Cardinals' Nolan Arenado reportedly open to 2 new trade destinations as buzz builds

For several weeks, the St. Louis Cardinals were under the impression that Nolan Arenado had an exclusive list of teams he would be willing to waive his no-trade clause for. That list included clubs like the Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets, and Los Angeles Angels. It appeared as though John Mozeliak was restricted to those half-dozen teams in his dealings.

A trade between the Houston Astros and Cardinals was ready to go pending Nado's approval, but he declined it at the time. Reports have grown in the last week that he prefers the Boston Red Sox, but nothing has materialized since.

On Thursday, it was reported by Jon Morosi of MLB Network that Arenado is more "open-minded" to waiving his no-trade clause for more teams. This comes soon after president of baseball operations John Mozeliak, while speaking with Tom Ackerman, appeared to be a bit exhausted in trying to find a dance partner for Nolan Arenado.

There are several contending teams who could use Arenado's services. While clubs like the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, and New York Yankees have appeared to make moves beyond needing Arenado, the Boston Red Sox are still very much an option. They have Rafael Devers at the hot corner now, but he could be moved elsewhere to make space for the 10-time Gold Glover.

Other contending teams whose third basemen fared poorly last year include the Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals. Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat posted on Twitter/X that the Royals checked in with the Cardinals at the Winter Meetings regarding Nolan Arenado, but the Cardinals were under the impression that Nado wouldn't waive his no-trade clause to move across the state. Therefore, the discussion was stalled there.

The Detroit Tigers have been mentioned as a strong contender to land top free-agent third baseman Alex Bregman this offseason. If that's the case, they'll surely be out of the Arenado sweepstakes, and the Boston Red Sox will grow in interest. If Bregman signs in Beantown, the Tigers may up their interest in Arenado.

Last year, Detroit Tigers' third basemen accumulated -1.3 bWAR as a group, the 7th worst in baseball. Gio Urshela (257 PAs) and Matt Vierling (184 PAs) saw the most time at third base for the Tigers last year. Kansas City Royals' third basemen were only marginally better at -0.7 bWAR as a group. As of now, Jace Jung is listed as the Tigers' starting third baseman on FanGraphs roster resource. Jung, 24, finished 2024 with a .241 batting average and a 93 OPS+ in only 79 at-bats.

The Royals rolled out Maikel Garcia last year at the hot corner for nearly 500 plate appearances. Garcia was a slightly above-average defender at third, but he had a .231 batting average and .613 OPS for a 72 OPS+.

Nolan Arenado reportedly expanding his list of teams helps the Cardinals tremendously in a trade. The team's primary goal in moving the eight-time All-Star remains financial relief, but with more bidders, the return, too, could grow.