Brewers' rebuilding division rival growing desperate with veteran trade candidate

The St. Louis Cardinals have entered a rebuild. It's a sentence that is not often written, but for the first time in recent history, the Milwaukee Brewers' division rivals are sacrificing short-term success for long-term sustainability. It's music to the ears of the rest of the NL Central and their fanbases who have had to witness the Redbirds stubbornly churn out winning season after winning season this century. In fact, since the 2000 season, St. Louis has endured just three losing campaigns, two of which have come in the last three years. Prior to 2023, the Cardinals had just one losing season this century in 2007, which followed a 2006 World Series championship.

However, all of that is behind us now, and with the Brewers running the NL Central for the last three seasons, St. Louis was forced to take a hard look at their roster and decide that without major changes that prioritized future success over immediate wins, they wouldn't stand a chance to compete with the Milwaukee machine.

The rebuild is already underway, with newly appointed President of Baseball Operations Chaim Bloom, known best for his tear down of the Boston Red Sox following their 2018 World Series title (which is already yielding impressive results for the BoSox), already shipping out two veterans who were key parts of the Cardinals' roster during the last several seasons. Bloom, taking advantage of his connections in Boston, sent Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras to the Red Sox in two separate deals prior to the holiday season.

However, shipping two players to Boston is hardly the end of the mass exodus in Missouri, with several trade candidates still expected to part ways with the Cardinals before the 2026 season arrives. One such player, 2025 All-Star Brendan Donovan, has been very popular on the trade market, with the Seattle Mariners just recently revealing that they are willing to part with their top pitching prospect Jurrangelo Cijntje to acquire the Cardinals' infielder, according to a report from Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. But while Donovan's market heats up, a player who Bloom would much rather unload from the team's 2026 roster is yet to garner the type of attention on the trade market that St. Louis was hoping for.

According to The Athletic, there is currently little interest in Nolan Arenado on the trade market

It's no secret that the Cardinals have been trying to offload Nolan Arenado in recent years, with reports surfacing last offseason that St. Louis had a deal in place with the Houston Astros before the veteran third baseman waived his no-trade clause. Arenado, an 8x All-Star and perennial MVP candidate for much of his career, appears to have passed his prime after seeing his OPS+ dip below league average in 2025 -- the first time it has done so since his rookie campaign back in 2013 (not including the shortened 2020 season).

The now-34-year-old Arenado has seen a sharp dip in his power numbers over the past two seasons, producing just 28 total home runs in the 2024 and 2025 seasons combined. Additionally, his glove is no longer the elite one that earned him 10 Gold Glove Awards in his first 10 seasons in MLB. Some have even suggested that a move to first base might be coming for Arenado, who is considered one of the best defensive third basemen of all time.

It's perhaps unsurprising then, given the concerning nature of Arenado's recent performance, that Will Sammon and Katie Woo of The Athletic recently reported that, "the Cardinals’ attempts to trade Arenado have seemingly ground to a halt." The duo goes on to discuss that the roughly $40 million remaining on Arenado's contract is the main reason teams are unwilling to swing a deal for the aging infielder; Arenado is unlikely to match that value on the field over the last two seasons of his deal. Therefore, any deal that St. Louis executes involving Arenado will require them to pay down a significant portion of his remaining salary, with the exact amount being determined by the prospect price that is paid by the acquiring team.

St. Louis was reluctant to use the strategy of covering some of their departing stars' salaries as a way to clear them from their roster before Bloom took over, but the Cardinals included cash in both the Gray and Contreras trades, signaling a change in belief that coincides with the beginning of their new president's tenure.

Sammon and Woo also noted in their article that the presence of Alex Bregman on the free agent market is likely holding up Arenado's trade market, with many potential suitors viewing the latter as a back-up plan should they fail to land the longtime Astro this winter.

Bloom and the Cardinals' front office are very motivated to move Arenado this offseason, and the fact that his market is dry right now is good news for Brewers fans who are hoping that St. Louis ends up having to settle for a bad trade this winter.