Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado arrived in camp with the Cardinals today and spoke to the media, including Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, about an offseason where his name was one of the most frequently mentioned in the rumor mill and what’s in store for him as he heads into Spring Training with a club that actively sought to trade him throughout the winter. Speaking to reporters, Arenado made clear that his sole focus at this point is preparing for the coming season.
“I’m back and I’m ready to go play ball,” Arenado said, as relayed by Goold. “I’m a ballplayer, and I’m a Cardinal, until I’m told I’m not. You know what I mean? And that’s all there is to it. And I’ve got a lot of work to do. I’ve got to be a better ball player, and that’s what I’m focused on.”
While Arenado’s comments did not completely close the door on a trade, it’s become apparent that the Cardinals expect him to be their starting third baseman on Opening Day at this point. Goold notes that there’s currently no momentum towards a deal, and both Arenado and president of baseball operations John Mozeliak seem reasonably comfortable with the idea of the veteran third baseman sticking in St. Louis to start the year. While Mozeliak acknowledged throughout the offseason that trading Arenado was his top priority, his tone regarding the situation has shifted since the Red Sox landed Alex Bregman earlier this week, killing a potential deal between the sides that would have sent Arenado to Boston.
With the Red Sox now off the table as a potential suitor, Mozeliak suggested to reporters (including Goold) that while the door isn’t entirely closed on the possibility of Arenado being moved, he’s no longer seeking out potential trade partners and will instead wait to hear from any teams that might have interest in the eight-time All-Star. That’s a sensible call given that Arenado doesn’t seem motivated to expand the list of teams he would consider a trade to. The veteran indicated to reporters that he’s “not likely” to consider new destinations at this point, adding that he’s not interested in moving his family just for the sake of leaving St. Louis and only wants to leave for a team that’s closer to contending for a championship.
There’s plenty of teams that could be argued as closer to championship-caliber than the Cardinals, but Arenado’s list of teams he would approve a trade to includes five clubs or less according to Goold. Exactly which clubs are included in that list is unclear. The Astros were once thought to be on the list, but Arenado blocked a trade to Houston in December due to concerns regarding the club’s competitive direction in the aftermath of the Kyle Tucker trade. The Red Sox, Padres, and Dodgers are all widely acknowledged as clubs Arenado would likely approve a trade to, while the Yankees, Angels, Phillies, and Mets are among the other teams that have been rumored as potential options Arenado could approve.
None of those teams appear especially likely to make a push for Arenado at this point. The Red Sox closed the hole in their infield by adding Bregman, while the Dodgers, Mets, and Phillies all also have no room for an addition to their infield mixes as presently constructed. The Padres could plausibly add another infielder, but with Manny Machado entrenched at third base Arenado would be an imperfect fit. San Diego also doesn’t appear to have the budget space necessary to add a player like Arenado to the payroll, and the same could be said of the Yankees until and unless they can move veteran right-hander Marcus Stroman. The Angels, meanwhile, are much further from contention than the other clubs Arenado is reportedly interested in joining and recently signed Yoan Moncada to supplant highly-paid but oft-injured veteran Anthony Rendon at third base.
Breaking up is not always an easy thing to do.
Padres would be a very interesting fit.
On paper it’s not a match but he may transition easier than most to gold glove defender at first.
Crazy thing is him and Manny could swap third and DH spots, which would be insane, swapping Manny on one day and Nolan on the next.
Both players could stay fresh throughout the year and that would be some tandem!
Manny> Nolan at third. I’d put arenado at first
Of course, Arenado at first. Just saying on days when Manny would need a breather, he could DH and Arenado could play 3rd.
Would be really amazing to see two Hall of Fame third baseman on the same team.
Especially after Arenado was a rival so many years with the Rockies!
Padres are broke
Mets need right bats
Mets Righties: Alonso, Vientos, Marte, Alvarez, Siri,
Switch: Lindor
Left: Nimmo, Winker, Soto, McNeil
Seems pretty balanced to me.
Marte and Siri won’t start for the Mets, they v will platoon. Alvarez will play 90 games or so at catcher.
They do have good balance.
Mozeliak; “He’s got to go & go he will!” Listen, we’re in no hurry to move him, it’s cool’ Lunatic! Ahahahahaha!
