The St. Louis Cardinals have attempted to trade Nolan Arenado this offseason, but the third baseman remains on the roster. With the MLB regular season a mere three weeks away, the veteran Arenado is prepping himself for 2025.
“My expectation is to be here Opening Day,” said Arenado, via Jon Heyman of the NY Post. “(That’s) until they tell me something’s going on – then I guess I will adjust. But until I hear that, I’m locked in.”
Arenado has been with the Cardinals since the team acquired him from the Colorado Rockies in February of 2021. In four seasons in St. Louis, the perennial All-Star has cumulated 16.6 WAR in 601 games.
The California-native has batted .271 with 372 RBIs in his time with the Cardinals. The eight-time All-Star has 341 home runs in his career that dates back to 2013. Arenado has four top five National League MVP finishes and 10 Gold Gloves in his stacked MLB career.
The Cardinals are in a unique situation — one they have not been in in recent memory. The Cardinals are in a rebuild, and Arenado doesn’t necessarily fit into what the team is trying to do this season.
St. Louis comes into 2025 looking to get more playing time for some of their younger, inexperienced players. With Arenado firmly cemented at third base, he will take at-bats at the position that could have been split between several players. Cardinals players who could have received time at the hot corner include Nolan Gorman, Brendan Donovan, and Thomas Saggese. Instead, Gorman will play at second base, pushing Donovan to left field, and possibly pushing Saggese off the active roster.
Nevertheless, it’s hard to feel that the Cardinals are ‘worse’ for keeping a player with Arenado’s track record on the roster. It never hurts to have a strong veteran presence on the field daily.
The Cardinals will open up the 2025 regular season on March 27 against the Minnesota Twins.
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