Cardinals Expected To Trade 4, Including Nolan Arenado, Brendan Donovan

The St. Louis Cardinals have swung one big deal already but are far from done.

In fact, The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal said on "Foul Territory" that he expects JoJo Romero, Nolan Arenado, Willson Contreras, and Brendan Donovan to all get traded, plus potentially more.

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"I do expect all of those players to go," Rosenthal said of Romero, Arenado, Contreras, and Donovan. "And I don't know that any of them will be packaged together. Arenado is perhaps the most interesting from that standpoint because you're trading the money, you're trading a declining player and perhaps to entice a team, you will need to include a JoJo Romero, a left-handed reliever, or even a prospect. Not sure. But they've got a lot of action on Donovan. Katie Woo reported as we said earlier, the Giants and the Mariners are the front-runners.

The Cardinals aren't even close to being done

Sep 21, 2025; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado (28) salutes the fans after he was ceremonially removed before the start of the first inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images | Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

"Contreras is a guy who is affordable at first base over the next two years and is a really good player, still. He could go, too. Arenado is difficult, more difficult. He too, like Contreras, has a no-trade and it's going to be more difficult to fit him in. Not quite as attractive, perhaps as Contreras is right now. And Donovan as we said, he's going to go. The Cardinals are going to be quite busy and we expect all of those players, and maybe a few more. Maybe (Lars Nootbaar) or (Nolan Gorman) as well to be traded."

Romero, Arenado, Contreras, and Donovan all have been at the center of various levels of trade buzz this offseason. Donovan has gotten the most heat. Contreras is a red-hot name on the market now after Woo reported that the slugger is now more open to the idea of waiving his no-trade clause than he was. Arenado has been talked about a lot, but it's unclear where he would go. There haven't been many teams linked to him through rumors.

Romero is an intriguing trade chip because he's coming off the best season of his career and the free agent reliever market has already been depleted.

Despite the moves the Cardinals have already made, it's still the quiet before the storm.

More MLB: Cardinals Exploring Electric Switch-Pitcher In Brendan Donovan Talks