What exactly was he supposed to do?
I sincerely wish Arenado the best year of his already great career.
3 million Cardinals Fans are asking this!!!
Can you wish the best for Arenado and the worst for Mozeliak at the same time in 2025?????
2.8 million…we’ll see if that drops another 500,000 like it did last year.
Sincerely,
a Cardinal fan who’s had enough of Mo/etc
It will. You can count on it.
I concur last year was hard to watch some days they looked good and the next a tee ball team could beat them. Been a long time since I didn’t want to watch my birds play
I agree — but many of their losses from last season came because of poor management and poor judgement by Oli Marmol.
With Marmol and Mozeliak still in place in 2025, don’t expect to see any strong advancements by the Cardinals young prospects!!!
They’ll never get consistent chances, playing in back to back to back MLB games, to improve.
@17dizzy
I think the problem is ever since tlr left there was no one to challenge him and mo couldn’t just fire him like schlidt. Mo has become the emperor with no clothes, surrounding himself with yes men. We need to go back to the fo stays in the fo and does it’s fo thing and let the management on the field do it’s job, yes both sides need to communicate but let the people you put in charge do there job not tell them how.
As far as this season I already accepted that it’s a lost season as long as Ollie is in charge, nothing against him but he looks lost as a manager
If he starts the season hot with the bat it will make it easier to trade him.
I was kinda hoping he was actually discussing this site. “I really like Steve’s writing, and a lot of the commenters really know their baseball. But my questions never get picked in the chat!”
Do realize how many people are in those chats? How many people are spamming their questions? The vast majority of questions aren’t answered. It’s impossible.
Yes that’s true, but they always answer the “bees or beads” question.
Polushnik needs to put that to rest permanently. Who cares about “Arrested Development”??? It’s as relevant to a baseball discussion like what Fred Flintstone said to Wilma.
It’s amazing how people get upset over a 30-second running gag during a public chat no one is paying for.
There’s too many non baseball questions in general since “There’s too many”. Like, “what’s on your Playlist?” Like, wgaf!
whats also true is they have a subscription and subscription only chats where you have a better chance of having your question answered. You are welcome to go there and potentially avoid the bees / beads in the open chat.
Also bees beads is a trademark/tradition of the chat now … it takes what 30 seconds and gives him a slight break. Would you rather him just not do anything for a minute? These are people not machines.
@dsett
Exactly! Stupid non-relevant questions and equally stupid remarks.
It’s free dude. You get what you pay for.
@gbs42
It’s more like 5 to 10 minutes per chat and as welcome as a beer fart in an elevator and it happens every Mark Polusnik chat without fail.
It’s free to you. I’m a paying member and those bees or beads questions are extremely annoying and juvenile.
It’s a chat, not a demolishing of a house, lol. As if it’s even 1% difficult. And besides, if he didn’t answer/pick those questions, he wouldn’t “not do anything”. He’d pick a relevant question instead. Those people just ask them beads/Playlist questions cuz they know they up their chances of being picked probably. Although I wouldn’t doubt that a bunch ask for that reason. Thus, lessoning their chances. Therefore, even they don’t actually care about the answer otherwise.
It was a joke. Just being silly. I wasn’t critiquing the site
What did he say to Wilma?
It is copywritten and can not be repeated here legally without paying a fee first.
Not sure what that reference means. I looked it up and found out it comes from Arrested Development but I don’t think google AI was able to explain it sufficiently. What do you mean?
Um, yabba dabba doo, of course.
If it was easy anyone, even you, could do it.
The last few years of his contract will not be of high vale, but the Cubs will take him. Just cover half his salary. Lol
He said he wanted to play for a contender
As a life long Cardinals fan, I hate to say this, but the Cubs have more of a chance to contend this year than the Cards. Cubs look to be the best in the Central for what’s it worth.
Exactly!!! Where as Gray and Contreras didn’t even give Mozeliak a chance to trad them —- they deferred to their no trade clause and said we’re not cooperating with you Mo!!!
At least Arenado gave Mozeliak the opportunity to trade him!!! He gave Mozeliak a list of teams he “would waive” his no trade clause to be traded.
And what was the first thing Mozeliak did???? He cut a deal with a team Thant wasn’t on Arenado’s list—- Houston—- who had just traded off its best young player and lost out on Alex Bergman!!!
