It’s been about two weeks now Nolan Arenado Used his no-trade clause to nix a proposed trade that would have moved the veteran third baseman from the Cardinals to the Astros. The next move for the Cards to trade Arenado remains unclear, with The Athletic’s Will Salmon and Katie Wu reporting that “Arenado’s appeal has been growing since the Astros’ trade fell through.” Very little.
The lack of deal activity is not surprising given how many factors complicate a potential deal. The Rockies will pay Arenado $100,000 of the remaining $740,000 he’s owed over the final three years of his contract, with some of the deferred money involved in the contract reportedly putting Arenado’s remaining salary on a cash basis. Value calculated at $600,000. That’s still a chunk of change that the Cardinals are looking to eliminate from their payroll, leaving a fairly limited pool of potential suitors who both have cap space and a need at third base.
On the latter point, Arenado has expressed a willingness to change his stance, as his agent Joel Wolff told reporters during the winter meetings. With no trade protection, Arenado ends up in the driver’s seat in these negotiations, with past reports suggesting he’d be open to a deal with the Phillies, Mets, Red Sox, Angels, Dodgers or Padres, though that would This list seems so the choice of preferred destinations is somewhat shaky.
In fact, as Woo and Chandler Rome wrote earlier this month, Houston was on the initial version of that list. Astros trade Kyle Tucker He was reportedly hesitant to head to Houston just days before the proposed trade for Arenado, which is why he invoked his no-trade clause at the time. The door to a potential trade isn’t completely closed, however, with Salmon and Wu writing that Arenado “is willing to reconsider the Astros once his market further clearly develops (i.e., Alex Bregman sign)”.
The Astros ultimately waived Arenado and Bregman as they instead signed Christian Walker as their new everyday first baseman, thereby promoting Isaac Paredes (Acquired in Tucker’s trade with the Cubs) as the new regular third baseman across the diamond. Even with his former team now out of the running, Bregman is still generating plenty of interest, as clubs like the Tigers, Blue Jays, Red Sox, Phillies and Mets have all been linked to him this winter. Reports of the Yankees’ interest in Arenado or Bregman are somewhat complicated, as the main holdup in Arenado’s case is New York’s unwillingness to shoulder the bulk of his remaining salary.
The overlap between Bregman’s market and Arenado’s reported list of trade preferences may be why Arenado’s situation hasn’t changed much over the past few weeks, as Bregman’s signing could spark a firestorm for teams Interest in re-entering trade talks with the Cardinals. If Arenado can’t be traded at all, St. Louis could simply bring him back for next season and perhaps explore a trade later — or even as early as the trade deadline, as Arenado’s hot start could help eliminate pursuits Any concerns a player might have are around his average offensive numbers over the past two seasons.
However, retaining Arenado even for the short term wouldn’t solve the Cardinals’ desire to cut payroll, so the card written by Salmon and Wu might better emphasize trading the starting pitcher to save some money. sonny gray Has said he will not give up his non-trade protection Andre Palant Still of arbitration-eligible age, left Miles Mikolas ($16MM owed in 2025), Steven Matz ($12.5MM) or Eric Feder ($7.5MM) as a top trading chip. St. Louis seems willing to trade Mikolas or Matz with or without an Arenado trade, although Salmon and Wu noted that the Cardinals would prefer to keep Fedde until closer if they do trade him expiration date.
