This Dodgers-Cardinals trade would add the final stone to L.A.'s infinity gauntlet
The Los Angeles Dodgers have dominated the 2025 MLB offseason. This comes after Los Angeles won the 2024 World Series in dominant fashion. Since securing the World Series title, the Dodgers have added talents like Roki Sasaki, Blake Snell, Kirby Yates, Tanner Scott and a few others who are sure to contribute next season.
While the Dodgers have added all this talent, the rest of the league has been left complaining about the lack of a salary cap. The Dodgers have taken advantage of the market and separated themselves from the rest of the league. And they could look to separate themselves even further by acquiring St. Louis Cardinals star infielder Nolan Arenado.
The Cardinals have been shopping Arenado the entire offseason, but they haven't found a perfect suitor yet. They've reportedly had a holdup based upon the money they would be willing to eat in a deal to trade Arenado away. It would hardly be a salary dump trade if the Cardinals were forced to pay most of his contract.
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That's where the Dodgers come in. Los Angeles has the prospects available that could make the Cardinals eat more of Arenado's deal, specifically one pitching prospect who could spark St. Louis' interest.
Dodgers Nolan Arenado
The prospect around whom this deal could center is pitcher Bobby Miller. This deal makes perfect sense here for a few reasons — let me explain.
First of all, the Dodgers don't necessarily need Miller going forward, which makes him expendable in this deal. Los Angeles has a rotation of Shohei Ohtani, Roki Sasaki, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto all locked up for multiple years. This doesn't include pitchers like River Ryan and Justin Wrobleski, who are waiting in the wings. The Dodgers also have guys like Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin available.
The Cardinals would love to land such a high-potential prospect. If Miller can put all the pieces together, he has the potential to be an ace in the big leagues. It's tough to feel this way about him after a down year in 2024, but Miller dominated during his rookie campaign two seasons ago. The potential is there, but Miller will struggle to crack the big leagues with the Dodgers.
It's important to note that the Cardinals are reportedly unwilling to eat more than $20 million of Arenado's deal, but that could very well change if they're acquiring Miller. St. Louis would need to eat $30 million of the remaining contract in order to land the Dodgers' former top prospect.