Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak met with reporters (including Jeff Jones of the Belleville Press-Democrat) today during the team’s winter warm-up to discuss the offseason with quiet St. Louis Several topics related to this period. Overall, Mozeliak doesn’t offer much new Nolan Arenado trade, besides “I think Nolan is still Nolan first, second and third.” That’s a clear focus for the rest of the team’s winter plans in terms of what to do with the third baseman.
Mozeliak is open to the team’s intention to cut payroll and provide more playing time to younger players in 2025, although the PBO and other Cardinals officials are not officially considering next season as a rebuilding year. During the winter meetings, Mozeliak admitted: “my intention is to try“And trading Arenado to help that process, Arenado acquiesced to those efforts, even though Arenado ultimately controlled his own destiny through his no-trade clause.
The eight-time All-Star already used that influence to reject a proposed trade in December that would have seen him traded to the Astros, which, according to conflicting reports, would have cost Houston at least $45 million. million and deals up to $59 million. (The total amount was $74MM, but the Rockies paid 10MM of that, and the other 4MM was reduced due to extensions.) After that deal fell through, the Astros moved on entirely through signings Christian Walker To fill their corner infield needs, St. Louis still needs a trade partner.
Later reports suggested that Arenado hadn’t completely closed the door on joining the Astros, but that he just wanted more time to evaluate the situation considering Houston had just traded Kyle Tucker Traveled to the Cubs earlier that same week. Mozeliak admitted today that he “a little surprisedArenado rejected the trade and said the Cardinals were hampered by the timing of the Tucker deal. “It’s almost more like a sequence of operations. If we had been a few days earlier, I think there would have been [a trade]…so yes, it happened”. Mozeliak said.
Regarding the lack of other interest in Arenado, Mozeliak said: “I think free agency will slow this down,” citing the fact: Alex Bregman Still unsigned. There could be some changes on Arenado’s side once Bregman chooses his next team, and Mozeliak said he hasn’t spoken to Arenado or his camp about potentially expanding at third base. list of preferred trading destinations.
In fact, Mozeliak said he hasn’t spoken directly to Arenado in nearly a month, since the two last had contact before the holidays. Given the schedule, their next conversation may also have to address the situation of Arenado not being traded before spring training, so he would have to complete normal spring training under the pressure of a potential change of circumstances.
“There’s a psychological aspect to this too, right?“Mozeliak said. “He’s probably thinking, well, if I have to come to camp, I want to start preparing for it, and maybe he wants to commit to [staying in St. Louis] At that point. So I don’t want to speak for him right now because we haven’t discussed that yet. But obviously, as we get closer to Jupiter, this is something we have to touch on”.
In an article written for MLBTR Front Office subscribers earlier this week, Anthony Franco described the Cardinals’ winter as “half an offseason” as the team wasn’t dealing with any Highly paid players, not to mention Arenado. Wilson Contreras and sonny gray Handicapped by refusal to waive his no-movement clause but set to become a free agent Ryan Helsley, Eric Federand Steven Matz All look like obvious trade candidates and all remain on the roster come mid-January.
Mozeliak offered some explanation for not moving Feder or Matz today, noting the Cards “didn’t really like it” [the] “The idea” could leave the team short-handed on the pitching side. “We really feel like we have some depth in our rotation right now, so I don’t really want to start preparing to give up on that and look at moving a position player to achieve some financial goals,” Mozeliak said. “That’s something we could consider, but we really don’t want to”.
Fedde will make $7.5MM through 2025, while Matz will make $12MM, and given his injuries and struggles in recent years, he will likely be a salary cut candidate. Helsley will make $8.2MM in his final season in control of the team. While all have substantial salaries, the $27.2MM total is just shy of the $27MM owed to Arenado in 2025, when Colorado’s $5MM contribution was subtracted from his $32MM price tag. Between that number and the $27MM still owed to Arenado in 2026, it seems like the Cardinals just want to exhaust all possibilities to move Arenado before making other salary-cutting moves.
The more salary St. Louis is able to free up, the more players the team can add to the roster. Mozeliak suggested that if funds become available, the club could consider “obviously [the] bullpen“Or maybe”Right-handed bat, with a thump, something like that.”. The Cardinals already have quite a bit of roster balance, but with Arenado on the move, the team may look to replace him with another righty at a cheaper price. Theoretically, this bat could be used in the outfield – right fielder Jordan Walker I’m right-handed, but Lars Nootbar, Victor Scott IIand Michael Sciani All swing from the left side.
