The St. Louis Cardinals aren't making it a secret that they're open for business on the seller's side of the MLB Trade Deadline. Ryan Helsley and Steven Matz have already been traded, and now it seems like there's no telling where the fire sale could stop for the Cardinals. However, Nolan Arenado might be throwing a major wrench into the proceedings for John Mozeliak and Chaim Bloom at the deadline, specifically if you look at what he had to say after the Helsley trade on Wednesday night.
After a second straight shutout loss to the Marlins, not only did Arenado admit that he was "bummed", per MLB.com insider John Denton, but the Cardinals third baseman also revealed something much more troubling for the Cardinals: He hasn't decided if he's willing to waive his no-trade clause, which is relevant after the 34-year-old veteran blocked an offseason trade to the Astros.
Denton reported that Mozeliak and Arenado recently met to see if the list of teams the latter would accept a trade to had grown leading up to the deadline, but Arenado seemingly didn't offer any clarity. His comments also indicated a bit of indecision and more uncertainty as well.
"We’ll see. I’ve got some things to take care of first," Arenado said. "It’ll probably be fine [without a trade], but we’ll let it play out and see where it goes."
If you're a Cardinals fan reading that, you have every right to be furious. Arenado, despite having perhaps the worst season of his career, is holding this organization hostage and ruining their plans to hopefully jumpstart a rebuild for what seems like stubbornness at this point. And it's actively going to screw over St. Louis if he doesn't budge from that.
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Nolan Arenado basically holding Cardinals hostage at trade deadline
While it's abundantly apparent that the Cardinals are going in on the future and abandoning any chance of competing for a playoff spot this season, that would obviously mean they'd love to move Arenado to any interested party. That, however, is even trickier than it was in the offseason. Arenado has two years and $42 million left on a contract that expires after the 2026 season, but has declined substantially with a career-worst .660 OPS on the season.
If you're Mozeliak and the Cardinals, you'd literally be looking at anyone that would be willing to give you something in return for Arenado, even if St. Louis has to eat some of the remaining money on the contract. He's a reclamation flier at best at this point, and he's certainly not someone who fits what the long-term outlook for the franchise is at this point with how they're operating.
No deal can happen, though, without Arenado's approval, which leaves Mozeliak and the Cardinals hamstrung. If the 34-year-old won't expand his potential landing spots to waive his no-trade clause for, then it's hard to see any team that he would've initially approved to trade to being interested at this point, especially with a team like the Yankees already acquiring Ryan McMahon.
That doesn't mean that the Cardinals can't navigate these waters and explore deals for the likes of Phil Maton, Sonny Gray, Brendan Donovan and others. At the same time, dealing Arenado would clearly be a move to help further set up St. Louis' future, and the player having all of the control over that and hurting the Cards' chances of moving him is making that next to impossible before the July 31 deadline.