St. Louis Cardinals’ Nolan Arenado TRADE Looms — Best Fits, Top Destinations REVEALED!

St. Louis Cardinals’ Nolan Arenado TRADE Looms — Best Fits, Top Destinations REVEALED!

Nolan Aronado’s time in St. Louis has likely come to an end. So today we’ll break down which teams are the best fit for the future Hall of Famer. You are Locked on Cardinals, your daily St. Louis Cardinals podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Hey there Cardinal fans. I’m JD Havvern, a former national radio sports anchor, born and raised in St. Louis, a lifetime Cardinals fan and welcome to Locked on Cardinals, part of the Lockton Podcast Network, now the number one sports podcast network. A big thank you to all of you for making that happen. You can follow us on the socials at Locked On Cardinals and at JD Sports Radio. Big thank you to our everydayers for continuing to be here with us. For those of you who are new, welcome in. Enjoy the content because this is a show for you serving Cardinal Nation and giving you all the info about the birds on the bat. Today’s episode brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, use code lock MLB for $20 off your first purchase. On today’s show, the Cardinals non-tendered four different players to make them free agents. But one of them, at least one of them, could return to the organization. There’s been reporting that that could happen on a minor league deal. So, we’ll discuss that. But, let’s start with uh one of the guys that is still around, third baseman Nolan Aronado. He is still here. We know the deals are going to be made. Heim Bloom has recently said that there’s been a lot of interest in the guys who are rumored to be on the trade block who are currently with the Cardinals. Aronado, Sunonny Gray, Wilson Contrarus, uh Brennan Donovan, Lars Newbar, Jojo Romero, just some of the guys that could be moved. Will all of them get dealt? Probably not. That’s not likely. uh Heim Bloom’s going to have to weigh his options and what kind of return certain guys are getting and you know who who’s a hot commodity, who’s not, and choose the best ones for what he wants to get done and move forward. But of that list of guys that I named there, one name is probably I’m going to go ahead and say 99.9% certain to get moved, and that is Nolan Aronado. Okay, this is not a shocker that Aronado’s time in St. Louis is probably over. Tried to trade him last year. Deal was done with Houston. He vetoed another year in. Nothing has really changed as far as the Cardinal side of things. They want to move him because they want to move the salary. They want to move him because they want to open up opportunities for for younger players like Nolan Gorman and JJ Weatherhold. On the side of things for Nolan Aronado, what’s changed is the stock as a player for Aronado that has gotten worse. you know, his offensive numbers, they dipped again in 2025. He had injuries this year that saw him play a career low 107 games, which is not something you want to see out of a guy who’s getting older. Uh, but not playing as much led to lower offensive numbers overall. So, uh, you know, keep that in mind. And he is now another year older. Okay. The the positives for Aronado and the Cardinals is that his contract is one year shorter. It’s gotten cheaper, not as expenses expensive as it was last season. His desire to move on is stronger because he wants to play elsewhere. That has likely increased knowing that the direction the Cardinals are going into, they it’s just not a fit anymore. Personally, I still think this man has something to offer a team with playoff aspirations. I really do. I really do. I am a Nolan Arnado fan. I have been for a long time. I hate seeing his play deteriorate the way it has. I hate him being in St. Louis when the Cardinals aren’t winning. That’s a bummer, too. But I think a team with playoff aspirations who are looking for a strong defensive third baseman and a veteran presence who still possesses the fire to compete each day at a at a top level. I I think he can help somebody. The personality, the defense are the selling points. The offensive trajectory and his age is the downside. and the contract. But again, I don’t think where you’re paying him as much as, you know, it’s what 31 million the Cardinals are still on the hook for. I I I don’t think that’s going to deter teams from trying to get him if that’s who they want. We talk about Natto if he’s some old man that he’s pushing 40, but he’s not. He He’s still on the right side of 35 for now. He’s going to be 35 in April, but the bat has regressed tremendously the last three seasons. The power