The St. Louis Cardinals declared that their top priority this offseason was to find a suitable trade destination for superstar third baseman Nolan Arenado.
Unfortunately, Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak has failed to move the 10-time Gold Glove defender. With Opening Day less than three weeks away, it’s growing more likely that Arenado isn’t going anywhere.
Although the odds are stacked against Arenado being dealt anytime soon, an American League West club is still being mentioned as a possible trade partner for St. Louis.
“Arenado only failed to approve the (Houston) Astros — he didn’t actually decline, time just ran out in the 48-hour window — because Houston traded star Kyle Tucker,” New York Post’s Jon Heyman wrote Thursday. “So Arenado ‘got a little bit freaked out’ about what was going on there, a friend said. Since nothing else materialized — there were talks with Boston (Red Sox) in case Alex Bregman went elsewhere — the Cardinals and Astros recently re-engaged in case Arenado would accept now. That may still be the best hope. But there doesn’t appear to be anything imminent there, either.”
The 10-time Gold Glove defender’s contract includes a full no-trade clause. Arenado’s list of teams he’d approve of being moved to includes the New York Mets, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, and Red Sox.
Despite being a potential future Hall of Fame candidate, the Red Sox appeared to be the only team on Arenado’s wish list that showed genuine interest in trading for him.
Not much is known about Arenado’s current status regarding a possible trade to the Astros. The five-time Silver Slugger seems comfortable returning to St. Louis this season, so it’s tough to imagine him moving to Houston in desperation of leaving the rebuilding Cardinals franchise.
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