John Mozeliak makes it clear in arbitration how desperate Cardinals are for Nolan Arenado trade

It's officially a new era of St. Louis Cardinals baseball. For the first time seemingly ever, the Cardinals are rebuilding. They don't care as much about wins and losses in 2025, and instead, are hoping to acquire and develop young talent while also saving some money.

The way St. Louis has acted this offseason backs that up. They kicked off the offseason by rejecting Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson's club options. Soon after, they watched Paul Goldschmidt sign a deal with the New York Yankees. The only players they've added thus far have been via waivers or minor-league deals. They have not been connected with many, if any, MLB free agents.

Given the team's goals, it comes as little surprise to know that trading Nolan Arenado is John Mozeliak's top priority. Arenado is owed a good amount of money over each of the next three seasons, is 33 years old, and is in decline as a hitter.

The Cardinals thought they had a deal in place that would've sent Arenado to the Houston Astros only for the eight-time All-Star to use his no-trade clause to block it. That deal would've offloaded most of the money that the team owed him. They've been searching ever since for a new taker, but have been unable to find one.

Given Arenado's down year in 2024 and hefty contract, the Cardinals aren't looking for much in return other than the acquiring team to take on most of his remaining money. Pinching pennies is clearly priority No. 1 this offseason for St. Louis, and how John Mozeliak acted in arbitration proves that.

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Cardinals are as desperate as ever to trade Nolan Arenado based on arbitration filings

Six Cardinals players were arbitration-eligible, yet the team only agreed to terms for the 2025 season with three of them. For reference, only 17 players in total filed for arbitration. Nearly 20 percent of those players are on the Cardinals. St. Louis will head to arbitration with Brendan Donovan, Lars Nootbaar, and Andre Pallante.

Arbitration is a grueling process no team or player ever wants to go through. The team's goal is to essentially convince a panel of arbitrators that their own player isn't worth what he's asking for. Just ask Corbin Burnes how that experience is.

If what the team believes the player is worth is much less than what the player does, then it makes some sense to head to arbitration. In the case of these three players, though, Mozeliak has some explaining to do.

Andre Pallante requested roughly $200,000 more than the Cardinals were willing to give him. Lars Nootbaar and Brendan Donovan requested roughly $500,000 more than the Cardinals were willing to pay. The Cardinals are going to arbitration with three important players on their team over what amounts to a total of $1.25 million.

This franchise which drew the seventh-most fans on average despite missing the playoffs for a second straight season is haggling with three important players over just a little over $1 million. For reference, the Cardinals agreed to a deal with John King, a middle reliever, for $1.625 million, to avoid arbitration on Thursday.

The Cardinals are willing to do whatever it takes - even if it means alienating core players on their roster - to ensure they save every penny. The fact that they don't even know if they're able to save money with these players yet, and won't for a while, suggests that they'll be even more desperate to trade Arenado. Hopefully, for Mozeliak's sake, an interested suitor emerges at some point.