Cardinals can take advantage of Red Sox's Alex Bregman disappointment

Good things come in threes, right?

After completing trades for Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras with the Boston Red Sox earlier this offseason, Chaim Bloom may want to make another call to his former stomping grounds after the latest blockbuster MLB signing.

The Chicago Cubs scooped up Alex Bregman on a five-year mega-contract, which both improves their immediate outlook and hampers their future financial flexibility. That move will have some serious ramifications for the NL Central, but it also impacts the remainder of the Red Sox's offseason, as they were expecting to retain their star third baseman.

With a long-term hole still open at the hot corner, might the Red Sox and Redbirds link up for their third trade off the offseason?

Cubs' blockbuster Alex Bregman signing could have positive consequences for Cardinals, Nolan Arenado

Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post Dispatch had previously reported that the Red Sox would reengage with the Cardinals about Arenado if they missed out on Bregman, which makes sense given their glaring need next to Trevor Story on the left side of the infield.

Contreras did give them the right-handed power bat (and first baseman) they were desperately lacking, but Bregman's production will be nearly impossible for the Sox to replace now. He hit .273/.360/.462 (125 wRC+) while adding three Outs Above Average with his glove in his lone season in Boston.

Arenado isn't quite the same player who finished third in 2022 NL MVP voting, but he's still an above-average defender who posted a 105 wRC+ between 2023-24. Unless the Red Sox plan to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on Bo Bichette — while praying for his defense to improve at third base after years of struggling at shortstop — the only starting-caliber third baseman still available in free agency is Eugenio Suárez. If they can't sign him, Arenado could be their last chance to replace Bregman with a capable veteran.

These front offices have already established an excellent rapport, which means making another trade shouldn't be too onerous if both parties are motivated. Bloom obviously knows the Red Sox's farm system incredibly well after spending years leading their organization, making a deal even easier to complete.

Plus, the Cardinals have already proven willing to eat money in order to facilitate a trade with Boston. They swallowed nearly half of Gray's remaining $41 million, and they'll pay Contreras $4 million in both of the next two seasons. With the Colorado Rockies already covering $5 million of Arenado's $27 million salary this year, there's an easy path to making the money work for both sides as well.

It'd almost be anticlimactic to watch the Cardinals trade their trio of star veterans to the same place, all in separate deals, after years of rumors and blockbuster trade proposals. But with Bloom leading the charge, the franchise is committing wholeheartedly to a rebuild — if the Red Sox want to single-handedly help restock St. Louis's farm system, who are we to dissaude them?