The St. Louis Cardinals have reportedly been trying to shop their veteran third baseman Nolan Arenado for the entire offseason, but they've had no luck. St. Louis is seemingly entering a rebuild and shedding Arenado's contract while adding a prospect or two would be a huge step in the right direction for the team.
But the star third baseman's contract is so large that it's tough for St. Louis to find a suitor. To make matters worse for the Cardinals, he has a no-trade clause in his contract that allows him to pick which team he is dealt to. While he reportedly cleared a trade to the San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Angels, Philadelphia Phillies, and New York Mets, none of those teams have taken the bait.
If Arenado opens his list of suitors up to a few more teams, the Detroit Tigers could emerge as the perfect landing place.
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This Cardinals-Tigers trade would send Detroit their ideal Alex Bregman pivot
The Tigers were reportedly quite close to acquiring Alex Bregman in free agency before the superstar signed a deal with the Red Sox. After whiffing on Bregman, Arenado would be the perfect pivot to help take Detroit's offense to the next level. And it likely wouldn't cost Detroit too much if they're willing to pay a solid chunk of Arenado's remaining contract.
For any Arenado trade to go through, the Cardinals would need to be willing to eat about $15 million to $20 million of his remaining deal. In this hypothetical trade, we can assume the Cardinals are eating roughly that much money.
Madden, 25, has quite an impressive five-pitch arsenal that he's used to get outs in the minor leagues for a few years. In 2024, he cracked into the big leagues and looked mighty impressive for Detroit. The righty struggled at the Triple-A level in 2024 but posted a 4.30 ERA in 23 big league innings.
The Cardinals could use another pitcher in their farm system, especially one with the arsenal that Madden has. The Tigers need to add talent to their infield and Arenado would be the perfect solution.
This potential deal would solely come down to whether or not Arenado is willing to accept a trade to the Tigers. As of now, the answer is no, but things can quickly change this season.