MLB Rumors: Cardinals budging on Arenado, Orioles-Ohtani package, Yankees backup plan

MLB Rumors: Dodgers’ haul of prospects could budge Cardinals on Arenado trade

Throughout the plethora of trade rumors stating clearly that the St. Louis Cardinals will sell at the Aug. 1 deadline, the club has maintained that All-Star third baseman Nolan Arenado is not on the trade block.

And why would he be? Even with the dismal season emanating from Busch Stadium, Arenado is signed through 2027 at 32 years old currently and has maintained his status as one of the best hitting and best fielding players at the position in baseball. Moreover, with the Cardinals’ stated intention of competing again in the 2024 season, trading one of the franchise’s current cornerstones wouldnot fit into that.

Yet, there might be one team that could get St. Louis to budge: the Los Angeles Dodgers.

As FanSided’s Kevin Henry mentioned, the Dodgers are “enamored” by Arenado with the trade deadline a week away. However, the further report from ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez critically states that LA might be the one team that has the prospect haul to send to the Cardinals that could sway them to move Arenado.

The Dodgers have the second-ranked farm system after the MLB Draft, per Bleacher Report, including a seemingly MLB-ready (or close to it) pitching talent like Emmet Sheehan, Gavin Stone, Ryan Pepiot, and others. Withe Cardinals’ top priority being upgrading the controllable pitching in their own system for 2024 and beyond, the Dodgers could answer that if the Red Bird were to show any willingness to move Arenado.

That, of course, doesn’t mean it’ll happen. However, if there’s one team that could get the Cardinals to budge from their hard-line stance on the All-Star, then it would undoubtedly be the Dodgers.