has fallen off a cliff going from 34 home runs in 2021 to 30 to 26 to 16 and then 12 last season. Again, only played in 107 games, but uh it’s not good. The slugging dropped from 533 in 2022 to 459, 394, 377 last season. The OBP was a career low 289 last season. The OPS a devilishly career low 666. Uh the hard hit rate has declined. He was in the 12th percentile in each the last two years where he was in the 75th percentile a decade ago. And as much as we’d love to see the Cardinals make some moves already, they have to deal Aronado first to figure out what the rest of their infield can look like in 2026. Like he’s a big chip that you got to get out of the way so that you can make other moves and make other decisions in my opinion. Um they got to get rid of him. So, which teams are a good fit for him at this point in his career? Uh, Mike Petriello at MLB.com wrote a piece on Sunday that kind of shed some light on this subject. And the first thing he brings up is you got to think about what the free agent market has as far as third base already. And it’s very deja da vuike because once again, there he is freaking Alex Bregman holding things up. He did it last year. held things up so long that uh before deciding to go to Boston that you know that that was one of the spots that we thought Aronado seemed open to going to last year. That shuts the door on that. It was so late where most of the teams had already moved on and gotten the guys they wanted. So, uh there he is again. Bragman opted out. So, he he’s out there again. Auano Suarez coming off that 49 dinger season obviously is a is a fit for somebody looking for a more offensive inclined third baseman than defense. But, uh, Mike also brings up two Japanese players coming over, uh, Munitaka Murakami and Kazuma Okamoto, uh, who he says could be part-time options at third base as well. So, you got to think about them. Their availability will probably hold things up. Like, all four of those guys will probably hold things up again because teams are looking for a third baseman. will want to know where they stand with those free agents first before they start making trades and dealing away from their stack of prospects and players. Now, if he’s asking price is reasonable and the Cardinals are willing to eat enough of his remaining salary, then perhaps Natto gets moved quicker. But if I’m on the other side of things and I’m a team looking to upgrade over at third base, I’d almost certainly be putting bids on these other guys first before moving to the trade block for somebody to fill that role. Now, Mike eliminates the teams that aren’t contenders or already have guys at third base, which left 16 teams. He then listed the Cubs, the Royals, the Dodgers, the Marlins, the Mets, the Yankees, Mariners, Rangers, and Blue Jays as long shots. Not that they can’t happen, but they’re long shots. So, for our purposes here today, we’re going to just move on from those guys. Okay, which brought us down to seven teams remaining. So, let’s go through those in the order that Mike has them in his article at MLB.com. At number seven, he listed the Athletics. Uh he points out that they were an above 500 team in the second half last year. Potent lineup, young lineup, a lot of fun to watch. I thoroughly enjoyed when I had to stay up late and watch the West Coast games for uh MLB game night. The A’s were one of the teams that I loved watching. I enjoyed watching these young guys just mash. It was fun. Uh but they need another option at third base. They were not good. Uh only got 10 home runs from the position. didn’t get very good defense from that position. So, the A’s who are are looking to become better and do some damage in the AL West uh looking to upgrade that third base spot. My take on this is I just can’t imagine Nolan Aronado wanting to play in Sacramento at a minor league park for the next two years. I I don’t see it. Now, if that team was still in Oakland or had already made the switch to Vegas, I think he’d find it way more appealing. The A’s always seem to have good prospects. They got a solid relationship with the Cardinals over the years with deals from Meguire and Mark Moulder and Matt Holiday, but Nado’s got that no trade clause, and I I just cannot see him agreeing to play in a minor league baseball park for for his home team unless all other options have been exhausted and he because I think the West Coast thing is something that he’d be intrigued by being an LA guy, but um I I find that one hard to believe. I think I don’t think the Cardinals have any problems dealing with any of these teams that we’re going to talk about. I just