Cardinals' trade of Nolan Arenado was ultimately dictated by legendary third baseman

After spending the majority of his career with the historically incomepetent Colorado Rockies, Nolan Arenado enjoyed a nice run of success in St. Louis, including multiple 90-win seasons and a division title in 2022.

Still, the St. Louis Cardinals never won a playoff game during his tenure, and his production has fallen precipitously since his third-place finish in NL MVP voting in that same division-winning year. 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+.

It was clearly beyond time for the rebuilding franchise to move on from the 34-year-old, and the Cardinals finally got him out of town in a trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks. They only received pitching prospect Jack Martinez in return despite eating about 75% of his remaining salary, which just further proves how far Arenado's value has fallen in such a short time.

In fairness, though, the Cardinals' hands were tied due to Arenado's full no-trade clause. He had final say over where he landed next, and it appears he hand-picked Arizona as his future home.

Nolan Arenado wields full power of no-trade clause to facilitate Cardinals-Diamondbacks trade

That's not to say that the Cardinals were forced to make this deal — they clearly value Martinez as a high-upside prospect. However, they were up against the clock with spring training approaching and after trading Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras earlier in the winter. Everyone and their mother knew a trade of Arenado was coming.

Remember, the Cardinals and Houston Astros had a trade in place for Arenado nearly 13 months ago before the ten-time Gold Glover vetoed it. Chaim Bloom didn't have final say over where his third baseman ended up, making his task of inciting a bidding war much harder.

For what it's worth, the Diamondbacks should be a good home for the final two years of Arenado's contract. They were World Series participants as recently as 2023 and had an opening at the hot corner, if only because they continue to deny former top prospect Jordan Lawlar a full-time chance to settle into the position.

With All-Stars Ketel Marte, Geraldo Perdomo, and Corbin Carroll surrounding him in the lineup, Arenado should be afforded the offensive protection he's been missing since Paul Goldschmidt's MVP campaign.

As something of a fun aside to this whole conversation, the Chicago Cubs just handed Alex Bregman a full no-trade clause as part of their decision to spend $175 million on him. Surely that won't come back to bite them in the near future.