John Mozeliak is seemingly terrified of Nolan Arenado's post-Cardinals success

Nolan Arenado has been top of mind for every St. Louis Cardinals fan this offseason, and that extends to President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak, who said the quiet part out loud when he admitted that his greatest fear was a bounce-back season from Nolan Arenado if the Cardinals were to deal him to another team.

"I can candidly say of all the trade conversations I’ve been in, (an Arenado bounce-back year) is what scares me the most. I think great players have that extra gear and when they find it, they’re special."

John Mozeliak

Nolan Arenado's potential success with another team looks to be keeping Mozeliak up at night.

Mozeliak has been refreshingly frank about his thoughts as he enters his final year as the one in charge of the Cardinals roster, but his admission of fear regarding an Arenado deal is a reflection of the Cardinals' seemingly abject terror in recent years of allowing a player to slip away too soon.

The success of Randy Arozarena after he departed from St. Louis appears to have left deep scars on Mozeliak, who has admitted that the trade was a mistake. Since that deal, the Cardinals have become too fearful of letting players leave the team at the height of their value, instead holding on to them too long and watching them go into a tailspin and lose the value they once possessed. Dylan Carlson was a notable example of this; the outfielder whom Mozeliak infamously said teams could "pry from his cold, dead hands" was eventually sent to the Tampa Bay Rays for 11 games of relief pitcher Shawn Armstrong.

At first glance, Mozeliak doesn't appear to be approaching the situation the right way. A person in charge of making his team better can't be hesitant and afraid to pull the lever, especially in a case where Arenado's departure will create more opportunities for the future faces of the team to show themselves.

However, there's a chance that Mozeliak is still playing mind games. He may have been attempting to gain leverage with his comments about Arenado when he expanded on his skittishness to trade the third baseman.

"I would not bet against him; I’d bet on him. And I was afraid someone else was going to get that if we traded him. He’s a special player and he can still do things that many can’t."

John Mozeliak

Mozeliak is keenly aware that he does not have the upper hand in Arenado negotiations, and this could be his way of attempting to use a bit of reverse psychology, propping up Arenado's skills and acting as though the Cardinals would be fine keeping him in order to persuade other teams to take an interest in him.

Another theory is that Mozeliak really does want to keep Arenado in an effort to salvage what is left of his legacy at the helm of the Cardinals. Ownership is likely pressing for a trade so it can get some salary off the books, but Mozeliak has his pride and might not want to exit with his last major move being the jettisoning of a star player. With nothing to lose after this season, Mozeliak could be attempting to defy the orders of his superiors.

Mozeliak's candor regarding his hesitance of trading Arenado for fear of the third baseman finding his old stroke is understandably frustrating to fans who want to see the Cardinals take more decisive action on players. If that trepidation has been a major contributor to the delay of an Arenado trade, he deserves to be lambasted. But don't dismiss the idea of this being another smokescreen that Mozeliak is throwing up to attempt to put the Cardinals in a more favorable position to offload Arenado at the eleventh hour.