don’t think Nolan Aronado would want to be there. That’s just my opinion. He’s never said that. I It just doesn’t feel like something that he would do in my opinion. So, we got six more teams to go through. We’ll get to him next coming up on Locked on Cardinals. The NBA is back and there is no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you missed the start of the game, that’s fine. You can get in on the action. You can ride the hot hand late in the game by being a part of the live bets that are available on FanDuel. Uh you can bet on basically anything. Who’s going to score next? Fourth quarter comebacks. They got it all there for you. You can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay, which will give you a chance at a bigger payout, which is what we want. You know, the holidays are here. Thanksgiving’s this week. Christmas is going to be right behind that. You need some extra dough. Why not win some with FanDuel? Live bets is where it’s at. You know how you’ll be chatting with friends while you’re watching the games going, I bet this happens next. And if it does, you’re like, see, I told you that could be you. But you would make money off of that. It just keeps the game more exciting, especially when your team is the one making that late push. Right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So simple. Head to fanduel.com, sign up, play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Thanks for making Lock on Cardinals your first listen every day. And thank you for making Locked on the number one sports podcast network. If you enjoy daily Cardinals content, you can follow the podcast on X at Lo_Cardinals. We’re also on YouTube, Tik Tok, and Instagram at locked on Cardinals as well. Number six on Patriello’s list here, he’s got the Pittsburgh Pirates who traded away their third baseman, Key Brian Hayes. Remember when he was like the future of third baseman for Pittsburgh? Like he was going to be the guy still has an outstanding glove. Arguably the best third baseman in baseball defense-wise, but the bat had never come around. So, they swap him to the Reds at the deadline. Uh, and his contract, mind you. Uh Mike points out that you know why the Pirates would be an appealing spot for Aronado and it’s because they have a very good up andcoming pitching staff. Paul Ske obviously is god tier. He’s amazing. They also have Mitch Keller for now. There’s rumors that he’ll get dealt. Uh top pitching prospect. Bubba Chandler looks legit. Jared Jones should be coming back from injury. He was very good but missed last year uh because of that injury. But they desperately need offense, right? you know, they they thought Brian Reynolds was going to carry them. That has not worked. Uh, signing people like Tommy Fam and Andrew McCutchen back. McCutchen, great great to see him in Pittsburgh, but obviously that wasn’t going to be the big enough upgrade that they were going to need. So, they need some offense. Is Nolan Aronado the guy that is going to supply that offense for that lineup? I I He’s just not the guy at this point in his career. And it’s great and all that they’ve talked about spending money. I also saw in the Athletic this morning that uh Ken Rosenthal mentioned them being interested in Cardinals left-handed hitters like Donnie Gorman and N. But they’re still the Pirates, man. They’re the Pirates. And Nolan Aronado is not going to want to go to Pittsburgh. While they try to finally spend money with no track record of doing it well and being good at it, I’m sorry that’s not they might need a third baseman, but Nolan Aronado is not going to go to the Pittsburgh Pirates. He’s not. I’m sorry, dog. It’s going to be a no for me. Number five, the Philadelphia Phillies. Now, lots of changes are are kind of the Phillies are going through some things right now, right? who despite being loaded with talent have yet to cross the finish line at the end of the season as the champion. They look like they’re going to be the best team, you know, with them and the Dodgers. Dodgers are always going to be called the best team, but you know, somebody who could really push the Dodgers and it just hasn’t happened. They haven’t been able to beat them. They uh got a quite a few free agents that they need to resign if they they if they want to. Um headlined by Cal Schwarber. Obviously, that’s a big one. Ranger Suarez, the left-handed pitcher, is a huge one. Harrison Bader, um JT Riomuto, their catcher for so long. Um but Schwarber is the like the the crown jewel. Like Suarez, he was very very good last year, don’t get me wrong, but Schwarber is Kyle Schwarber. Schwarb