Nolan Arenado's stubborn nature hasn't done Cardinals any favors in trade talks

By John Mozeliak's own admission, trading Nolan Arenado was priority No. 1 for the St. Louis Cardinals this offseason. The team has more or less abandoned any hope of competing for a World Series in 2025, instead pivoting toward getting younger and more financially flexible in time for Chaim Bloom to take over control of the front office next winter. The easiest way to do that? Finding a way to get out from under the three years and $64 million remaining on the third baseman's contract.

And yet, as the Cardinals report to spring training this week, Arenado remains on the roster, forcing himself and everyone else in the organization to answer questions about his future and what it means for the team going forward. Part of that failure lies squarely with Mozeliak, who's taken a ... let's just call it leisurely approach to his final offseason at the helm in St. Louis. But part of it has to be put on Arenado, whose declining play has made his contract an albatross — and who hasn't exactly been willing to meet the Cardinals halfway in this process.

The eight-time All-Star has already foiled Mozeliak's best-laid plans once this winter, nixing a potential trade to the Houston Astros back in December. And as Opening Day draws near, his stubbornness is still arguably the biggest roadblock to get a deal done.

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Nolan Arenado's demands are only making John Mozeliak's life harder

With time running out on a potential trade, Mozeliak is also running out of leverage to try and get something of value in exchange for Arenado (or at least get some help in paying down the rest of his contract). Of course, he'd have a bit more leverage if Arenado were willing to be more flexible when it came to which teams he was willing to waive his full no-trade clause for.

To be clear, the Cardinals are the ones who gave Arenado the clause in the first place, and he has every right to utilize it however he sees fit. But based on Mozeliak's comments on Wednesday, it seems like he's a bit frustrated with his star's unwillingness to play ball.

Our last update about the teams on Arenado's featured six of them, but with the New York Mets bringing Pete Alonso back, it's seems safe to remove them and narrow things down to the Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Angels, San Diego Padres, Philadelphia Phillies and Boston Red Sox. The Dodgers have already more or less shot down any interest in Arenado, while the Padres and Phillies are both looking to shed money rather than take more on.

So that leaves ... well, basically the Angels and the Red Sox, which doesn't give Mozeliak a whole lot of wiggle room — especially if the Red Sox are able to land Alex Bregman in free agency. If Mozeliak tries to ask for a prospect of value in return, or asks any team to pay down the entirety of Arenado's deal, that team will rightly say "or what?", knowing that the Cardinals are essentially out of options at this point. Arenado has earned the right to only play where he wants to play, and St. Louis' payroll is none of his concern. But it seems like this whole situation might get worse before it gets better.