Cardinals are biggest losers of Astros pivoting to Christian Walker after Arenado flop

The St. Louis Cardinals probably aren't feeling great heading into the weekend. When third baseman Nolan Arenado didn't waive his no-trade clause for an agreed-upon deal between the Redbirds and Houston Astros earlier this week, there remained some optimism that the trade could be revisited by the two sides. That, however, is no longer an option.

On Friday, the Astros reportedly agreed to a three-year deal with first baseman Christian Walker in free agency, a move that not only moves Houston out of the Alex Bregman era but certainly takes Arenado out of consideration as well. You could certainly argue that's a smart move for the Astros, but it's also a decision that could be brutal for the Cardinals.

When you start to now look at the Arenado trade landscape, it's hard to imagine that St. Louis and John Mozeliak are going to get anything even remotely close to the deal that they would want.

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Cardinals left with few options for Nolan Arenado trade

Prior to news of the nixed trade with the Astros, the market for Arenado appeared tepid at best. After all, while the third baseman still has one of the best gloves at the position in baseball, we've seen noticeable and concerning declines when it comes to his bat recently. Throw in the fact that he has $74 million remaining on his contract, that becomes a hard sell in any trade bargain.

So it was unfortunate to start that the deal with Houston fell through, especially considering that ESPN insider Jeff Passan ($) reported that the Astros were willing to take on $59 million of that salary — a figure that incidentally lines up with the $60 million reportedly being given to Walker. And with the Walker signing, you look at the other 28 teams in baseball and it's hard to find an ideal match.

There has been some speculation that teams like the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees that are currently interested in Bregman could look at Arenado as a backup plan. Yet, if that's Plan B, it's extremely hard to believe that the Cardinals would be able to dump as much of Arenado's salary to either of those teams considering that it's a fallback option.

So where do the Cardinals and Mozeliak turn now? Well, it's safe to say that it will probably take a lot more time to find a deal that even they would be happy with — and it's far less likely that any deal made will be one that appeases the St. Louis fanbase. Not only did Arenado reportedly nix the trade with Houston because of the timing but Bregman is expected to wait a bit longer before signing. Thus, the clock will continue to tick.

Given how motivated St. Louis is to move off of Arenado and usher in much more of a youth movement to build for the future, it still feels like a formality that he'll be moved at some point. The latest development with the Astros, however, makes it seem almost impossible that the Cardinals can find a deal that anyone reasonably construe as an objectively "good" deal for the Redbirds.