bombs are a thing. Do they have a nickname for Ranger Suarez starts? I don’t think so. So, I continue to believe that Schwarber is going to end up back in Philadelphia. He just fits so well there. so well. Their style, their clubhouse, but don’t let Reds fans hear you say that because they think he’s going to go to Cincinnati because he’s from the area. Um, he’s going to go where the money is. He’s going to go where the money is and a place he feels comfortable. And I I don’t see why Philly would ever let him leave. I just I can’t imagine it. I I don’t see how they don’t match whatever it is he gets from any other team. The Phillies have Alec Bone at third base right now, who Mike points out was better than Aronado offensively, but says that the Phillies shaking things up this off season could mean that Bow is on the trade block since he’s in the final year of his deal before hitting free agency. We brought up the Phillies last year when talking about best fits for Nolan Aronado. I still think it’s a great fit. The vibes were that they would want somebody over Alec Bow. Like that’s what we’ve been we felt it last year. It felt like it this past year as well that they would prefer to get somebody else in there that it’s just not meshing with him. Why would he want to go to Philly? Winning culture. Winning culture. They’re in a win now window. He’d be going to a hitter friendlier ballpark. The ball flies in Phil. He’ll be around other veteran leaders like Bryce Harper and Trey Turner. Um, he wouldn’t have to be in the spotlight and be the guy that he has been had to be in in St. Louis around a younger, you know, roster where he everybody looking at him. Not everybody going to look at him when he’s in Philly. They got guys to look at. So, I just think he’d be great. I I I believe it’s a great fit. I believed it was last year. I think it still is. We know they can afford him. I I think the Philly atmosphere would reinvigorate him and you’d see a much better version of Nolan Aronado in 2026 than what you’ve seen the last couple seasons in St. Louis. But got to move on from Alec Bumper. So, he’s in the way. Uh at number four, he’s got the Detroit Tigers, who admittedly I was wrong about the last couple years. Hands up, I was wrong. Anybody else wrong about the Detroit Tigers? Uh, they surprise people in 2024. I didn’t see that coming. I was making fun of Jack Flity on this very show saying, “Oh man, see what happens.” You get all cocky and you end up in Detroit and then he goes to Detroit and is awesome and wins and then goes to the Dodgers and wins a title. So, I ate a lot of crow there and I apologize to you, Jack Flity. Uh, but yeah, Detroit I I just didn’t see this coming and after 2024, I’m like, “Well, let’s see if they can do it again.” and they did in 2025. They were the best team in the league for much of the year. They kind of petered out down the the stretch there, but they’ve become winners, which is why I didn’t think Aronata would want to be there in the first place because Detroit didn’t have a track record of winning recently, but they do now. They do now. And I I think Aronata would love that. Um, they also brought back Glaver Torres, which Mike points out is now going to change things a little bit because it leaves them a lot of options at third base. Plus, they might want to get back in on the Alex Bregman sweep stakes because they were in it last year. I don’t hate the fit for Aronado in Detroit at all, but if I switch roles and say, you know, if I’m the Tigers, I’m kind of trying younger, cheaper options and saving my money to resign that one guy. What’s his name? TK Scubble. I would rather sign him than trade for Nolan Aronado. If I’m going to put my funds into something, go ahead and give me the twotime Sai Young award winner backto back Al Sai Young award winner Terk School. That’s where I’m putting my money and I’ll figure out third base with some younger options. Uh at number three, Mike has got the Boston Red Sox and the first thing he brings up is freaking Alex Bregman. There he is again, who was their third baseman last year but opted out of his deal this off season because he wants more. Um, if he leaves Boston, that would leave Boston with uh Marcelo Mayor, who top-notch prospect, no doubt. But Mike brings up there’s been some issues with him because he’s missed the last two months of the season after right wrist surgery, making his third consecutive season that ended due to injury. After a back injury, knocked him out in 24, had a shoulder in 23. injury concerns. When it keeps happening to some guy, sometimes you’re like, “Dude, I don’t