Cardinals' Return For Nolan Arenado Shows Situation Was Bleak In St. Louis

Nolan Arenado is likely going to enter the Baseball Hall of Fame one day. How is it that the St. Louis Cardinals came to dump him for almost nothing of tangible value?

On Tuesday, news broke that Arenado had been traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for pitching prospect Jack Martinez, with St. Louis eating $31 million of the $42 million Arenado was still owed. Katie Woo of The Athletic was the first to report that a deal was close.

Sure, the Colorado Rockies are still paying $5 million of the $31 million being redirected from St. Louis to Arizona in the deal. But this trade, while fair for the Cardinals to make in the here and now, marked an unfortunate end to a saga that really should have been resolved more than a year prior.

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Arenado trade should have happened last year

Apr 13, 2024; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado (28) hits against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first inning at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images | Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images

Last winter, Arenado nixed a trade to the Houston Astros that would have seen St. Louis sending less than half the cash they just gave up, with another year on the contract. It was Arenado's assumption at the time that another team he preferred to Houston would step up and land him while he still had some perceived value.

But the Boston Red Sox, the only team Arenado was truly interested in that wanted him in the slightest, signed Alex Bregman instead. A deal was reportedly in the works to send Arenado to Boston that was torn up when Bregman's decision came down in mid-February.

Things fell apart from there, as Arenado went on to post a .237/.289/.377 slash line in 107 games last year. Even his otherworldly defense, which won him 10 Gold Gloves from 2013 to 2022, regressed to being just slightly above average.

Martinez, an eighth-round pick in last year's draft out of Arizona State who has yet to throw a professional pitch, is essentially a lottery ticket. The Cardinals wanted this saga over and done with, whatever it took on their end to get it done.

It was obvious that under new president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom, Arenado was going to be dealt this winter. But the fact that it didn't happen a year ago was the Cardinals' real failure.

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