Ranking the Cardinals' 6 most valuable trade assets they can sell at the deadline

5. Nolan Arenado

I don't actually think Nolan Arenado will be moved at this trade deadline, but I still think he is worth including on the list, as I am sure the Cardinals would love to move him and clear the way for their young bats and finally get off as much of his contract as they can.

In some sense, the amount of money the Cardinals would have to eat on a deal would actually make him less valuable than Fedde, but the Cardinals can probably get something for Arenado in a deal after eating some of the contract, which I don't think we can really say about Fedde at this point.

On the season, Arenado is slashing .243/.302/.383 with 10 home runs, with a 91 wRC+ that leaves so much to be desired at the plate. Any team targeting Arenado would need to have real hope that he can turn things around at the plate, as his defense is great, but not so great that you'd want to pay him that kind of money and only get below league-average production at the plate.

Trading Arenado gets really tricky with his no-trade clause. Both Arenado and a team would have to be interested in each other for a deal to take place. Do the Los Angeles Dodgers jump in with uncertainty around Max Muncy? Do the New York Yankees try to fill their void at third base with Arenado? Isaac Parades looks to be out for a significant amount of time, so would Arenado reconsider the Houston Astros? Would he open his list up to a contender like the Detroit Tigers?

Who knows if any of those teams would be interested? And as of right now, we have no idea if Arenado would even be open to moving at this deadline. He may want to stay in St. Louis or just prefer to cross this bridge again when the offseason comes.

For St. Louis, though, they should be extremely motivated to get a deal done. First, moving Arenado clears playing time for young players, and they really need to make that happen. Second, with his continued regression, they won't want to be stuck with his full contract the next two seasons, especially when they need to get JJ Wetherholt a spot soon. And third, for the casual fan, trading Arenado is going to be an unpopular move, so making that a Mozeliak decision rather than Bloom having to shoulder the full blame would be wise from a PR perspective.