasons. However, keeping an eye on the future, it remains to be seen if the trade was worth it for them.