know, man. I don’t know if we could trust this dude.” Uh, he also points out that he’s a natural shortstop who might also end up at second base. So, he’s not locked in to third base. Now, I continue to believe, as I believed with Philly, that Nolan Aronado, even at this point in his career, would be a good fit in Boston. And I think he would thrive at Finway Park. I just do. And I think it would also be the Boston atmosphere that would help him. Like the atmosphere in St. Louis has sucked the last two years. And you guys know this. This is not me ripping you for not showing up at the games, but it sucks. It sucks at a Bush Stadium game right now. It’s not a lot of fun to be at. Boston is always packed. It is always packed. It screams perfect fit for me. He’d love the town, the fans, the ballpark, the rivalries with the Yankees, nationally televised games all the time. If I’m Nolan Aronado and I had a choice of all these teams that were listing here in like the top five, this is where I would want to go. Baseball-wise, I thought it was a great fit last year. I think it it is again this year, but Bregman’s got to get out. If Bregman is still there, there’s no need for Nolan Aronado. So, uh, that’s two places that still have third baseman kind of there. Alec Bulma is still there in Philly. Bregman, obviously Boston’s going to talk to him about bringing him back. So, uh, we’ll have to wait on that. At number two, he has got the Arizona Diamondbacks. Uh, and this one is very interesting. They did not make the playoffs last year, but they got close. Remember, they went on that surge. They were almost there. A lot of fun. young talent still there, but nothing really intriguing at third base when you look at it. Uh Mike brings up that after they traded Auano Suarez to the Mariners, Bla1 Alexander and one of their top prospects, Jordan Lawler, ended up filling the role at third base, but doesn’t think either of them is really a good fit at third base. And that Lawler is actually, who was playing shorts stop, is actually getting uh who’s a short stop coming up outfield rep. So they might move him out there, which makes me wonder, Lordis Guriel Jr., is he available? Is that somebody the Cardinal should think about in a return? I just throwing it out there. But it certainly makes sense for Arizona that you bring in a veteran like Nolan Aronado. I think Natto would respect the the winning that they’ve done over the over the years. Puts him back in the NL West. Very comfortable there. Back like his day in his Colorado days. And and let me throw this one in there. his buddy Paul Goldmid, free agent again. I brought up that Paul Goldmid would be a nice fit in Arizona again. Why not bring him home? Could we see a reunion with Goldie and Aronado in the desert? Is that a possibility? Would that be fun? Would those two guys coming in help some of these young dudes? You get two vets at the corners with guys like, you know, your offense is already led by guys like Corbin Carroll, Katel Marte, Heraldo Predomo. You already got those guys in place. The meat of your offense is already there. Those are two veteran pieces that you could bring in. Well, that makes sense. I think it seems like a good fit to be honest with you. Something I would certainly look into if I was Arizona. So, that’s a that’s a possibility as well. We’re going to reveal his number one team and give you a trade scenario that was brought to me. We’ll we’ll do that next on Locked on Cardons. The NFL season is back and honestly, there’s nothing better than being in the stadium surrounded by fans cheering on your team. But let’s be honest, getting tickets that can be a hassle. You got to deal with a lot of goofy stuff. The login screens, the cues, how about prices jumping up at checkout when you don’t expect it? very very frustrating. That’s why I use Game Time. As soon as I found Game Time, I knew that I was in the right place. It’s the app that gives the advantage back to fans. It’s fast, it’s easy, it’s backed by the Game Time guarantee. 