Cardinals receive backhanded compliment for Nolan Arenado trade from MLB executives

Normally when we think of offseason winners, we tend to refer to the teams who made the biggest additions to their roster via free agency or the trade market. By virtue of plunging headfirst into a rebuild this offseason, the St. Louis Cardinals don't figure to rank highly on many such lists, admirable as their sell-off efforts may be.

However, you don't always have to add players to create a net positive effect. Sometimes, you can add to a team by subtracting a player who simply isn't adding value to the on-field product. And, according to at least a couple of MLB executives in Jayson Stark's poll for The Athletic, the Cardinals' trade of Nolan Arenado qualified as such a move.

It's somewhat bewildering to see Arenado's subtraction listed alongside the buyout of Anthony Rendon — owner of what has long been considered one of the worst contracts in baseball — but it's clear that a few high-ranking front office people around the league are confident in the Redbirds' direction now that the rebuild has officially begun.

Nolan Arenado trade wasn't a huge win for Cardinals, though it can become one

It needs to be said that Arenado, despite clearly declining in recent seasons, hadn't completely fallen off the face of the earth before being traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Though things bottomed out in 2025, when the legendary third baseman hit just .237/.289/.377 with 12 home runs en route to an 84 wRC+, he was worth 5.9 fWAR between 2023-24. He remains a strong defender at the hot corner, and with the Cardinals eating so much money on his deal, there's really no way to suggest that one middling prospect (Jack Martinez) was enough to swing the scales in St. Louis' favor.

However, while Martinez will make or break the Cardinals' future grade in trade retrospectives years down the road, Arenado wasn't moved with the intention of getting a haul back. His absence now creates ample opportunities for young prospects to play, which needs to be the focus of the franchise going forward.

Viewed from that perspective — that the organization's rebuild was long overdue and that moving Arenado at any cost was worthwhile to make room for the next generation — it makes sense as to why multiple executives praised the Cardinals for "subtracting" him from the roster. It was simply time to move on, with a new competitive timeline taking priority.