When the offseason began, the Cardinals made it clear that they were looking to shop perennial All-Star Nolan Arenado, and with about a month before teams are set to meet for winter workouts, that remains the case.
Speaking with the media on the first day of the Cardinals’ Winter Warm-Up on Saturday, GM John Mozeliak made his priorities clear when it comes to the team’s offseason moves.
“I think priority one, two and three is still Nolan,” Mozeliak said via the Belleville News-Democrat.
The Cardinals are looking to get out from under the money wrapped up in Arenado. The third baseman is entering his age-34 season and has three years and $74 million remaining on his deal. However, the Rockies — who traded Arenado to St. Louis — are on the hook for some of the contract, which lowers Arenado’s commitment to about $60 million over the final three seasons.
“[Trading Arenado] does give us some financial flexibility on perhaps adding to areas that we weren’t able to do so far,” Mozeliak said. “So obviously bullpen, if we decided to look for a right-handed bat with some thump, something like that. But it really just gives us some financial relief in a stressful environment right now.”
Mozeliak seemingly had a deal with the Houston Astros to send Arenado there to replace Alex Bregman, but Arenado used his no-trade clause to block it. Arenado said he wanted more time to assess the Astros’ situation after the team traded Kyle Tucker to the Cubs that same week.
With no deal in sight, that could open the door for the Yankees who are looking for another infielder.
Earlier this offseason, the Yankees reportedly checked in with the Cardinals on a possible Arenado trade. However, talks broke down once St. Louis showed no interest in taking on Marcus Stroman’s contract.
Stroman is set to make approximately $18.3 million in 2025 and has a vesting option worth the same amount in 2026 if he pitches 140 innings next season.
The Yankees did sign first baseman Paul Goldschmidt in December, who played in St. Louis with Arenado the last few seasons, and it’s reported that Goldschmidt could influence Arenado to waive his no-trade to come to The Bronx.
Although the Yankees reportedly don’t believe Arenado is a fit for them, the fact remains they still have a hole in their infield but Stroman’s contract is seemingly holding them back.
New York wants to clear Stroman’s money to acquire another infielder and reportedly “not a particularly high-priced one.” Arenado’s contract would not fall into that price range, but if the Cardinals’ priority is to deal their third baseman there could be an avenue for a potential trade.
In the meantime, Mozeliak and the Cardinals are waiting to see how free agency moves especially when it comes to the third base market. Bregman is the top free agent third baseman and remains unsigned. Mozeliak believes Arenado’s market will come into shape once he’s signed — although Mozeliak didn’t mention Bregman by name.
“I would imagine the free agent market would be what’s slowing that down,” Mozeliak said when asked why there hadn’t yet been a deal for Arenado. “In a lot of ways, that’s sort of what I anticipated early on. Depending on where he goes, maybe the under bidders might have interest [in Arenado].”
The first full squad workout for the Cardinals is set for Feb. 17.
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