Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak met with reporters (including Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat) at the team’s Winter Warm-Up event today, and discussed several topics related to St. Louis. In general, Mozeliak didn’t have much new to offer in Nolan Arenado trade front, without saying that “I think the first, second and third priority is still Nolan” about how dealing with the third player is a clear focus of all the team’s winter plans.
Mozeliak has been open about the team’s intentions to reduce payroll and give more playing time to young players through 2025, even though the PBO and other Cardinals officials have stopped short of officially considering the upcoming season a rebuilding year. During the Winter Meetings, Mozeliak bluntly stated that “It is my intention to try” and trade Arenado to help in the process, and Arenado was riding quietly through these efforts, although Arenado ultimately controlled his own destiny by exercising his no-trade clause.
The eight-time All-Star has already used this influence to reject a proposed deal in December that would have seen him deal with the Astros, with Houston taking — according to conflicting reports — at least $45MM and as much as $59MM in cash. $60MM still owed on Arenado’s contract. (The total is $74MM, but the Rockies include $10MM of that figure and another $4MM is reduced due to the postponement.) After that bad deal, the Astros went full steam ahead with the signing. Christian Walker to address their corner infield needs, leaving St. Louis still needs a trade partner.
Recent reports suggested that Arenado had not completely closed the door on joining the Astros, but simply wanted more time to evaluate the situation given that Houston had recently handled the matter. Kyle Tucker to the Cubs earlier that week. Mozeliak admitted today that “he was a little surprised” Arenado rejected the trade, and suggested the Cardinals were distracted by the timing of Tucker’s deal. “It was almost like an app. If we had a few days before that, I think it would have been there [a trade]….So, things happen.” Mozeliak said.
Regarding the lack of other interests in Arenado, Mozeliak said “I would imagine that the free agent market is what mitigates that,” referring to the fact that Alex Bregman remains unsigned. Some movement ahead of Arenado is possible if Bregman chooses his next team, and Mozeliak said he has not yet spoken to Arenado or his camp about expanding the third baseman’s list of preferred trade destinations.
In fact, Mozeliak said he hadn’t spoken directly to Arenado in about a month, since the two last communicated before the holidays. Given the calendar, their next discussion could also deal with a situation where Arenado could be traded before Spring Training, so he would have to go through his regular spring program under the weight of a possible change of location.
“There is a psychological side to this, right?” said Mozeliak. “You’re probably thinking, like, OK, if I have to come to camp, I want to start preparing for that, and maybe you want to commit [staying in St. Louis] at that time. So I don’t want to speak for him yet, because we haven’t discussed that. But obviously, as we get closer to Jupiter, that’s something we’re going to have to touch on.”
In an MLBTR Front Office Subscriber piece earlier this week, Anthony Franco described the Cardinals’ winter as “about half a season,” given how the team hasn’t worked with any of its top-earning players, let alone Arenado. Wilson Contreras again Sonny Gray left the Cards’ hands tied by refusing to waive their own vesting clauses, yet free agents are expected Ryan Helsley, Erick Feddeagain Steven Matz they all seem like obvious trades, and they all live on the list here in mid-January.
Mozeliak offered an explanation for not moving Fedde or Matz today, noting the Cards “really don’t like it.” [the] idea” of leaving the team short-handed going forward. “We feel like we have some depth in our rotation right now, so I don’t really want to start taking that away, in terms of thinking about moving a position player to meet certain financial goals.,” Mozeliak said. “That would be something we might consider, but we don’t really want to.”
Fedde is owed $7.5MM in 2025, while Matz is owed $12MM and could be another candidate to shed salary given his injuries and struggles in recent years. Helsley will receive $8.2MM in his final season in control of the team. While they all have big salaries, the $27.2MM total is slightly less than the $27MM Arenado was owed in 2025, when Colorado’s $5MM contribution is subtracted from his $32MM price tag. Between those figures and the $27MM Arenado was also owed in 2026, it appears the Cardinals want to take every opportunity to move Arenado before moving on to other salary-cutting measures.
More income St. Louis can release, the team can also add to the list. Mozeliak suggested that if the money is available, the club could look at “apparently [the] the bullpen” or maybe “right-handed bat for hitting something, something like that.” The Cardinals already have a decent amount of balance in the roster, but with Arenado gone, the team may be looking to replace him with another righty bat at a much lower price. In theory, this bat could be an outsider – a right-hander Jordan Walker he is right-handed, though Lars Nootbaar, Victor Scott IIagain Michael Siani everything swings from the left.
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