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One team finally decided to try to be the best in NL Central.
The Cardinals were set to acquire Nolan Arenado from the Rockies on Friday night. Because $ 50 million would be transferred from Colorado to St. Louis, and Arenado would gain an additional withdrawal after the 2022 season on top of the one he has after the 2021 season, the deal will need to be approved by MLB and the ‘Association of players. The hope is that it could be done as early as Sunday or Monday and the trade could be finalized.
If so, it would mark the first significant import of talent into NL Central after three months of the offseason in which talent only flowed outward.
Josh Bell, Yu Darvish, Raisel Iglesias, Jon Lester, Joe Musgrove, Jose Quintana, Kyle Schwarber, Jameson Taillon and probably at some point soon Trevor Bauer left NL Central. Until Friday, when Adam Wainwright re-signed with the Cardinals and Joc Pederson agreed to a deal with the Cubs, the entire division had combined to spend less than $ 3 million on free agency. The Reds still haven’t signed a major league free agent and Wainwright was the first by the Cardinals.
But now Saint-Louis was on the verge of a seismic movement. The Cardinals would send five prospects to the Rockies – but none of their elite Minor Leaguers. Arenado owes $ 199 million for the next six years and, as MLB Network’s Jon Heyman first reported, he will have an additional $ 15 million for a seventh year if this deal goes through.
There is a risk beyond the money. Arenado already had the right to opt out of his contract after the 2021 season and now he has the same after 2022 as well, and there has always been a feeling in the game that he would like to find a way to get back to his southern roots. from California. However, St. Louis is a baseball mad city and players often fall in love with playing in front of such a positive fan base for a regular contender.
For now, Arenado is a winner if the trade goes through as it escapes a toxic situation in Colorado. He signed an eight-year, $ 260 million extension after the 2018 season. He believed the Rockies were not just committing to him, but trying to be eternal contenders. Arenado therefore became frustrated when the team did not continue to invest in the payroll to hunt better players. He found himself in a feud with general manager Jeff Bridich and it became clear that he wanted a divorce.
In the shortened 2020 schedule, Arenado had his worst season, reaching .253 with a .738 OPS while struggling with an injured shoulder. The Cardinals would bet it was an aberration and that Arenado is the player who finished in the top-eight in the 2015-19 NL MVP vote. Even last year, he won his eighth gold glove in eight years as he established himself as one of the best third baseman of all time.
For the Rockies, they are giving up a face of their franchise. They’re sending so much money to the Cardinals to escape the weight of the contract, a potentially open space to retain star shortstop Trevor Story, who is a free agent after the 2021 season, and essentially buy leads, which are expected to include the pitcher Austin Gomber, first baseman Luken Baker and outfielder Jhon Torres.
There are connotations in this deal with when the Marlins traded Giancarlo Stanton to the Yankees after the 2017 season. Stanton and Arenado are both represented by Joel Wolfe. The two signed mega-contracts to stay with the team that drafted them in the second round. The two became disillusioned with organizations that wouldn’t keep pushing after signing them. The Cardinals actually established a trade for Stanton, but he invoked his no-trade clause and – like Arenado – initially hoped to find his way back into his Southern California roots with the Dodgers.
Stanton agreed to a trade with the Yankees, who squeezed $ 52 million in savings from the Marlins, who ate $ 30 million and took the remaining $ 22 million from Starlin Castro’s contract.
This time, it was in the Cards for Saint Louis to land this kind of star seeking to escape a degraded situation.
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