Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak met with reporters (together with Jeff Jones of the Belleville Information-Democrat) on the group’s Winter Heat-Up occasion at the moment, and mentioned a number of matters associated to quiet St. Louis offseason. Normally, Mozeliak didn’t have a lot new to supply on the Nolan Arenado commerce entrance, apart from to say that “I feel precedence one, two and three continues to be Nolan” when it comes to how dealing the third baseman is the clear point of interest for the remainder of the group’s winter plans.
Mozeliak has been open abut the group’s intentions of reducing payroll and giving extra enjoying time to youthful gamers in 2025, even when the PBO and different Cardinals’ officers have stopped in need of formally contemplating subsequent season a rebuilding 12 months. Through the Winter Conferences, Mozeliak candidly mentioned that “It’s my intention to attempt” and commerce Arenado to assist on this course of, and Arenado was tacitly on board with these endeavors, although Arenado finally has management over his personal destiny through his no-trade clause.
The eight-time All-Star already used this affect to reject a proposed deal in December that will’ve seen him dealt to the Astros, with Houston taking over — in accordance with conflicting stories — a minimum of $45MM and as a lot as $59MM of the $60MM nonetheless owed on Arenado’s contract. (The complete whole is $74MM, however the Rockies are overlaying $10MM of that determine and the opposite $4MM is lowered resulting from deferrals.) Within the wake of that scuttled deal, the Astros moved on solely by signing Christian Walker to deal with their nook infield wants, leaving St. Louis nonetheless in want of a commerce accomplice.
Later stories advised Arenado hadn’t solely closed the door on becoming a member of the Astros, however simply wished extra time to guage the scenario contemplating that Houston had simply dealt Kyle Tucker to the Cubs earlier that very same week. Mozeliak admitted at the moment that he “was a bit of bit shocked” Arenado turned down the commerce, and advised that the Cardinals had been hampered by the timing of the Tucker deal. “It was virtually extra like order of operation. Had we been just a few days forward of that, I feel there would’ve been [a trade]….So yeah, issues occur.” Mozeliak mentioned.
Regarding the lack of different curiosity in Arenado, Mozeliak mentioned “I’d think about the free agent market could be what’s slowing that down,” referencing the truth that Alex Bregman stays unsigned. Some motion on the Arenado entrance may occur as soon as Bregman chooses his subsequent group, and Mozeliak mentioned he hadn’t but spoken with Arenado or his camp about presumably increasing the third baseman’s checklist of most popular commerce locations.
The truth is, Mozeliak mentioned he hadn’t straight spoken with Arenado for near a month, as the 2 final had contact earlier than the vacations. Given the calendar, their subsequent dialog may additionally have to deal with the situation the place Arenado isn’t traded previous to Spring Coaching, so he’d must undergo his regular spring routine underneath the burden of a possible change of surroundings.
“There’s the psychological aspect of this too, proper?” Mozeliak mentioned. “He’s most likely considering, like, OK, if I’ve to return to camp, I need to begin getting ready for that, and possibly he desires to be dedicated to [staying in St. Louis] at that time. So I don’t need to converse for him at this level, as a result of we’ve got not mentioned that. However clearly, as we get nearer to Jupiter, that’s one thing we must contact on.”
In a chunk for MLBTR Entrance Workplace subscribers earlier this week, Anthony Franco described the Cardinals’ winter as “a half-measure offseason,” given how the group hadn’t dealt any of its higher-salaried gamers, not to mention Arenado. Willson Contreras and Sonny Grey left the Playing cards’ palms tied by refusing to waive their very own no-movement clauses, but impending free brokers Ryan Helsley, Erick Fedde, and Steven Matz all look like apparent commerce candidates, and all stay on the roster right here in mid-January.
Mozeliak offered some rationalization for not transferring Fedde or Matz at the moment, noting that the Playing cards “don’t actually love [the] concept” of probably leaving the group short-handed on the pitching entrance. “We actually really feel like we’ve got some depth in our rotation proper now, so I actually don’t need to begin getting ready tearing away from that, when it comes to fascinated about transferring a place participant to realize some monetary objectives,” Mozeliak mentioned. “That might be one thing we may contemplate as nicely, however we actually don’t need to.”
Fedde is owed $7.5MM in 2025, whereas Matz is owed $12MM and would possible be extra of a salary-dump candidate given his accidents and struggles in recent times. Helsley will obtain $8.2MM in his remaining season of group management. Whereas all have substantial salaries, the $27.2MM whole is simply barely lower than the $27MM owed to Arenado in 2025, when Colorado’s $5MM contribution is subtracted from his $32MM price ticket. Between that math and the $27MM additionally owed to Arenado in 2026, it looks as if the Cardinals merely need to exhaust all prospects in transferring Arenado earlier than transferring onto different payroll-cutting strikes.
The extra wage St. Louis is ready to unload, the extra the group may add to the roster. Mozeliak advised that if the cash turns into accessible, the membership may take a look at “clearly [the] bullpen” or presumably “a right-handed bat with some thump, one thing like that.” The Cardinals have an honest quantity of lineup steadiness already, however with Arenado on the transfer, the group would presumably be seeking to change him with one other righty bat at a a lot cheaper price tag. In principle, this bat would possibly come within the outfield — proper fielder Jordan Walker is right-handed, however Lars Nootbaar, Victor Scott II, and Michael Siani all swing from the left aspect.
