Nolan Areando is set to be traded by the St. Louis Cardinals this offseason and they’ve even gone as far to grant his agent, Joel Wolfe, the ability to speak with other clubs to help facilitate a trade.
The Cardinals are determined to cut payroll and Arenado is the easiest way to do that. He has a luxury tax hit of $25.5 million, and he’s set to make $52 million over the next three seasons with deferred money until 2041 costing a $44 million for a total of $96 million.
However, Arenado has a full no-trade clause, which will somewhat limit the Cardinals’ ability to trade him and lets the third baseman have some control over his future.
Arenado is open to a trade and would like to play for a contender, and he’s given the Cardinals a list of six teams he would waive his no-trade clause for, according to John Denton of MLB.com:
In addition to having the Dodgers, Padres and Angels on his wish list, Arenado would also be willing to accept a trade to the Phillies, Mets or Red Sox, per a source close to the negotiations.
The Los Angeles Dodgers have long been connected to Areando, and that has continued into this offseason. So much so that Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes had to somewhat shut down the rumors with his public support for Max Muncy.
Realistically, as much as Arenado would love to return home and play for the Dodgers, they aren’t a fit for his services. Muncy is a better player at this point in their careers, and he’s far cheaper as well.
Arenado would also be willing to go to the two other Southern California teams, meaning he does have some geological preference as he included the Los Angeles Angels despite the talk of him wanting to go to a winning franchise.
The Angels also would seemingly be unlikely to add another high cost player to their roster with so many other needs, but that franchise has made many questionable decisions before, so what’s one more?
The San Diego Padres would also be a tough fit as they have Manny Machado at third base and their own payroll issues coming up down the line. Arenado would be willing to move positions for the right situation, but the Padres also have Luis Arráez and Jake Cronenworth at first base and designated hitter.
The Philadelphia Phillies have been looking to trade Alec Bohm, so they could be a fit, while the New York Mets could use a corner infielder as well with Pete Alonso sitting on the market as a free agent. The Mets are in a clear win-now mode after signing Juan Soto, but they would benefit more from bringing Alonso back instead.
The Boston Red Sox have Rafael Devers and Triston Casas at their corner infield spots, but they would like to trade Masataka Yoshida to open a DH spot. That could also work as an interesting salary swap for the two clubs, and the Red Sox have been wanting to make a splash to upgrade their roster.
The other issue in trading Arenado is he’s been a declining player. In the last two seasons, the 33-year-old has appeared in 296 games, hitting .269/.320/.426 with a .746 on-base plus slugging, 42 home runs, 164 RBI and 141 runs scored while posting a 104 wRC+ and 5.8 WAR.
He’s still a solid player, but closer to a league average starter than the superstar he’s being paid to be. Still, some team will be intrigued and look to bring him in, if not only for the name value to sell to fans, and likely try to swap a bad contract or have the Cardinals eat money.
Max Muncy would welcome Nolan Arenado to Dodgers
If the Dodgers did have real interest in acquiring Arenado, Muncy explained his openness to doing whatever is best to help the team if that’s the path they decided to take.
It’s still extremely unlikely the Dodgers do make a play for Arenado, but Muncy’s willingness to do whatever is necessary for the team, including moving into a backup role, is praiseworthy and notable.
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