6 trade fits for Nolan Arenado that make sense

Nolan Arenado is on a Hall of Fame path. The 33-year-old is an eight-time All-Star and a 10-time Gold Glove Award winner, and -- despite a slight downtick at the plate last year -- still someone who can be a solid contributor to a team in hot pursuit of a World Series title.

That team, however, might not be the Cardinals, who are retooling this offseason and focusing on their young players in a goal to build the next dynasty in St. Louis. That could leave Arenado outside of their 2025 plans, and there are reports that they have approached him about potentially waiving his no-trade clause and spending the final three years of his current contract in another uniform. (Arenado is owed $74 million during that time, with the Rockies covering $10 million.)

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Arenado has not asked to be traded, but he does seem amenable to waiving that no-trade clause for the right situation. What would that be? It would seem to require a specific set of conditions: A team willing to take on his salary (or at least some of it), a team with an opening at third base and a team that is highly motivated to win right now.

How many teams would be on that list? To our eyes, there are six that stand out from the pack. Here they are, in alphabetical order.

Astros
Arenado, a Southern California native, has long been connected to the Dodgers, but there isn’t a natural fit for him on the defending champs’ roster. The better fit might be the American League’s juggernaut of the last decade. This is contingent, of course, on the Astros not being able to bring back Alex Bregman. If they don’t, Arenado is the ideal candidate to take over the hot corner in Houston: someone who will make roughly (if not a little less) than Bregman will make for the next three years but won’t require a commitment beyond that. Arenado would have the opportunity to compete for the playoffs every year, and the inviting Crawford Boxes at the newly dubbed Daikin Park would be a nice fit for his pull-centric approach. If Bregman leaves, what’s not to like?

Blue Jays
You kind of have to include the Blue Jays in any conversation here, given the urgency the team has shown by going after Juan Soto in free agency (a year after heavily pursuing Shohei Ohtani). This is a team clearly trying to win before its core hits free agency, and Arenado can help. The Blue Jays have an obvious hole at third base, and Arenado could pair with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette to form a star infield trio. There might be some worries about the final two years of Arenado’s deal if Guerrero leaves after 2026 … though not if Toronto gets Soto first.

Phillies
C’mon now: Arenado is a respected veteran, in his 30s, known for being beloved by his teammates who has said his one explicit goal is to win a World Series over the back half of his career. How is he not already a Phillie? The reason, currently anyway, is that the Phillies have Alec Bohm over at third base, but, for all the progress that Bohm has made over the last couple of years (and all the journey he has been on with those fans), he also has been discussed repeatedly as a trade candidate this offseason. It’s difficult to argue Arenado wouldn’t be an upgrade, and the Phillies have been very clear about their goals: win a World Series before everybody on the roster is too old to make a run at one anymore. Arenado lines up perfectly with those goals. Maybe they want to stick with Bohm. But Arenado has to be tempting for them … and you know he would love playing with those guys.

Red Sox
Boston has a little bit more of a crowd to clear out for Arenado than some of the other teams on this list. After all, they have a 28-year-old star in Rafael Devers at third base. But Devers is reaching the point in his career where moving him to first base is starting to make more and more sense, given his consistently below-average defense at the hot corner. That would seem like a slight problem, too, considering the presence of first baseman Triston Casas, who will be in his age-25 season. But after a year in which Casas played only 63 games due to injury -- and wasn’t quite the hitter he was in his rookie year -- there is all sorts of smoke that the Red Sox might be willing to trade him for pitching help. That would open up a spot for Devers, and therefore Arenado. The Red Sox have been hinting that they’re ready to start thinking with more urgency, and more aggressively, than they have been willing to in recent years. (Heck, they’re making a serious run at Soto.) Bringing in someone like Arenado -- who could take aim at the Green Monster -- would be a clear sign that they’re trying to win, immediately.

Tigers
The leap the Tigers made in 2024, thanks largely to their blistering-hot September, has upped the ante in Detroit, and they’re ready to start adding some experience to a still-young roster. Is Arenado that veteran piece who could help them take the next step? The Tigers have some decisions to make on young infielders Spencer Torkelson and Jace Jung -- where they play, or how much they stick with them -- and if they get impatient, or just want to show that they’re serious by bringing in a player of Arenado’s caliber and reputation, this could make some sense (especially given the need for a righty bat). The question here is whether the Tigers are quite ready to take on the risk of what Arenado looks like in three years, and how that fits with their roster’s age.

Yankees
Arenado’s pull-happy tendencies wouldn’t help him much at Yankee Stadium, and a lefty bat might make more sense in the Bronx. On the other hand, as you may have noticed from the postseason, the Yankees have a few defensive deficiencies. Putting Arenado at third would help a bunch there, particularly since it would allow Jazz Chisholm Jr. to shift back to second base, his more natural position. Of course, just about everything the Yankees do this offseason will depend on what happens with Soto, but Arenado does seem to make some sense here. They will, after all, have to do something.