ST. LOUIS – Last offseason, Nolan Arenado made the decision to opt-in to the remainder of a long-term contract inherited by the St. Louis Cardinals, touting it as a “pretty easy decision” because of his love for St. Louis as a ballplayer.
But with the 2023 Cardinals season below par compared to Arenado’s first two years in St. Louis, some are wondering about his future with the franchise. In particular, baseball media members outside of St. Louis.
The Los Angeles Times claims in a story published Thursday that the Los Angeles Dodgers “engaged in talks,” with the Cardinals in hopes to acquire the All-Star third baseman. It cites the details to “people with knowledge of the situation but who are not authorized to speak publicly.”
The information is different to what has been reported locally on Arenado as the trade deadline approaches. In the hypothetical situation that the Cardinals would move Arenado, he would be required to waive a no-trade clause.
Derrick Goold, lead Cardinals writer of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, reports Arenado has not told the Cardinals, to date, if he would waive his no-trade clause. Arenado also reiterated reasons why he opted in to St. Louis around the All-Star break and told Goold his preference is to stay in St. Louis.
In contrast to both the Los Angeles and St. Louis-based reports, MLB.com executive reporter Mark Feinsand said he recently spoke to Arenado’s agent Joel Wolfe, who acknowledged that “the idea that Arenado would only waive his no-trade clause for the Dodgers was ‘inaccurate.'”
It seems there is quite a bit of murkiness and different viewpoints on where things currently stand with Arenado.
Cardinals’ President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak spoke with FOX 2 sports director Martin Kilcoyne earlier this month and made it clear the Cardinals don’t intend to trade Arenado or reigning MVP Paul Goldschmidt.
One exchange from Klicoyne and Mozeliak in the one-on-one interview earlier this month, addressing Arenado and Goldschmidt, progressed like this:
Kilcoyne: “In terms of your star players, Goldschmidt and Arenado, guys who are kind of at their prime, Arenado couldn’t be at a higher level. Is there an obligation to win while they’re here, to kind of build around them? And you even famously went and met with Arenado last offseason, right? Didn’t he say, ‘Hey, are we going to be competitive? Are we going to win?’ Wasn’t that the tenor at that point?
Mozeliak: “Yeah, absolutely. I believed in the club we were putting together. Clearly, we haven’t delivered on that end, and I’m sure there’s some frustration in that clubhouse because the history of the Cardinals, especially the last two decades, has been you’re you’re going to win. You’re competing to go play in October. Clearly as we sit here in the second week of July, the reality is, it’s probably not going to happen. So, now it’s going to be what are we going to look like in the future?”
Mozeliak also hinted in the interview with Martin that some changes and trades would happen, but ones he hopes would allow the Cardinals to keep core players.
The MLB trade deadline is set for 5 p.m. CT Tuesday. The Cardinals, more than likely out of playoff contention this year at 46-58, will likely consider trading some pending free agents in the upcoming days.
Arenado, meanwhile is enjoying a strong season at the plate, currently hitting .287 with 22 home runs and 77 RBI, second-most in the National League.