Cardinals 'widely expected' to trade 8-time All Star

The St. Louis Cardinals and Nolan Arenado have just about reached the end of the road.

"One player widely expected to be moved" is Arenado, writes ESPN's Jeff Passan, adding that Arenado is ready to waive his no-trade clause.

That has the potential to be a big domino to fall this offseason.

Arenado isn't the player he once was, but he has made eight All Star teams and won 10 Gold Gloves in his illustrious career.

Even in a particularly poor 2025 season, Arenado put up 1.3 Wins Above Replacement. He played in 107 games, hit 12 home runs, had a .666 OPS and still played defense at a level that warranted that WAR total.

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Arenado has spent the past five seasons with the Cardinals, with his home run total declining each year (34 to 30 to 26 to 16 to 12).

Arenado's batting average was a career-worst .237 in 2025.

He ends up looking like a really tough player to value in a trade.

On the one hand, a team gets a proven veteran who still can pick it over at the hot corner.

On the other hand, he has declined as a player in recent years and isn't getting younger, set to turn 35 in April.

It'd likely take a bigger-market team that's in contention to get a deal like this done. Maybe if the Seattle Mariners don't re-sign Eugenio Suarez, they'd be a candidate.

But based on Passan's reporting, Arenado will wind up somewhere else. It's just a matter of where.

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