St. Louis Cardinals emerge as top suitors for Nolan Arenado

The St Louis Cardinals have emerged as the front-runner to acquire the services of Colorado Rockies’ third baseman, Nolan Arenado.

The St Louis Cardinals are in the market for another key contributor this off-season and it seems more and more likely the closer we move to spring training, that person will be Nolan Arenado, the Colorado Rockies‘ star third baseman.

For some strange reason, we keep hearing the Colorado Rockies taking calls about trading Arenado.  I’m sure the organization has good reasons to take a look at moving him.  Unfortunately, the monster deal they signed him to last season is a big roadblock.

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The Rockies signed him to a 7-year, $260 million deal with a full no-trade clause.  He has the ultimate power to decide where he ends up and which organization he gets traded to.  The other tricky caveat is he can opt-out after the 2021 season.

That final piece could be the sticking point in any type of trade discussions.  Most teams are going to want him to forego that option.  Now they’ll have to compensate him somehow, possibly upping the value of the contract, but that is an important piece of this trade.

The Cardinals definitely have the financial flexibility to get Arenado as they only have three players signed beyond 2021.  They will more than likely have to add some prospects in the deal for him and possibly some big league players as well.

The Rockies always want pitching as they struggle to keep good pitchers around.  It depends on how bad they want Arenado, but they could include recently acquired Matthew Liberatore and third base prospect Nolan Gorman.

As I mentioned above, the key sticking point will be whether Nolan Arenado will waive his 2021 opt-out and who the St Louis Cardinals are willing to give up to get him.  Do they trade either Matt Carpenter or Dakota Hudson?

All I know is this may be the most interesting story to follow as we get closer and closer to the beginning of spring training.