The St. Louis Cardinals are entering a rebuild, leaving Nolan Arenado’s place in the organization up in the air.
Arenado has been at the center of trade talks for weeks, although the veteran third baseman does have a full no-trade clause.
He is also on the books for $74 million over the next three seasons, in addition to the salary deferrals built into his contract that extend all the way out to 2041.
Those factors complicate a potential move, meaning Arenado may wind up returning to St. Louis for 2025 after all. But with the Cardinals looking to reset and pave the way for some of their younger players moving forward, Arenado is open to making some adjustments.
According to The Athletic’s Katie Woo, Arenado is willing to spend less time at third base and make the move to first. That applies for the Cardinals, as well as any other team he potentially gets traded to, all in the name of providing roster flexibility.
Arenado has made 1,629 career appearances at third base, 42 at designated hitter and zero everywhere else. Staying put at third has made sense for Arenado, since he has won 10 Gold Gloves at the position and was named a finalist yet again at the age of 33 this season.
However, Arenado’s offensive production has tailed off in recent years. After averaging 33 home runs and 105 RBI a year with an .890 OPS between 2015 to 2023, Arenado hit 16 home runs with 71 RBI and a .719 OPS in 2024.
Needing to jam an aging bat into a lineup could be a troublesome task for a team attempting to rebuild, especially if that bat can only play one position.
Opening up the possibility of Arenado spending some time at first base and designated hitter will give other players a shot at third and let the Cardinals experiment a bit as they try to move on from a disappointing 83-79 season.
Shortstop Masyn Winn was named a Gold Glove finalist as a 22-year-old rookie, so he is likely to remain at that position for the foreseeable future.
24-year-old Nolan Gorman, top prospect Thomas Saggese and Gold Glove utility man Brendan Donovan can all play both second and third base, so moving Arenado out of the way in the hot corner should lead to more reps for each of them.
Earlier this offseason, Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak told reporters that All-Star catcher Willson Contreras would be moving into a first base and designated hitter role in 2025.
Between Arenado, Contreras and 26-year-old outfielder Alec Burleson, St. Louis should have plenty of options at first and DH even with Paul Goldschmidt gone.
The Cardinals clearly have the depth to move on from Arenado, considering they don’t appear to be in a win-now mode.
But if they don’t get any takers, sliding Arenado over to first base and designated hitter on occasion seems like the right move.
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