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Thanks for making Lock on Cardinal your first listen every day. For your second listen, check out Locked on MLB hosted by my guy Sully. brings you a daily blend of humor in baseball throughout the off season. You can lock uh you’ll find locked on MLB. It’s available on YouTube or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. Give it a whirl. Uh last team that Mike brings up here. He’s got the Angels. And here’s what Mike says about the fit with the Angels for Nolan Aronado. Uh this might be it. This might be the spot. The Angels 72 and 90 last year and having missed the playoffs for the past 11 seasons might not be an obvious landing spot for a player hoping to find a contender, but they continue to operate as though they are. And the addition of Grayson Rodriguez surely opened some eyes across the sport. With Anthony Rendone completely out of the mix, the Angels had baseball’s weakest third base situation in 2025, a last place ranking they’re projected to repeat in 2026. Although Aronado grew up in Southern California as a Dodgers fan, he attended high school in Lake Forest, which is far closer to Angel Stadium than it is Dodger Stadium. If he wants to get back home, he’ll never have a better chance than this. Now, um I’ve discussed a deal with John from Locked on Angels before. Uh we first brought up the idea near the end of the season last year. We’re like, who are some guys? How can we how can we flip this? And the idea at first was Taylor Ward coming back to St. Louis in exchange for Nolan Aronado to help with their need for a right-handed hitter with some pop. But he’s now in Baltimore. So John switched it up and said, “What about Jorge Solair?” Now hear me out. Hear me out before you say no. I know he had a back issue last year which wiped out half of last season and only played outfield in half those games that he did play in, but in 2024 he had an OPS plus of 120. The previous year he popped 36 home runs and had an OPS of 123. The Cardinals outfield lacks thump from the right side. Unless Jordan Walker wakes up and does his own, speaking of other Angels, does his Joe Odell impression and uh has a massive year like Joe Adell did last season and finally broke out for the Angels. Um they don’t have anything from the right hand side in that outfield. You’ve got Ivon Herrera, you got Wilson Contras, those are your your thumpers from the right side on the infield, but you ain’t got Bupus in the outfield again, unless Jordan Walker comes to life finally, and nobody knows if that’s ever going to happen. Solair is also a free agent after the season, so you’re not tied up moving forward. What do you think? I had to think about it a little bit. I was like, hold on, let me just All right, let me wrap my brain around this for a second. It’s still a no for me. It’s still a no for me because I don’t know or I don’t trust what Jorge I don’t trust Jorge Solair’s passion for baseball at this point in his career. It seems like the only time he really does anything good is when he’s with the Atlanta Braves. So, Atlanta should just take him and move on from there. But, it was fun to talk about at least. Uh, you know, he brought it up and I was like, but I’m going to say no. Maybe one of you thinks yes. I let me know down below. But those are the teams. Those are the teams. When you break it all down, you go through the league. I got I got Philly, Boston, and the Dbacks as my top fits. But what do you think? Leave your comments and your thoughts in the section down below. The comment section is there. Hit me up on X if you want to as well. Um, where do you think he could go? You know, Philly and Boston both have problems because Philly’s got a third baseman. They got to move on from him first. Would you exchange Bow for Aronado and have one year of Alec Bal? No, not really. Because the fact is you want to open up a lane for Gorman or JJ. So you you can’t get a third baseman in return. So because people have brought that up to me, I’m like, “No, that doesn’t really work.” Uh Boston’s got to figure out their Bregman stuff. That guy needs to go away. He’s he’s screwing up all our plans. And then the Dbacks, I That seems kind of nice. Seems kind of nice. So um leave your thoughts down below. Quickly, the Cardinals non-tender four players over the weekend. uh Joel Poso, left-handed reliever John King, injured minor league starter Sim Roberts, reliever Jorge Alcala, whom they already designated for assignment, so not a big loss there. Uh but they’re all free agents now, but there have been reports from people who cover the Cardinals that Poso could return to the team on a minor league deal. Uh that was something that Jeff Jones when he was uh on the show not too long ago, last time he was on here, he said, “Yeah, Poso’s probably out, but they want to bring him back. They like him. They they love his ability to pinch hit. He’s still a catcher. I don’t know what that means. Like like great, you’re just gonna have him as a pinch hitter. I need something else. I need I need I need more depth on my bench than just a third catcher that was able to knock in seven runs as a pinch hitter. Like I need more than that. But they