So Arenado Blocked it!!! Duh!!!! And why wouldn’t he??? It wasn’t on his list.
Mozeliak gave the no trade clause. Arenado tried to work with him and the Cardinals.
Mozeliak just isn’t respected enough by the other clubs any more to get any deals done.
Still hopeful that a late deal with KC might happen. With Arenado playing third the Royals would be the likely favorites in the AL Central.
Not if he plays like last year. Even his defense was down although he’s still very good. He needs to get better on offense for teams to have any interest.
They’re actually one of the few teams where he’d actually be a huge upgrade even with his salary. And it’s close geographically, but I doubt he’d say yes to the Royals or they’d pay much for his declining years.
I suspect the Royals would take on the salary. The bigger issue, I suspect, would be the quality of the player(s) demanded in return. Aranado’s salary is reasonable and the Royals have already demonstrated their willingness to take on another $20M in salary for the right player based on failed offers made to free agents
Just waiting for that BITA buffoon to start crying about how this is a ‘hit piece’
A forced marriage is no marriage.
Fortunately it is not a marriage. It’s a business relationship. If it was a marriage the parties could dissolve the contract & go separate ways.
Arenado seems happy to stay with the Cards. In the referenced article, he states that he hasn’t “demanded a trade” and takes accountability for his down ’24 season which may have effected the direction that club was heading into for ’25. Arenado remains open to getting traded to the right place for him.
I certainly hope he would take accountability for his own performance. And I also hope he bounces back.
Not many do. He was not good the past two years and he knows it. Glad he can acknowledge that. Hope he stops trying to hit the ball all over and just pull it. That’s where his power has always been.
He said he didn’t demand a trade from the Rockies too. Guy’s an entitled crybaby and sulker, and absolutely did request a trade. Obviously.
I remember Arenado publicly stating that he wanted out of Colorado after Monfort lied to sign to get convince him to sign his contract. This is not the case with the Cards and Arenado. Neither party here has lied and has mutually understanding of the situation.
You don’t read very well do you? Very public that he wanted out of Colorado when he forced his way to the Cardinals. The Cardinals wanted to move him, because they are cheap, not the other way. Facts matter. He does appear to sulk when he plays poorly so you got that right at least.
Jomboy was discussing a potential Arenado to Yankees trade, he might not be a great fit considering the stadium dimensions. But a great hitter like Arenado would probably make the adjustments to Yankee stadium and succeed.
@Acoss1331 The Yankees are at $304M right now so above the Cohen tax line. I honestly don’t want him to turn into another possible Josh Donaldson situation where his offense diminishes. If they trade Stroman, it can potentially put them below the tax line and provide them more leeway to find a less costly thirdbaseman. Cashman seems deadset on letting DJL try to win back his job.
Friars could pick him up and throw him in a rotating DH spot with Manny, Arraez and Xander. Would have to be some creative accounting being done of course
Faithful — If Nolan would play some 1B, that’d really make that thought easier to pull off. I like the idea.
Say what folks will about Manny, but that dude Posts up. He plays. Got that Orioles/Iron Man thing in his blood. It’d be messed up to pull him off of 3B.
Why on earth would you pick up Nolan Arenado to not play him at third base?
Hopefully the angels pull something off. I know they’re nowhere near contenders, but you simply can’t depend on moncada and definitely not rendon.
It’ll be the Yankees or he’ll stay in St Louis, imo. Kansas City could use him, but they wouldn’t like his contract and he’d never approve it anyway. Although they’re virtually neighbors geographically.
Arenado had a chance to opt out of the remainder of his contract last year but decided to opt in. Most players would’ve jumped at the opportunity to score a bigger contract. Nolan decided he wanted to stay. He was rewarded for his loyalty by a club that doesn’t reciprocate loyalty. The offending party is the team regardless of his mild drop off in production. Dewitt I assume is still the owner. He should step up & make it right. Not like ownership is on the brink of bankruptcy. They should sign someone like JD Martinez to DH & hit behind Arenado now that Goldschmidt is gone.
He didn’t opt out because he would not have made more in free agency than he was already owed. Come on, you can’t be that naive.
