Now that the baseball preamble is over, the thrills of the hot stove league can get underway. The Los Angeles Dodgers Game 5 comeback win boosted them to a World Series championship and also officially lit the pilot light on baseball’s transaction season. Decisions regarding team options are due Monday and the St. Louis Cardinals then will officially decline the options for Lance Lynn and Keynan Middleton and also reveal their decision regarding Kyle Gibson. Next week is also the general managers’ meetings in San Antonio, and it’s at that gathering where much of the negotiating and trade conversation which will define the winter gets underway. The Cardinals have made no secret of their desire to shed salary, and three veteran stars with control over potential trade destinations will be at the center of those conversations. Each of Nolan Arenado, Willson Contreras and Sonny Gray will have the opportunity to be shopped and shipped if they desire it. Each has also been available to other clubs relatively recently, and from that there is an ability to look at the broader contours of those markets before the Cardinals have a true sense of their trade reality.
His offense dropped precipitously in 2024 but he rebounded from a disappointing 2023 to post an elite defensive season, and in a winning environment with the support of strong clubhouse leaders, he could very well fulfill his end of the value proposition around his deal. Like Contreras and Gray, Arenado’s no-trade clause puts him at the center of the conversation. When the Cardinals acquired him prior to the 2021 season, he engineered the deal in large part because he had only one (realistic) desired destination. Should the same dynamic emerge this winter, the Cardinals may find themselves accepting a depleted talent return in the name of cost savings. The west coast is home for Arenado, and the Dodgers front office not-so-subtly leaked their interest in him in the midst of the miserable 2023 season. That was at a time before they acquired and committed to Shohei Ohtani as their designated hitter, creating some roster complications should Arenado eat into Max Muncy’s playing time at third. Still, Muncy has only one more year after next season left on his deal, and the Dodgers could see upgrade potential.
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