John Mozeliak won't let Nolan Arenado hold up Cardinals winter with 2 moves looming

St. Louis Cardinals star Nolan Arenado was expected to be traded this winter. John Mozeliak made that perfectly clear at the MLB Winter Meetings, and even had a deal in place to send Arenado to the Houston Astros. Unfortunately, Arenado nixed that deal thanks to his no-trade clause. The Astros then went in a different direction by acquiring Christian Walker and Isaac Paredes in separate deals.

So, the Cardinals were back to square one. In recent days, the Boston Red Sox have emerged as the likely favorites for Arenado, as he presents a cheaper alternative than signing Alex Bregman to a long-term contract. The difference with Arenado is that it presents a tough choice for Boston. Will they move Rafael Devers off third base and ask their star to switch positions? Should they trade Triston Casas to make that process easier? Craig Breslow has considered every alternative.

However, the holdup in any Arenado trade is not Boston, but rather the Cardinals. St. Louis is trading Arenado because of his contract, yet they have struggled to get any contending team to take on the vast majority of it. That's a problem. While the Cards want to free up space for some of their younger players on the infield to get more reps, taking on all or most of Arenado's contract was not part of the plan.

St. Louis Cardinals still hard at work despite Nolan Arenado holdup

The Arenado contract crisis has taken up much of Mozeliak's time the last 1.5 weeks, if not more. Thankfully, it turns out the Cardinals have been working behind the scenes to take care of some much-needed housecleaning. St. Louis could agree to multiyear deals with Lars Nootbaar and Brendan Donovan before the arbitration deadline on Thursday. John Denton of MLB.com reported that said deals could look a lot similar to the contract Tommy Edman signed last winter – maybe not in terms of AAV, but length and the situation of both players.

Donovan's agreement is further along than Nootbaar's, per reports. Donovan offers far less power, as he only has 30 career home runs, but he can play all over the infield and is one of the toughest players to strike out in baseball.

Nootbaar, meanwhile, is in just his first offseason of arbitration eligibility, so there is less rush to sign him to a long-term deal now when they could simply do so in the years to come. Either way, Nootbaar's arbitration valuation is just a shade over $2.5 million, so it won't break the bank for St. Louis, and could avoid hurt feelings down the road.