Inside The Cardinals

Cardinals Shut Down Rival For Nolan Arenado: Report

It has been a wild season so far full of speculation...
Patrick McAvoy|
May 10, 2025; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado (28) throws out Washington Nationals third baseman Jose Tena (not shown) during the second inning at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-Imagn Images
May 10, 2025; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado (28) throws out Washington Nationals third baseman Jose Tena (not shown) during the second inning at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-Imagn Images | Brad Mills-Imagn Images

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St. Louis Cardinals

It sounds like the St. Louis Cardinals at least had a little bit of trade interest for third baseman Nolan Arenado from one of the team's biggest rivals.

As the season has gone on, there has been a lot of wild trade speculation about Arenado's future. Each day, mock trades pop up left and right with Arenado's name heavily involved. Most of the noise was baseless early on, now, it's even worse as the Cardinals are doing well. St. Louis is 24-20 and looks like a team that could fight for a playoff spot.

This hasn't stopped the chatter, though. One team that has been floated as a fit for Arenado on multiple occasions is the National League Central rival Chicago Cubs. The speculation never really made sense because why would the Caridnals want to trade a star of Arenado's caliber within the division, especially when he's under contract beyond this season?

Well, the front office seems to agree. The Athletic's Patrick Mooney and Sahadev Sharma recently reported that the Cubs did give the Cardinals a call about Arenado in Spring Training, but St. Louis didn't want to trade the superstar in the division.

"By WAR (FanGraphs), Cubs third basemen are ranked 25th in baseball," Mooney and Sharma said. "Purely on offense, they’re 20th with an 80 wRC+. That’s certainly not great, but it’s also not the type of bottom-of-the-league production the club was getting early last season from catcher and center field.

"Currently, the most productive third basemen in the game are playing for obvious contenders or teams that are unlikely to consider selling or are doubtful on matching up with the Cubs. Nolan Arenado, for example, was a player the Cubs inquired about during spring training, only to be quickly informed that the St. Louis Cardinals were not interested in trading an All-Star within the division to a historic rival."

Hopefully, this puts the speculation to rest when it comes to Chicago.

More MLB: Cardinals-Yankees Trade Would Stun Baseball World At This Point

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Patrick McAvoy
PATRICK MCAVOY

Patrick McAvoy's experiences include local and national sports coverage at the New England Sports Network with a focus on baseball and basketball. Outside of journalism, Patrick also is pursuing an MBA at Brandeis University. After quickly rising as one of the most productive writers on the site, he expanded his reach to write for Baseball Essential, a national baseball site in Sports Illustrated Media Group. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding Inside The Cardinals, please reach out to Scott Neville: nevilles@merrimack.edu

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