Cardinals insider throws cold water on reports of Dodgers’ interest in Nolan Arenado

To trade or not to trade Nolan Arenado has become the biggest question of the St. Louis Cardinals' offseason.

They dropped two starting pitchers they'd only just acquired the year before (Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn) as early cost-cutting measures but hope to continue to purge by getting rid of Arenado, who represents the second largest commitment on their payroll in 2025 ($21 million, $4 million behind Sonny Gray).

The problem so far has been Arenado's no-trade clause. He exercised it to block a trade to the Astros in December, allegedly because he didn't want to go anywhere that early in the offseason but also because he wanted to wait and hear the Dodgers, clearly his preferred trade destination, tell him "no" to his face. Cardinals writer John Denton followed up to report that the Dodgers, who are publicly standing by Max Muncy as their 2025 third baseman, were downplaying their interest in Arenado.

Still, there's been no movement on Arenado's market since the failed Astros trade. That could have something to do with things generally moving slowly during the holiday season, but Arenado has also never been a perfect fit for LA, despite how much he might want to play there.

"Now both the Cardinals and Arenado are facing a plausible reality where the 10-time Gold Glove winner remains in St. Louis next season. There has been minimal traction on Arenado’s front since the Astros deal fell through," Katie Woo of The Athletic wrote on Dec. 30.

Cardinals insider Katie Woo believes that a Nolan Arenado trade is seeming less likely by the day

It's easy to see why it's been hard for the Cardinals to find a trade partner. Arenado's still owed $52 million through 2027 (though the Rockies are covering some of that amount), and his offensive decline over the past two seasons hasn't been pretty.

The Astros were reportedly willing to take on most of the salary burden but gave up on him quickly after the trade was shot down, pivoting instead to spend big money on Christian Walker to cover first base. The Yankees and Red Sox have been connected to Arenado, but there hasn't been much movement on either of those fronts, either.

In a world where the Dodgers got Arenado and kept Muncy, they've probably been forced to put Muncy back at second, a position he hasn't played since 2022 and where his defense started to decline in 2021. In this world, however, it seems likely that Arenado will stay where he is. As much as Dodgers fans might like the idea of him in an LA uniform, the team just doesn't really need him.