It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. 

Charles Dickens may have been writing about London and Paris during the French Revolution when he opened “A Tale of Two Cities”, but he may as well been talking about the stark contrast between a pair of virtual press conferences –– one in Denver and one in St. Louis –– that highlighted the very different states of two baseball franchises. 

In one press conference, Nolan Arenado smiled from cheek to cheek while being introduced as the newest member of the Cardinals. He looked, and spoke, like a player that had a weight lifted off of his shoulders. 

A time zone away Rockies owner Dick Monfort and general manager Jeff Bridich, fielded questions on the Arenado trade and what the future holds for the franchise. The lingering question was evident –– who is to blame?

About 45 minutes into the press conference, Bridich answered the question.

“If you’re looking to pass blame, you can blame me,” Bridich said.

Many Rockies fans already placed the blame squarely on Bridich after his relationship with  Arenado soured during the 2019-20 offseason Arenado publicly expressed his unhappiness with the way he was being treated by a front office that less than a year earlier handed him the biggest contract in franchise history.

“In 2019, we signed Nolan to what we could call a career contract,” Montfort said. “Nine months later, Nolan asked us to look for a trade.” 

Montfort said Arenado’s desire to move on didn’t change throughout 2020. And Rockies leaders came to the conclusion as that the best decision was to trade Arenado, rather than let him opt out of his contract after the 2021 season and leave in free agency, netting the Rockies only a draft pick in return.

“I am aware this is not a popular decision, but I promise you it wasn’t made with haste,” Montfort said. “I am a fan first. I think all of you know that.”

Several times, Montfort said he considers himself to be a fan, too.

“To be quite honest, I would probably feel the same way and maybe I even do feel the same way,” the owner said. “When we signed Nolan, it was an attempt to keep him here for the rest of his career. But things do change.”

Things change. 

That wasn’t just a theme stressed by Monfort and Bridich on the team’s relationship with Arenado, which soured soon after the eight-year contract extension. It was also a theme in Arenado’s introductory press conference in St. Louis. 

Arenado told reporters on Tuesday that he had every intention of spending his entire career in Colorado, which is why he signed the contract in the first place. But then that phrase “things change” popped up again.

“It wasn’t meant to be. Things change and I couldn’t be happier for them to change and to be in this situation now,” Arenado said. “When you have a contract like mine, and you’re losing, a lot of these contracts get moved and that’s what happened now … I made this decision based on going to a winning team with a tradition.”

Arenado certainly didn’t hold back in terms of discussing the state of his former team.

After dealing arguably the best player in franchise history, Bridich was quick to shut down any talk of a rebuild.

“This certainly is not a total tear down and rebuild like certain teams have chosen to to undergo over time,” Bridich said Tuesday. “I think if that were the case, you know, certain players would have already been traded.”

Bridich was likely talking about the team’s All-Star shortstop, Trevor Story. 

Reports have suggested the Rockies a want to sign Story to a long-term extension and the Arenado trade saves the team just under $150 million in the coming years. Bridich didn’t suggest that was in the works at the moment.

“[Story’s] situation is separate from Nolan’s,” Bridich said. “We certainly cherish having Trevor as our shortstop. It’s very difficult to predict what the coming months look like in terms of the deadline.”

Story is set to be a part of a deep and talented class of shortstops available next winter with the likes of Corey Seager, Carlos Correa and Francisco Lindor all in the last years of their contracts. But maybe the situation with Arenado, as well as the decision to let another fellow All-Star infielder –– DJ LeMahieu –– depart in free agency a few years ago will factor in how Story is viewed as a long-term piece for the Rockies.

“In hindsight, losing DJ was a big deal,” Montfort said. “I wish we could have figured out a way to keep DJ.”

Bridich was the one who let LeMahieu walk and has handed out several big contracts to underachieving free agents like Ian Desmond, Wade Davis and Bryan Shaw. 

But the team’s general manager is staying put.

“I have not thought about firing Jeff,” Montfort said.