Since John Mozeliak made it clear that he intends to trade Nolan Arenado this winter, I think it’s safe to say that most Cardinals fans have been waiting in anticipation for that move to happen. Heck, it almost did.

The Cardinals and Astros had a deal lined up that would send Arenado to Houston, and it wasn’t until Arenado said no that the deal fell through. His reasoning was partly that he didn’t want to make a rash decision early in the offseason. But as we move towards the later months of the offseason, it’s clear that there’s one thing that’s holding all of this back and preventing him from being able to gauge what his options are.

This something is the market for Alex Bregman, who still has yet to sign. Recently, Mark Feinsand said that it was likely down to the Red Sox and Tigers for the two-time World Series champion. I personally hope he chooses Detroit because I like the potential of what the Cardinals could get from Boston for Arenado, even if it’s not a huge haul.

I’ve mentioned time and again that the Cardinals should strongly consider the Red Sox as trade partners because of Chaim Bloom’s familiarity with their farm system. I won’t dig deeper into that, but it’s very clear that it’s the Bregman sweepstakes that are holding things up, and as such delaying the Cardinals so-called “reset.”

This is not Bregman’s fault of course, but I would’ve thought that by now his market would be more established. It might be quite well established in all honesty, but the process has really been dragged out. I do believe that once Bregman signs, Arenado’s market will become clearer.

Maybe the Astros check in on him again, though that seems unlikely after they signed Christian Walker. Maybe the Red Sox or Phillies are better fits. We’ll have to see, but as a Cardinals fan, I must say it is frustrating that this has ultimately resulted in yet another long and boring offseason in St. Louis, similarly to what we experienced heading into 2023.

Hopefully Bregman signs soon. At this point, I think most Cardinals fans have accepted that 2025 isn’t going to be pretty, so it’s best to just get on with it and rip the bandaid off.