St. Louis Cardinals president John Mozeliak made an admission about the team’s offseason efforts to trade third baseman Nolan Arenado.
Mozeliak conceded Wednesday that it is uncertain that the Cardinals will be able to trade Arenado before the season starts. The team has sought to move Arenado all winter, but a combination of factors have prevented a move, which Mozeliak conceded could make things slightly awkward when the veteran third baseman reports to spring training.
“I do feel as teams are beginning to report it definitely feels like there is more urgency to see if there could be some way to bring this to conclusion,” Mozeliak said of Arenado trade talks, via Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “This has a little awkwardness. There is some truth to that. We have some time to avoid awkwardness, and if not, we’ll deal with awkwardness.”
For the Cardinals, the biggest issue in trying to trade Arenado is a very limited market. The Cardinals believe there are only five teams Arenado would accept a trade to due to his no-trade clause, and not all of those teams are interested in making a deal. The team that has consistently been viewed as the most likely to make the move, the Boston Red Sox, effectively took themselves out of the market Wednesday.
The Cardinals tried to trade Arenado to one American League team earlier in the offseason, but he rejected the move.
In theory, a team like the New York Yankees could still pursue Arenado, but money will be an issue. Teams like the Detroit Tigers that missed out on Bregman could also be interested, but Arenado would have to be willing to go there.
Arenado hit a modest .272 with 16 home runs in 2024. He still plays quality defense, but the fact that he is still owed another $74 million over the next three years has also complicated efforts to move him.
