The St. Louis Cardinals have several goals this offseason as they enter year two of their rebuild. They have already traded Willson Contreras and Sonny Gray to the Boston Red Sox. Now, Nolan Arenado, JoJo Romero and Brendan Donovan could be next.
The top priority for St. Louis the past two winters has been to trade Arenado, but there have been other factors at play that have prevented it from happening.
Once again, Alex Bregman’s market is complicating things for Arenado, and this time, the Cardinals’ hated rivals, the Chicago Cubs could be a major thorn in their sides. Chicago has reportedly had “many conversations with Scott Boras about Alex Bregman.”
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Cubs Could Pose Major Problem For Cardinals
Sep 23, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado (28) runs home after his solo home run against the San Francisco Giants during the seventh inning at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Eakin Howard-Imagn Images | Eakin Howard-Imagn Images
Because Bregman is the top third baseman available in free agency, this complicates things for the Cardinals. Trading Arenado is much harder as a result.
The Cubs also aren’t the only team showing interest in Bregman. The Arizona Diamondbacks and Toronto Blue Jays remain in contact with Boras about the star third baseman.
Trading Arenado would allow the Cardinals to at least clear some of his remaining salary and open up a roster spot for a younger player or two. But now the Cubs are one of the top suitors for Bregman, and the more teams that show interest in Bregman, the harder it gets for St. Louis to move Arenado.
As a result, the Cardinals may be forced to hold onto Arenado. If Bregman’s market drags out again, then it would be hard to imagine much of a market forming for Arenado, which means St. Louis might just be stuck with him for the final two years of his contract, even though he wants to play for a championship contender and leave St. Louis.
Eugenio Suarez is also a free agent, and his market could get in the way of what the Cardinals are trying to do with their star third baseman, so they face quite a few roadblocks as a result of this.
It will be interesting to see how each market shapes up, but Arenado depends on Bregman again, and the Cubs’ interest in Bregman makes things that much more difficult for the Cardinals in terms of actually being able to trade Arenado to another team.
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