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Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak met with reporters (including Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat) at the team\u2019s Winter Warm-Up event today, and discussed several topics related to quiet St. Louis offseason.\u00a0 In general, Mozeliak didn\u2019t have much new to offer on the Nolan Arenado<\/strong> trade front, other than to say that \u201cI think priority one, two and three is still Nolan<\/em>\u201d in terms of how dealing the third baseman is the clear focal point for the rest of the team\u2019s winter plans.<\/p>\n Mozeliak has been open abut the team\u2019s intentions of cutting payroll and giving more playing time to younger players in 2025, even if the PBO and other Cardinals\u2019 officials have stopped short of officially considering next season a rebuilding year.\u00a0 During the Winter Meetings, Mozeliak candidly said that \u201cIt\u2019s my intention to try<\/em>\u201d and trade Arenado to aid in this process, and Arenado was tacitly on board with these endeavors, though Arenado ultimately has control over his own fate via his no-trade clause.<\/p>\n The eight-time All-Star already used this influence to reject a proposed deal in December that would\u2019ve seen him dealt to the Astros, with Houston taking on \u2014 according to conflicting reports \u2014 at least $45MM and as much as $59MM of the $60MM still owed on Arenado\u2019s contract.\u00a0 (The full total is $74MM, but the Rockies are covering $10MM of that figure and the other $4MM is reduced due to deferrals.)\u00a0 In the wake of that scuttled deal, the Astros moved on entirely by signing Christian Walker<\/strong> to address their corner infield needs, leaving St. Louis still in need of a trade partner.<\/p>\n Later reports suggested Arenado hadn\u2019t entirely closed the door on joining the Astros, but just wanted more time to evaluate the situation considering that Houston had just dealt Kyle Tucker<\/strong> to the Cubs earlier that same week.\u00a0 Mozeliak admitted today that he \u201cwas a little bit surprised<\/em>\u201d Arenado turned down the trade, and suggested that the Cardinals were hampered by the timing of the Tucker deal.\u00a0 \u201cIt was almost more like order of operation.\u00a0 Had we been a few days ahead of that, I think there would\u2019ve been [a trade]\u2026.So yeah, things happen<\/em>.\u201d Mozeliak said.<\/p>\n In regards to the lack of other interest in Arenado, Mozeliak said \u201cI would imagine the free agent market would be what\u2019s slowing that down<\/em>,\u201d referencing the fact that Alex Bregman<\/strong> remains unsigned.\u00a0 Some movement on the Arenado front could happen once Bregman chooses his next team, and Mozeliak said he hadn\u2019t yet spoken with Arenado or his camp about possibly expanding the third baseman\u2019s list of preferred trade destinations.<\/p>\n In fact, Mozeliak said he hadn\u2019t directly spoken with Arenado for close to a month, as the two last had contact before the holidays.\u00a0 Given the calendar, their next conversation might also have to address the scenario where Arenado isn\u2019t traded prior to Spring Training, so he\u2019d have to go through his normal spring routine under the weight of a potential change of scenery.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s the mental side of this too, right?<\/em>\u201d Mozeliak said.\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019s probably thinking, like, OK, if I have to come to camp, I want to start preparing for that, and maybe he wants to be committed to [staying in St. Louis] at that point.\u00a0 So I don\u2019t want to speak for him at this point, because we have not discussed that.\u00a0 But clearly, as we get closer to Jupiter, that is something we will have to touch on<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n In a piece for MLBTR Front Office subscribers earlier this week, Anthony Franco described the Cardinals\u2019 winter as \u201ca half-measure offseason,\u201d given how the team hadn\u2019t dealt any of its higher-salaried players, let alone Arenado.\u00a0 Willson Contreras<\/strong> and Sonny Gray<\/strong> left the Cards\u2019 hands tied by refusing to waive their own no-movement clauses, yet impending free agents Ryan Helsley<\/strong>, Erick Fedde<\/strong>, and Steven Matz<\/strong> all seem like obvious trade candidates, and all remain on the roster here in mid-January.<\/p>\n Mozeliak provided some explanation for not moving Fedde or Matz today, noting that the Cards \u201cdon\u2019t really love [the] idea\u201d of potentially leaving the team short-handed on the pitching front.\u00a0 \u201cWe really feel like we have some depth in our rotation right now, so I really don\u2019t want to start preparing tearing away from that, in terms of thinking about moving a position player to achieve some financial goals<\/em>,\u201d Mozeliak said.\u00a0 \u201cThat would be something we could consider as well, but we really don\u2019t want to<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n Fedde is owed $7.5MM in 2025, while Matz is owed $12MM and would likely be more of a salary-dump candidate given his injuries and struggles in recent years.\u00a0 Helsley will receive $8.2MM in his final season of team control.\u00a0 While all have substantial salaries, the $27.2MM total is only slightly less than the $27MM owed to Arenado in 2025, when Colorado\u2019s $5MM contribution is subtracted from his $32MM price tag.\u00a0 Between that math and the $27MM also owed to Arenado in 2026, it seems like the Cardinals simply want to exhaust all possibilities in moving Arenado before moving onto other payroll-cutting moves.<\/p>\n The more salary St. Louis is able to unload, the more the team can also add to the roster.\u00a0 Mozeliak suggested that if the money becomes available, the club could look at \u201cobviously [the] bullpen<\/em>\u201d or possibly \u201ca right-handed bat with some thump, something like that<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 The Cardinals have a decent amount of lineup balance already, but with Arenado on the move, the team would presumably be looking to replace him with another righty bat at a much lower price tag.\u00a0 In theory, this bat might come in the outfield \u2014 right fielder Jordan Walker<\/strong> is right-handed, but Lars Nootbaar<\/strong>, Victor Scott II<\/strong>, and Michael Siani<\/strong> all swing from the left side.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak met with reporters (including Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat) at the team’s …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27488,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[807,593,262,495],"class_list":["post-27487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","tag-erick-fedde","tag-john-mozeliak","tag-nolan-arenado","tag-steven-matz"],"yoast_head":"\n