Cardinals: Nolan Arenado wants to remain in St. Louis

The St. Louis Cardinals are likely going to have Nolan Arenado for the long haul.

The St. Louis Cardinals’ addition of All-Star third baseman Nolan Arenado drew widespread praise throughout baseball, and rightfully so. They did not give up any of their top five prospects, received $50 million in the trade and ended up with arguably the best duo of corner infielders in baseball for the 2020 season.

But the question that persisted most after the trade is whether Arenado would exercise an opt-out clause in his contract to become a free agent after the 2020 season. And after the trade became official, Arenado put those concerns to rest.

“I plan on sticking around,” Arenado said when asked about the two opt-outs, via Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “So that’s my goal. I plan on staying here for a long time. I’ve said that once in Colorado, but truly — I mean it. I expect to be here a long time. I’m not worried about that. They’ve had 13 straight winnings seasons. That’s enticing enough to me, and I know they care about winning, and I believe they’ll do everything we can to win.”

And the organization has indicated that it plans to continue adding, with reports surfacing that the club intends to re-sign Yadier Molina and upgrade other parts of the roster. It is a seismic shift in the thinking for most of the offseason, with all signs pointing toward the team cutting payroll. But when the opportunity arose to add Arenado, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak pounced. Now, they plan to surround him with more talent — to win not only in 2021, but for as long as Arenado is in St. Louis.

But it started with landing Arenado, with Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. saying, “We got our man.”

And they’ll have him for the long haul.