You’re not really a fan of baseball if you believe that Arenado couldn’t have gotten more money and years when he opted in on the remainder of his current contract.
I believe he was 2nd in MVP voting that year too with an over 7 FWAR. Easily could have gotten a Machado style 10 year contract
I would love to see Arenado on the Dodgers too. Not a fan of Muncy but I assume the Cards want someone cheaper coming back. Cards probably want a pitching prospect.
Given the difference in the contracts, the difference in offense, the difference in defense, and what the Dodgers would need to give up to get Arenado and his no-trade clause, the Dodgers will ride with Muncy.
Dodgers should trade Muncy to the Athletics and build them outfield seating for 15,000 fans for a chance to see a repeat of the 1988 WS.
Here’s what I don’t get. When people talked about Muncy going to the Cubs, most said he couldn’t play everyday. He’d have to DH most days.
On the other hand, with the World Champion Dodgers, no one mentions Muncy’s shortcomings?
Arenado is better than Muncy. If money isn’t a real concern, why wouldn’t the Dodgers replace him?
Because he isn’t better and he’s way more expensive. He’s more durable.
Muncy is an average defender at third and a way better hitter.
Arenado is a plus defender at third but his bat is trending in the wrong direction and has slowed down considerably.
Once you factor in the money there really isn’t a reason to add Arenado. Or at least there’s no reason for the Dodgers to not wait until the trade deadline to see if anything needs to be done.
Apparently, I keep getting Muncy and Turner confused.
I’d just rather see Arenado on the Dodgers than the Cardinals.
The Cardinals just need out. They’re not going to get much of a prospect, even if they eat $15-20 million.
Muncy would probably play 2B, switching Kim to the utility role. Taylor or Pages would be dropped somehow. Depending on how much is left on Taylor’s contract. Otherwise, Pages would be sent to AAA, most likely (or be part of the return), imo. It’s easily doable though if LA was interested.
Arenado doesn’t want to leave.
His family doesn’t want to leave STL.
He was given a contract and he’s sticking to it.
Arenado just might have the best season of his career in 25’…
Dude, you are so mistaken.
Why haven’t the Cards traded Contreras to San Diego or the Yankees? Why is all the attention focused on Arenado ?
Arenado is a future Hall of Famer. The Cards should be affording him more respect as such.
Contreras won’t wave his NTC either. He wants to play in St. Louis.
Contreras shut down any possible trade.
Because both Contreras and Gray said they aren’t waiving jack, right off the bat. With Arenado, there’s at least a small chance he’ll ok something. The other two basically said don’t even ask, though. I think they’d get something significant for Helsley. His value will never be higher, but they don’t want to apparently. Closers are usually much easier to replace. Considering someone almost always steps up even from within a system that is not highly touted.
Neither the Padres or the Yankees can afford to absorb the salary. Yanks would have to pay 110% penalty.
Good old two face MO, I would love to know the LIES he told Arenado to get him to not exercise his contractual opt out options, had to be some broken promises made. Arenado definitely makes the team better.
Angels could start out good to facilitate a trade.
Trade to the phillies for Bohm then trade Bohm for less than the Phillies were asking. He did have 92 RBRs last year. Maybe get a between 80-100 prospect plus a top200 prospect (pitchers, outfield).
Huh? Why would they be willing to take the net loss? Maybe I’m not understanding you clearly. Perhaps I’m high
Bohm is a butcher on defense.
Just the latest example of how guaranteed contracts in sports are only good for players/agents. Certainly not for fans.
If contracts weren’t guaranteed, that would only be good for owners. Certainly not for fans.
NFL seems to be doing alright with a system of partially guaranteed contracts.
Football = Brain Damage.
Feels like they deserve guaranteed deals.
You clearly aren’t a fan of the Browns (Watson), Broncos (Wilson), or Falcons (Cousins) to name a few bad guaranteed deals of late.
Exceptions don’t disprove Rules. As a Rule, the big deals work.
There is always risk, and teams love mitigating risk, but players can’t mitigate the effects of playing the sport.
In free markets, like sports free agency, the value of players is not 100% based on performance (past or future) but on the market and opportunity costs in finalizing a deal.
All that to say, teams have different levels of risk assessments based on their player make-ups and competitors talent levels. So making “crazy” deals is part of competitive professional sports.
