ST. LOUIS – Nolan Arenado is staying put in St. Louis. The Cardinals’ All-Star third baseman will not be traded before Tuesday’s MLB trade deadline, according to new comments from lead executive John Mozeliak.
Earlier this week, the Los Angeles Times published a report stating that the Cardinals and Los Angeles Dodgers had engaged in trade talks with mentions of Arenado. The third baseman was put in a tough position Friday to answer questions about this report and his future in St. Louis.
On Saturday, Mozeliak told St. Louis Post-Dispatch lead Cardinals writer Derrick Goold and Bally Sports Midwest’s Jim Hayes an Arenado trade will not happen before the upcoming trade deadline.
The Cardinals President of Baseball Operations shared a statement Saturday stating the team has not asked Arenado to waive his no-trade clause, nor do they plan on trading him. Mozeliak, through his statement, adds “at this time we are working on building for future success.”
Arenado, who the Cardinals acquired from a trade with the Colorado Rockies in 2021, made the decision to opt-in to the remainder of a long-term contract inherited by St. Louis. He declined to use two potential opt-outs after the 2021 and 2022 season, saying he has grown to love St. Louis as a ballplayer.
In a recent one-on-one conversation with FOX 2’s Martin Kilcoyne, Mozeliak briefly addressed the impact of Arenado and reigning MVP Paul Goldschmidt…
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?”
Arenado is currently hitting .284 with 22 home runs and 77 RBI, second-most in the National League.
The MLB trade deadline is set for 5 p.m. CT Tuesday. The Cardinals, more than likely out of playoff contention this year at 46-59, will likely consider trading some pending free agents in the upcoming days, but Arenado will not be one of them.