No trade clauses are perhaps the worst thing in Major League Baseball for teams like the St. Louis Cardinals, with players they want to move who are on expensive deals.
For Nolan Arenado, that was the problem once again.
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According to a recent report from MLB.com’s John Denton, that was something that came up during the deadline. Denton reported that the star third baseman and president of baseball operations, John Mozeliak, had a talk before the deadline, and Arenado wasn’t willing to change his stance on where he wanted to be traded.
"All indications are that 3B Nolan Arenado will remain with the Cardinals through today’s deadline, per a source familiar with the negotiations. Arenado met recently with POBO John Mozeliak and there has been no change in the list of teams he would accept a trade to as of now," Denton shared.
During the offseason, the Cardinals believed they had a chance to trade him to the Houston Astros. The deal seemed to be done, but Arenado eventually decided to pull his no-trade clause card and denied the deal.
Not only is this something the front office has to continue to worry about as they look to trade him, but there are other factors that have to be considered.
For instance, consider the Astros, who traded for Carlos Correa during the deadline. Instead of the Astros now being a potential landing spot for Arenado during the winter, that takes him away.
Other teams will continue to improve before he’s traded with this saga, which could force the Cardinals to hold onto him for the full contract term.