The St. Louis Cardinals spent practically the entire winter looking to shop veteran all-star Nolan Arenado. With the Houston Astros being the only takers and Arenado excericising his full no-trade clause to avoid Houston, he stayed with St. Louis.
Approaching the halfway point of the 2025 season, the Cardinals find themselves in the middle of playoff contention. Even some players, inlcuding Arenado, are surprised to see that the team is remaining competitive. Arenado is hitting .249 with 10 homers and 41 RBIs so far this season and continues to be one of the best defensive third baseman in the game. However, at age 34 in his 13th big league season, it is obvious he is not the future at the hot corner for the Cardinals.
Former first round pick Nolan Gorman is on the rise and at just 25 years of age, he could be pushing his veteran teammate Arenado out the door. Gorman is hitting .222 in 56 games this season with seven homers and 25 RBIs. Could he eventually take Arenado's spot?
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Nolan Arenado's Cardinals future at third base in question
Gorman has had a stellar June after a rough first couple of months to the season. Through 24 game in June, Gorman recorded a .267 batting average, a .353 on-base percentage, a .547 slugging percentage, six home runs, and 16 RBI over 75 at-bats.
The 2025 trade deadline will be an interesting time for the Cardinals. If they continue playing good baseball, they will be in a position to buy at the deadline and push for a playoff run. However, they could take a very unique route to get there.
Arenado is under contract with the Cardinals through the 2027 season and his yearly salary is rather hefty. If St. Louis feels that they have indication Gorman could in fact be their third baseman of the future, we could see Arenado traded this season.
Trading Arenado does feel like it would be ignoring the classic, "if it's not broke, don't fix it" piece of advice, but it could make a lot of sense in the long run.
If St. Louis could find someone willing to take on the majority of Arenado's remaining contract and trade prospects in addition, the Cardinals could improve their 2025 roster heavily while also preparing for future sucess.
There will be several contending teams out there that would love to have Arenado's presence in the clubhouse, his defense at third base and his dangerous bat in the lineup. By taking Arenado off their payroll, St. Louis could have the space to pay multiple house-hold names at the deadline rather than having to settle for one major move.
The bottom line will be how aggressive the Cardinals front office wants to be in regards to chasing the 2025 postseason. With no one expecting them to even be in contention in the first place, it is hard to imagine they would remain competitive when October rolls around but crazier things have happened in Major League Baseball.