The St. Louis Cardinals seemingly jumped head first into a full-scale rebuild this offseason. They opted to let a few veteran pitchers go in free agency before watching Paul Goldschmidt and a few others walk as well. Once all the free agents were gone, the attention turned to Nolan Arenado and a few other star players who could end up being traded this offseason.
Arenado is the most interesting case to dive into because he's the player the Cardinals are trying to move the most, yet he seems like the least likely to be traded at this point. The veteran third baseman is attached to a massive contract that the Cardinals are reportedly only willing to pay around $20 million of. He also has a no-trade clause, so while there's a list of teams that he'll reportedly accept a deal to, everybody else is off the table.
As that list of reported teams has fizzled out for Arenado and the Cardinals so far, St. Louis may need their star third baseman to open up his preferred landing spots a bit if they're going to trade him. If Arenado decides to oblige, there are three teams that would make quite a bit of sense for both parties.
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3. Detroit Tigers
For Arenado to open his list of suitors up, the team in question would need a third baseman, and they would need to be a contender. Luckily, we can just revisit the teams that were interested in Alex Bregman, because his list of suitors fit both those criteria.
The Detroit Tigers would make quite a bit of sense as an Arenado suitor if he would be okay with a deal there. Detroit has the prospect capital and money to get a deal done quite comfortably. They're also looking to add talent in an attempt to get back to the postseason in 2025. With reigning AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal looking to dominate hitters again in 2025, the Tigers have no excuse to not build a postseason ball club around him.
Detroit has top talent coming up through the Minor Leagues and has made a couple of shrewd additions in free agency. If they can find a way to convince Arenado to clear a trade to Detroit, the Tigers could control the AL Central.
2. Chicago Cubs
Looking at another potential Bregman suitor lands us on the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs need to add a third baseman badly, especially with top prospect Matt Shaw already fighting the injury bug. And when Shaw is healthy, he could play second base while Arenado mans the hot corner.
Chicago has been ultra-aggressive this offseason, so if Arenado cleared a trade to the Windy City, a deal could come to fruition very quickly. They were deep in the negotiations for Bregman and they could pivot to Arenado if he comes available.
Chicago is seemingly all-in to win right now. When they traded for Kyle Tucker and Ryan Pressly, that became even more apparent. A trade for Arenado would be the ultimate win-now move, one that the Cubs may begin looking into if Arenado expands his list of landing spots.
The issue here is the fact the Cubs and Cardinals are in the same division. But St. Louis likely views an Arenado trade as addition by subtraction, so I doubt they would hesitate to trade him to Chicago.
1. New York Yankees
The list of teams that could look to bring Arenado in has been a lengthy one since the Cardinals began exploring the idea of trading him. Early on in the process, the New York Yankees threw their hat in the ring and reportedly had a deal on the table to try to bring Arenado to the Bronx.
Unfortunately, Arenado reportedly shot this deal down, refusing to head to the Yankees. But he could change his mind if he wants a real chance at competing for a World Series before his incredible career comes to a close.
Out of all the teams in the league, the Yankees need to add a third baseman as badly as anybody. They lost Gleyber Torres this offseason and are expected to move Jazz Chisholm Jr. to second base. This leaves a gaping hole at third base which is likely to be filled by a below-average internal option, whether that's DJ LeMahieu or Oswaldo Cabrera.
If Arenado wants a chance to win, the Yankees would be the best landing spot for him. New York was in the World Series last season and has added talent to its roster to make up for the departure of Juan Soto. Despite losing Soto in free agency, this team is still among the best in the AL and Arenado would take them over the top.