After unsuccessfully trading Nolan Arenado, the star third baseman has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a shoulder injury. It still remains somewhat uncertain what the St. Louis Cardinals tried to do at the deadline, but they certainly didn't do enough.
In a buyer's market, the Cardinals could’ve completely gutted their roster, but instead, they kept the veteran around.
It's very likely that Arenado didn't get traded for a few different reasons, as he has a no-trade clause and is making $275 million. It isn't exactly like there were many teams lined up to trade for a player on that type of contract.
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However, after this injury, some believe the writing could be on the wall, including FanSided’s Josh Jacobs, who noted that it’s possible that Arenado could've already played his last game in a Cardinals jersey.
“The Cardinals did not provide a timetable for his return, and this may be a bit 'tinfoil hat' of me, but I honestly don't know if we'll see Arenado again this season. My guess is that we will, since Arenado loves playing baseball and we have no indication that the injury is too significant to return from this season, but as the Cardinals try to give as much runway to young players as possible down the stretch, not having to fit Arenado into the lineup would be helpful in doing so,” he wrote.
The Cardinals could look to trade him during the offseason, but being a year older, there's also a great chance that no other team will want him at that point, either.
It's something they have to consider over the next few months, but ultimately, the Cardinals aren't exactly in the best spot to move on from him.