Sep 19, 2025; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado (28) celebrates with first baseman Alec Burleson (41) after the Cardinals defeated the Milwaukee Brewers at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

Cardinals Get Bad News In Nolan Arenado Sweepstakes

Originally posted on St. Louis Cardinals on SI
By Patrick McAvoy | Last updated Jan 8, 2026 8:12 AM ET

The Nolan Arenado market has not been moving yet this offseason.

Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat reported earlier in the week that the St. Louis Cardinals are expecting to have to include at least $15 million in a trade to send Arenado out of town. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted that as long as Alex Bregman and Eugenio Suarez are available, the Cardinals are going to be "waiting on that market to move."

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Things haven't lined up yet for the organization. Bregman and Suarez are still out there for the taking and one team that has been a reported fit for the third baseman has been shut down. On Wednesday, Jon Heyman of the New York Post hosted a live stream for Bleacher Report where he discussed all of the latest happenings of the MLB offseason. Unsurprisingly, Arenado was brought up along with the Los Angeles Angels, the club that has been most connected to him in rumors.

What will the Cardinals do with Arenado?

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Heyman shut the idea down, though.

"My understanding is he does not want to go there, that’s number one," Heyman said. "And number two, they don’t want to pay. So not gonna happen, I don’t believe.”

The Angels are the team on paper that makes the most sense for Arenado. He's from the area and the Angels just restructured Anthony Rendon's contract to essentially end his stint with the organization. There's a hole at third base and they had interest in Arenado last offseason.

The Angels are a long way from contention, so that would make sense for a reason not to want to go there. Why leave a Cardinals team that arguably is in a better position than Los Angeles is? That's a fair argument.

Cardinals president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom has shut down the idea of a release on a handful of occasions this offseason. At this point, it's unclear what the market holds. The Cardinals should be hoping that Bregman and Suarez sign soon to open things up.

This article first appeared on St. Louis Cardinals on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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