Potential Nolan Arenado Trade 'Depends On Cardinals Financial Retention'

The St. Louis Cardinals reportedly attempted to trade veteran third baseman Nolan Arenado during the offseason, but nothing ever came to fruition.

Arenado has a no-trade clause on his contract that allows him to block a deal to any team he doesn't want to be traded to. There's also quite a bit of money left on his contract to be sorted out in a potential trade.

CBS Sports' R.J. Anderson recently discussed Arenado as a potential trade chip, and it all seems to boil down to the money.

"The Cardinals are close enough to a playoff spot that it's hard to envision them selling at the deadline," Anderson wrote. "Were they to fall a few games back over the coming weeks, moving (or at least attempting to move) what remains on Arenado's contract would become appealing. (He's due $32 million next season, $27 million in 2026, and then $15 million in 2027.)

"Arenado remains a talented defensive third baseman, but his bat might be a hair below league-average anymore. He's still adept at connecting at high rate, yet all of his power these days stems from being pull-obsessive and he doesn't walk a ton. Potential landing spots: Depends on Cardinals' financial retention."

At the end of the day, an Arenado trade is always going to depend on the money. If the Cardinals can't find a team willing to take on the veteran's contract that's also on his short list of preferred landing spots, then a deal will never come to life.

A potential Arenado trade is likely going to be on hold until next offseason. At that point, the Cardinals and Arenado could re-evaluate the idea.