Bad deals exist, but good deals are more abundant. Exceptions make good conversation, but poor data points.
Is how I see it anyways…
Now this is a reasoned response.
I wouldn’t categorize Arrenado’s contract as bad for team or fans. Well at least compared to the truly bad ones like Chris Davis and Mo Vaughn to name a couple.
I would say the bad ones stand out much than the not bad ones.
Make contracts non guaranteed and the money “unearned” goes to the season ticket holders. This was me just kidding because just like employers, they don’t give a s*** about the people that actually create their market/make it possible.
Arenado demanded a trade. I don’t care what anyone says. It’s nonsense. Hit piece
So you don’t care whether you might be wrong, your mind is made up?
“Facts will never get in the way of my whining.”
As Katie Woo from The Athletic pointed out a while ago, the Dodgers never had an interest in Arenado.
That’s a lie. You just made that up.
Dodgers have a better player at 3B already, and every dollar they agree to pay of Arenado’s salary counts more than double on their expenses. Makes zero sense.
Dodgers have a door stop at 3B who can’t hit lefties and plays half a season. Muncy had a few good years with the bat but he’s burnt toast as a 3B and the Dodgers know it,
“That’s all there is to it.” Not really. It was his choice to nix the Astro’s deal. Not the Cardinals.
I wouldn’t want to play for the Astros either. Speaking of Astros they should be realigned back to the NL Central or the NL West.
They… This year? The Astros may be ‘less’ than they have been. But they have a better chance at the playoffs than St Louis.
Was Houston on his original list of teams he wouldn’t accept trades to ?? Or did he change up that list of teams after the trade was made?? Why would the Cards arrange a trade to the Astros then if they knew Arenado would say No? He must have switched out the teams on his list after the fact.
Players want to play for the Cardinals and always have. Their fans need to take heart in that. And also that being fairly non-competetive has been a once in a generation thing.
The Cards are a better team with Arenado than without. The only one hurt is Nolan Gorman, who won’t get a larger opportunity to see what he can do. That said, there’s certainly a case to be made that Nolan Gorman isn’t the answer anyway; he would be an enormous downgrade defensively and quite likely offensively as well.
Cards just need to sign a setup guy and play it out.
I wouldn’t say it only hurts Gorman. He’ll just play more second base and DH. Saggese will probably be in Memphis. Scott and Burleson will also lose at-bats because of others shifting.
Arenado is taking 500 at-bats from four or five guys.
They’ll be a better team, but still mediocre.
I hope they have a fire sale this June.
In other words they bluffed about having any other trade partners and they got caught with their pants down. It was Boston or bust
Tigers
The Rockies are at the top of Nolan’s list.
At least we won’t have to read about Alex Bregman rumors anymore.
Yankees holding out because there is no rush. See what Peraza can do. Only way I can see them pull the trigger on a deal is if Cards take on Stroman 18.5 m and eat the balance of Machado contract per year which would be around 5m to get them to where they currently are projected which is 302m. If the Cards want prospects than take DJ and Stroman and yanks can add in Will Warren and Jorbit Vivas and another prospect in the 15-20 range. DJ is owed 30m. Stroman 18.5 as long as he doesn’t surpass 140 innings which I can’t see him doing. Compare that to Arenado 65m and the Cards are saving over 15m.
I meant eat the balance of Arenado contract….
The Stroman contract is radioactive. Not only is the player not wanted because of his rep, but that option is horrible.
Cards are better off with Arenado. Are the Yankees better off with Stroman as their 6th starter and Peraza as their starting 3B? All the prediction models have Peraza with an OPS ranging from .632-.682 with defense that no way approaches anything even close to Arenados.
refreshing to hear a player talk about getting better and contributing to the team no matter what. beats the heck out of a malcontent thief like rendon.
Goldschmidt had a bounce back year at the same age and won the MVP. But, admittedly, his numbers hadn’t dropped as much as Arenado’s.
Middleton, last offseason, was the last time STL spent. Just waiting to sell, trade, and allow FA’s to walk away by next offseason, to to complete the financial “reset”.
“There’s plenty of teams” come on! Use correct grammar! How do you get a writing job if this is how you write? And “meanwhile” has to start the sentence, not come in the middle between commas.