Nolan Arenado is once again expected to be the subject of trade rumors in the offseason, but this time it sounds like the St. Louis Cardinals will be able to move the eight-time All-Star.
Per ESPN’s Jeff Passan, Arenado is “widely expected” to be traded and is willing to waive his no-trade clause to facilitate a deal.
The Cardinals spent a lot of their offseason last year trying to move Arenado. They reportedly were in discussions with the Houston Astros, but he wasn’t willing to waive his no-trade clause to approve a deal.
Arenado told The Athletic’s Chandler Rome in April that Houston trading Kyle Tucker to the Chicago Cubs impacted his decision to veto a potential trade.
“(Tucker) is one of the best players in the game. When you see a team trade him, 99 out of 100 players would probably be wondering, ‘What does that mean?’ That’s the question I asked myself,” Arenado said. “And obviously if I went there, (Alex) Bregman wouldn’t have been going there—that’s another player.”
Even though the Cardinals weren’t regarded as surefire playoff contenders entering 2025, they won 83 games the previous year and hoped a full season in the rotation from Erick Fedde and Matthew Liberatore would push them over the top.
Instead, the rotation had the sixth-worst ERA in MLB this season. The Cardinals finished fourth in the NL Central with a 78-84 record missed the playoffs for the third consecutive year, tying the longest streak without a postseason appearance dating back to 1996.
Speaking to The Athletic’s Katie Woo near the end of the season, Arenado said he is more open to the idea of being traded.
“I think I have to be,” he explained. “That’s something I’ll discuss with my agent and my family. I think the discussion I’ll have with my agent for sure is that the list will be different.”
Trading Arenado still has some complications because he is owed $31 million over the next two seasons, but the Cardinals were reportedly willing to send $15-20 million to Houston to cover part of his salary when those two teams had discussions about a deal.
Arenado is also coming off the worst season of his career by fWAR and weighted on-base average. The 34-year-old hit .237/.289/.377 with 12 homers in 107 games.
The defense at third base remains a strong point for Arenado. He ranked fifth among all players with at least 800 innings at the hot corner with six defensive runs saved and tied for seventh with three outs above average.
