Cardinals: Nolan Arenado decides to serve suspension at the worst time

St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado chose a strange day to serve his suspension.

Is it too late for the St. Louis Cardinals to change their giveaway? On April 30, 2022, the team will celebrate star third baseman Nolan Arenado with a bobblehead giveaway. A great honor for any player, Arenado will unfortunately not be there with the team to celebrate it.

Arenado made headlines earlier this week for his involvement in the brawl between the Cardinals and New York Mets. Arenado was the one at the plate when the benches cleared. He received a two-game suspension which he appealed and was later reduced to just a single game.

What day do you think he chose to sit out? It was April 30, 2022, when Cardinals fans of all ages will enter Busch Stadium to receive their Arenado bobbleheads and not see him play.

Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado is serving his suspension on his bobblehead day

If there’s one positive thing Cardinals fans can takeaway, at least they will see some form of Arenado. He’ll even go home with them. If they touch his head the right way, he’ll even nod in agreement with anything they want.

The timing of Arenado’s choice to sit out is certainly odd. It probably could have waited another day. Sunday would have been a nice, relaxing one to take off after St. Louis fans did nothing but shower him with love the day prior. It’s typically the day we see players of Arenado’s stature take off anyway.

Fortunately, Arenado is on the team still. There have been situations in the past where players were no longer employed by the club when their bobbleheads were handed out. Many promotions departments have probably already learned an important lesson. If you have a giveaway like this, save it for early in the season.

With Arenado, it was already important to have his bobblehead handed out early on. He could potentially opt-out of his deal with the team after the 2022 season. In a scenario where things went sour with him and the ball club, an August promotion focusing on a disgruntled player wouldn’t play too well.

Things have gone well for the Cardinals thus far and Arenado could very likely return yet again for the 2022 season. It still doesn’t make up for any of the weirdness of having your bobblehead handed out on a day when you’re suspended.

Had the Cardinals known this was coming, maybe they could have pivoted and had a different promotion or at least improved the bobblehead design. Could they add a boxing glove or maybe a string fans can pull that yells whenever a pitch comes too close to its head?