Third baseman Nolan Arenado is a logical trade candidate with the Cardinals planning a reset year. As the Cards assess the interest, Katie Woo of The Athletic reports that Arenado is willing to move to first base with a new club, or at least play the hot corner less often.
Arenado has long voiced a desire to compete, which is what spurred his trade from Colorado to St. Louis years ago. He also declined an opportunity to opt-out of his contract after 2022, seemingly content with the Cardinals’ status as perennial contenders. But their performance has sagged in recent years, causing them to pivot to a focus on player development and less on immediate contention, at least for 2025 but perhaps longer.
With that near-term future outlook, it makes sense to consider trading some players that aren’t part of the long-term plans. Arenado is turning 34 years old in April and has three years left on his contract, so there’s logic to the club making him available. He has a no-trade clause but it makes sense that he would have some openness to waiving it, given his desire to compete and win. Woo reports that Arenado has not demanded a trade but was receptive to the idea when president of baseball operations John Mozeliak discussed it with him.
It’s not uncommon for players to be willing to change positions in order to expand their possible landing spots. This offseason, free agents like third baseman Alex Bregman and shortstop Willy Adames are reportedly willing to move to other infield spots. Both are strong defenders at their positions, but it’s a sensible tactic in keeping one’s market as wide open as possible.
With Arenado, it makes a little bit less sense. Over the past couple of years, his offense has declined but he has still been a valuable player thanks to his third base defense. He has slashed .269/.320/.426 over the two most recent campaigns, offense that translates to a 104 wRC+, barely above league average. However, FanGraphs has still calculated him as being worth about three wins above replacement in each those seasons (2.7 in 2023 and 3.1 in 2024), thanks to his strong glovework.
Arenado has never played a position other than third, though he probably wouldn’t have much trouble moving across the diamond since first base is generally considered a less demanding position. But that would also deprive him of his best asset at this point in his career, unless his bat can rebound in a big way.
His willingness to move could perhaps be a factor if a club already had an excellent third baseman, with Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat (Bluesky link) speculating that the Padres are one such club. That team has Manny Machado, a strong third baseman in his own right, entrenched at third base as a franchise cornerstone. He is under contract for almost another decade, through 2033.
They have a bit less certainty at first base. Jake Cronenworth and Luis Arráez got most of the playing time there in 2024 but both are capable of playing second base. The Padres had Xander Bogaerts at the keystone for much of 2024 but he moved back to shortstop when Ha-Seong Kim got injured, and Kim is now a free agent. Arráez is also not a great defender, at secord or first base, so perhaps he would best fit in the designated hitter slot.
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