The St. Louis Cardinals have reportedly been trying to trade star third baseman Nolan Arenado for the last few months after they seemingly entered a rebuild. But Arenado's contract has to be one of the toughest to move in all of baseball.
He has a full no-trade clause and well over $50 million left on his deal. This means that whoever acquires him would be taking on a large chunk of money and Arenado can choose his landing place. He's reportedly cleared a deal to the Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, San Diego Padres, and Philadelphia Phillies, but nothing came to fruition.
But with Arenado on the roster, the Cardinals have gotten off to a quick start. They're 3-0 and Arenado is slashing .455/.538/.909 with a home run and two doubles in 11 at-bats.
Just because he wasn't traded doesn't mean a deal was never close and this could be a tough pill for Cardinals fans to swallow.
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The Red Sox reportedly chose Alex Bregman over Nolan Arenado
Bob Nightengale of USA Today recently reported the Red Sox were close to trading for Arenado, but chose Alex Bregman over him when Bregman became easily acquirable in free agency.
"The Boston Red Sox were deep into trades talks and on the verge of acquiring Nolan Arenado from the St. Louis Cardinals until Alex Bregman dropped into their laps," Nightengale wrote.
This is the kind of thing that could bother Cardinals fans, but it shouldn't. Arenado is off to a hot start and he's likely going to increase his trade value if he continues on this path. While St. Louis was seemingly going to be better off having traded Arenado earlier in the offseason so they could start a prospect at third base and bring in the talent that he would return, it seems like the Cardinals are better off right now.
The star third baseman is going to continue to increase his trade value which will only benefit the Cardinals in the long run.
It works out for the Red Sox, too. They landed the third baseman they really wanted without having to part ways with any top prospects in a trade. It's the kind of situation that's seemingly worked out for both sides.