The calendar is about to flip to March, and the awkward holding pattern that Nolan Arenado and the St. Louis Cardinals find themselves in shows no sign of resolving itself anytime soon. The Cardinals continue to have every reason to want to move on from their star third baseman, looking to open up playing time for their plethora of younger infielders while getting out from under the three years left on Arenado's contract. Arenado, for his part, has a full no-trade clause as part of that contract, and has every reason to make sure that if he does uproot his family and move somewhere else, he's doing it to a place he wants to live and for a team that can consistently contend.
Of course, the handful of teams that meet Arenado's specific criteria don't have a ton of interest in acquiring him, either because they already have corner infielders (Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets) or because they can't afford it (San Diego Padres) or a mix of both (New York Yankees). And the one team that did seem to check every box, the Houston Astros, was on Arenado's list ... until they suddenly weren't.
And so here we are, Cardinals president John Mozeliak not really wanting Arenado around and Around not really caring. While you can understand why Arenado might not be wild about being dealt just anywhere, and he earned the contractual right to determine his own future, it also must be said that he hasn't exactly been the most accommodating throughout this process, whether it's pulling a bait and switch on Mozeliak during negotiations with the Astros in December or his willingness to sell his front office out upon arrival in spring training. But then again, this isn't the first time that Arenado has found himself in a staredown with a lead executive.
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John Mozeliak is just the second lead executive to clash with Nolan Arenado
In fact, that same type of dysfunction is what landed Arenado in St. Louis in the first place. The third baseman appeared to have committed to being a Colorado Rockie for life, signing an eight-year, $260 million extension with the team back in February of 2019. It didn't seem to laughable at the time, with the Rockies coming off of two straight postseason appearances and having won 91 games the year prior.
But it didn't take very long for the relationship between Arenado and the team to sour. Or, more specifically, GM Jeff Bridich and Arenado. Colorado regressed badly during the 2019 season, and as Arenado saw friends and teammates like fellow infielder DJ LeMahieu head elsewhere, he began to wonder what exactly he signed up for. And he wasn't afraid to say so, putting Bridich on blast for what he called “disrespect.” It was an open question that winter whether Arenado would ask out, although he declined to say whether he'd actually requested a trade or not when he showed up for spring training.
On the one hand, you can hardly blame Arenado for questioning Colorado leadership, especially with what's happened to the franchise in the years since (although that's not on Bridich, who stepped down in April of 2021). But it's also fair to wonder whether what Arenado was really upset about was the players he was close with moving on; while LeMahieu enjoyed a great season and a half with the New York Yankees, his contract has been underwater since. Arenado is a tremendous player, and no one has ever questioned his on-field professionalism and work ethic. But he does have a specific vision for how a baseball team should work, and he isn't afraid to speak out in service of that vision. Colorado could've warned St. Louis about that ahead of time, but they've found out for themselves eventually.