The St. Louis Cardinals finally entered a much needed rebuild this offseason. They began by letting a load of veteran pitchers including Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson walk in free agency. They followed that up by allowing Paul Goldschmidt to leave in free agency as well. Just two seasons ago, Goldschmidt was the National League MVP.
Now St. Louis is looking to trade their star third baseman Nolan Arenado just to get off his loaded contract. But an Arenado trade is quite complex. This is not just because he's owed over $50 million over the next few seasons, which the Cardinals are reportedly unwilling to eat more than $20 million of, but because he has a no-trade clause in his contract.
Of the teams he's willing to accept a trade to, the Los Angeles Angels may be the only team that makes sense at this point. The Boston Red Sox have already brought in Alex Bregman, which ends the idea of a trade there. A few of the other top candidates also don't make much sense anymore. The Angels could be the last chance to get a deal done.
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This Cardinals-Angels trade could be St. Louis' last opportunity to deal Nolan Arenado
A deal with the Angels would need to be a very solid trade for Los Angeles or else they would just let him stay with St. Louis. It's the Cardinals who would be desperate.
This deal would send Arenado and $10 million to the Angels in exchange for shortstop prospect Capri Ortiz.
Ortiz, 19, has the makings of becoming a star over time. The 6-foot-tall switch-hitting shortstop is one of the fastest prospects in all of baseball. He's swiped 68 bases across just over 200 career minor league games. He also has a few other solid tools including a decent hit tool as well as solid fielding and arm traits.
This deal makes sense for both sides. The Cardinals may not be getting back a star prospect, but they would be getting off nearly $50 million of Arenado's deal. For the Angels, they would be landing a star third baseman to help them pursue a potential playoff berth in 2025. It's a win-win deal.