like him in the organization. So he could be somebody that uh plays down at Memphis and then if they need him, they bring him up because we still have a lot of questions about what Ivon Herrera is as a catcher. Um, King very serviceable with the Cardinals and I thank him for his service, but I I want an upgrade in the bullpen from the left-handed side and there are some solid ones available out there, some guys that, you know, the Cardinals could look to sign and then flip at the trade deadline if things aren’t going well. U, but I I think the Cardinals offer because they’ve had success with bullpen art. So, I think they offer a nice spot for guys, veterans who are looking to jump start their career again. Um, and it doesn’t mean these guys had to had to not be good, but looking for a spot that they would be comfortable in and maybe even get some some closing opportunities. Who knows? Um, but that’s the route I would go with the bullpen. I’m I’m not I’m I’m cool with John King being out of there. Uh, you got Romero. It’s very thin left-handed wise, though. It’s Romero and uh Nick Raqu uh on the on the 40man roster. So that’s that’s it as far as relievers go. Uh Robertson was part of that trade by John Mosak who acquired him and Adam Cloffenstein for the Blue Jays for Jordan Hicks. Both were decent prospects at the time. Remember when they got them and Robertson went like inside the Cardinals top 10 prospects right away. Cloffenstein was also in the top 30 on MLB pipeline. Neither of them have panned out. Uh, so in hindsight, that trade absolutely sucked. That was a terrible trade big time. They got nothing for Jordan Hicks. So that’s sad. And then Alcala, as I mentioned, was already out, so whatever. Uh, John Denon points out the Cardinals now have seven players who are eligible for contract arbitration. Jojo, Donovan, Nupar, Plante, Libby, Gorman, Earl, Nolan Arnado, Sunny Gray, and Wilson Contrarus have fully guaranteed veteran contracts, while 27 other players on the 40man were tendered pre-arbitration level contracts. So, by my count, that leaves 37 names on the 40man roster, which is where they were like last week before they added the rule five eligible guys to protect. in Cooper Jerpy, Bryson Mottz, uh Joshua Bayz, and Leonardo Bernal. So, that’s where we’re at roster-wise. Also, this quick nugget, teams might try Ryan Hley as a starter. I know that there’s been some talk of people who thought that was a good idea here in St. Louis. I don’t want any part of that. I I still think the Cardinals are going to talk to him, but it adds another layer of intrigue to him uh in free agency for sure if certain teams are like, “Hey, let’s let’s move you to to the starter role.” How are you a starter with two pitches? He only throws two pitches, a fast ball and a slider. How do you do it? Is he going to start throwing his uh 126 curve again? Is he picking something else up again? I don’t know how that makes sense, but personally, I’m ready for new blood. I don’t I don’t need Ryan Hley back. If they were going to bring him back, I want him in the bullpen. I’m not putting him as a starter and remaking his career at age 31 or whatever he is now. So, I’m not in on that, but you know, other people are. Thanks for making Cardinals your first listen every day. If you haven’t already, please give us a follow on X at l_cardinals and at JD Sports Radio, Tik Tok and Instagram, locked on Cardinals. Like, subscribe on YouTube if you haven’t already. I appreciate you. You’ll help uh uh our show and our our love for the Cardinals grow. You guys are the best fans in baseball for a reason. I’ll see you next time on Locked on Cardinals.

St. Louis Cardinals prepare for a seismic shift as Nolan Arenado’s days at Busch Stadium appear numbered. Which playoff contenders are best positioned to land the future Hall of Famer, and what could his departure mean for a retooling Cardinals infield? Is a blockbuster move to the Angels, Phillies, Red Sox, or Diamondbacks imminent—and would a reunion with Paul Goldschmidt in Arizona spark an NL West resurgence?

https://www.mlb.com/news/counting-down-trade-fits-for-nolan-arenado

00:00 “Cardinals Updates & Nolan Arenado”

05:17 “Bregman’s Impact on Free Agency”

06:12 “Third Base Market Options Analyzed”

12:13 Pirates’ Offensive Upgrade Dilemma

14:11 Arenado’s Future: Phillies or Elsewhere?

17:13 Tigers’ Moves: Third Base Debate

20:10 “Bregman’s Future: Boston or Arizona?”

24:07 “Arenado’s Potential Angels Fit”

29:13 Cardinals Bullpen: Seeking Lefty Upgrade

31:47 “Ryan Helsley: Starter or Reliever?”

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