Cardinals $260 Million Star Called Surprise Fit For Orioles Via Trade

The St. Louis Cardinals have a lot of attractive talent for the trade market.

This winter surely will be an active one for the Cardinals, but not in the ways fans likely hope it would be. The Cardinals aren't going to make many major splashes to improve the team in the short term. Instead, it has been reported that the Cardinals plan on lowering payroll by trading high-priced veterans to bolster the farm system.

Nolan Arenado already has been mentioned as someone who could attract interest this winter in the trade market. This isn't too surprising because he has three years left on his $260 million deal and still can help a team.

He now is 33 years old, but still is fantastic defensively and has some pop in his bat. He didn't have a great offensive season to his standards in 2024, but he did finish with 16 home runs, 71 RBIs, and a .272/.325/.394 slash line.

Any team would be lucky to have him and FanSided's Tim Smart surprisingly mentioned the Baltimore Orioles as a trade fit.

"However, the surprising news that Cardinals' third baseman Nolan Arenado could be hitting the trade market this winter might have Orioles' GM Mike Elias thinking twice about Baltimore's infield needs," Smart said. "On paper, Arenado isn't a perfect fit in Baltimore. For one, the Orioles already have the trio of Gunnar Henderson, Jordan Westburg, and Jackson Holliday essentially locked into the left side of the infield. And for another, Arenado just had one of the worst years of his career at the plate in St. Louis...

"Because of his no-trade clause, it'll be tough to put together a trade package that both works for St. Louis and gets Arenado to agree to a deal. If he's looking to head to a team with a chance to win in 2025, though, it's tough to find a better spot than Baltimore...Pairing Arenado with Henderson on the left side of the infield would make for an elite defensive duo. It would also free up Westburg to handle the everyday second base duties and relieve most of the pressure from having to watch Holliday struggle as an everyday player at such a young age."

Could a deal actually happen involving the Cardinals star?