A pivotal offseason is about to take shape for the St. Louis Cardinals.
Instead of signing players in free agency and looking for ways to improve their team, the Cardinals are instead looking to cut costs and essentially rebuild. This means some key players will be traded away.
While Willson Contreras and Sonny Gray have already used their no-trade clauses to stay in St. Louis, other players could be on the move.
Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch confirmed that the Cardinals are actively shopping third baseman Nolan Arenado.
“Over the past week, the Cardinals continued reaching out to a few clubs and gauging interest in trading for All-Star third baseman Nolan Arenado, multiple sources told the Post-Dispatch,” Goold wrote. “If any of these talks produce an appealing deal that could place Arenado with a championship-chasing or contending team, the Cardinals plan to present that to their third baseman, who has millions left on his contract and a no-trade clause.”
Arenado is an eight-time All-Star, five-time Silver Slugger, 10-time Gold Glover and a six-time Platinum Glove Award winner.
However, he had a bit of a down season in 2024. The former National League MVP finalist hit .272 with 71 RBI but with just 16 home runs and a sub-par .719 OPS.
The Cardinals aren’t going to get a major haul in return for the struggling third baseman, but while Goold notes Arenado has yet to request a trade, he likely would prefer to not sit through a rebuild and instead go play for a championship contender.
Arenado has three years and $74 million remaining on his contract. Trading him would be a good way for the Cardinals to trim their payroll and cut some costs.
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