The St. Louis Cardinals have seemingly entered a full-scale rebuild this offseason. They’ve already traded Willson Contreras and Sonny Gray to the Boston Red Sox in a pair of deals. But they could look to make a few more moves to help set the team up for success in the future.
Nolan Arenado is seemingly the next player the Cardinals will try to trade. He’s attached to a huge contract, but the Cardinals need to get him off the roster in order to continue their rebuild.
FanSided’s Christopher Kline suggested the Cardinals could trade Arenado to the division rival Cubs in the coming weeks.
“This would require the St. Louis Cardinals eating a significant chunk of the $31 million Nolan Arenado is owed over the next two seasons,” Kline wrote. “That said, Arenado fits the Chicago Cubs’ M.O. rather perfectly. He’s an exceptional defender at third base, even as he ages into his mid-30s. The defensive quartet of Arenado, Dansby Swanson, Nico Hoerner and Michael Busch would give Chicago one of the best infields in MLB.”
The Cubs are likely going to lose Kyle Tucker to free agency, and they need to make some moves to make up for it.
Adding Arenado would be very inexpensive, assuming the Cardinals are willing to eat a large chunk of his contract.
Arenado isn’t a slugger at this point in his career, but he’s still an excellent defender. There’s a chance the Cubs could help the veteran get back to his productive ways at the plate, too. Either way, adding a veteran like Arenado would be low risk for the Cubs.
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