Finally, a team decided to try to be the best in Central NL.
The Cardinals were on the verge of acquiring Nolan Arenado from the Rockies Friday night. Because $ 50 million would be moved from Colorado to St. Louis. Louis and because Arenado would win an additional option after the 2022 season, in addition to the one he has after the 2021 season, the deal will have to be approved by the MLB and the Players Association. The hope is that it can be done as early as Sunday or Monday and the trade can be completed.
If so, it would mark the first significant import of talent into NL Central after three months of a low season in which talent only flowed outward.
Josh Bell, Yu Darvish, Raisel Iglesias, Jon Lester, Joe Musgrove, Jose Quintana, Kyle Schwarber, Jameson Taillon and probably sometime soon Trevor Bauer have left the National League Central. By Friday, when Adam Wainwright re-signed with the Cardinals and Joc Pederson agreed to a deal with the Cubs, the entire division had combined to spend less than $ 3 million on free agency. The Reds have yet to sign any major league free agents and Wainwright was the first of the Cardinals.
But now St. Louis was on the brink of a seismic movement. The cardinals would send five prospects to the Rocky Mountains, but none of the elite minor leagues. Arenado is owed $ 199 million over the next six years and, as first reported by MLB Network’s Jon Heyman, will have an additional $ 15 million for the seventh year if that deal ends.
There is risk beyond money. Arenado already had the right to give up his contract after the 2021 season and now he has it too after 2022, and there has always been the feeling in the game that he would love to find a way to his Southern California roots. Saint Louis, however, is a crazy baseball city and players often fall in love with playing in front of such a positive fan base for a regular contender.
For now, Arenado is the winner if the trade takes place because it escapes a toxic situation in Colorado. He signed an eight-year, $ 260 million extension after the 2018 season. He believed the Rocky Mountains were not only making a commitment to him, but trying to be perennial contenders. Thus, Arenado was frustrated when the team did not continue to invest in payroll to pursue better players. He ended up in a dispute with GM Jeff Bridich and was clear he wanted a divorce.
In the shortened calendar of 2020, Arenado had the worst season, reaching 0.253 with a 0.338 OPS while struggling with an injured shoulder. The Cardinals would bet it was an aberration and that Arenado is the player who finished in the top eight of the 2015-19 National League MVP vote. Even last year he won his eighth gold glove in eight years as he has established himself as one of the best third basemen in history.
For the Rockies, they give up the face of their franchise. They’re sending so much money to the Cardinals to get away from the weight of the contract, potentially open space to keep star Trevor Story short, who is a free agent after the 2021 season, and basically buy potential customers, which is expected to include pitcher Austin Gomber, first baseman Luken Baker and off-field Jhon Torres.
There are nuances in this deal when the Marlins traded Giancarlo Stanton to the Yankees after the 2017 season. Both Stanton and Arenado are represented by Joel Wolfe. They both signed mega-contracts to stay with the team that drafted them in the second round. Both were disillusioned by the organizations that would not continue to press after signing them. The Cardinals actually drew up a trade for Stanton, but he invoked his non-trade clause and, like Arenado, hoped to initially end his Southern California roots with the Dodgers.
Stanton accepted a trade from the Yankees, who extracted $ 52 million in savings from the Marlins, who ate $ 30 million, and took over the remaining $ 22 million from Starlin Castro’s contract.
This time it was in the letters of St. Louis landed this kind of stars who wanted to escape from a deteriorating situation.