Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - What's Holding Up An Arenado Trade

Episode Date: February 11, 2025

- Latest Nolan Arenado News - Jeff Passan Article https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/43780755/2025-mlb-free-agency-spring-training-intel-rumors-updates-passan-bregman-arenado - Industry Reaction To Cardinals Offseason - Arbitration Updates For Lars Nootbaar, Brendan Donovan And Andre Pallante Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms… 🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOSTLCardinals?sid=YouTube Locked On MLB League-Wide: Every Team, Prospects & More 🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnMLB Follow on Twitter/X: @JDSPORTSRADIO Follow the show on Twitter/X: @LO_Cardinals Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Wonderful Pistachios Looking for a snack that’s both delicious and nutritious? Get snackin’ and get crackin’ with the snack that packs a protein punch. Visit WonderfulPistachios.com to learn more. FanDuel Right now, new FanDuel customers can get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in Bonus Bets if your first FIVE DOLLAR bet wins!Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) #ForTheLou #stlcards #mlb #lockedoncardinals Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The latest rumors on Nolan are a Nato, including why a deal hasn't been struck already, according to one source on today's episode of Locked on Cardinals. You are Locked on Cardinals, your daily St. Louis Cardinals podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey there, Cardinals. I'm J.D. Haffern and I'm your host for Lockdown Cardinals. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network covering your team every day. You can follow me on Twitter X at J.D. Sports Radio. you can also follow the podcast at L0 underscore Cardinals. I do want to thank those of you who make Locked on Cardinals your first listen every day. We're free and available wherever it gets your podcast. You can also find this on YouTube if you haven't already.

Stop on by, like, subscribe, comment, hit that notification button so you know when the new episodes are posted. This is a show serving Cardle Nation and giving you the best fans in baseball, all of the info about the birds on the bat. Today's episode brought to you by Fandual. Right now new Fandual customers can get $150 in bonus bets if your first $5. to bed wins. Just download the app or head to fandle.com to get started. So TikTok, TikTok, not talking about the app. No, no, no. That is the clock. Winding down as spring training approaches across Major League baseball, pitchers and catchers reporting this week across the league. We got position players to follow after that. And as of this moment,

the no one are not a trade saga continues. It has not. moved. There's been no movement yet. He's still a member of the Cardinals. But we do have some word from ESPN's Jeff Passen on the situation. And from what I'm gathering, he's under the impression that it is a money issue on the Cardinals side that has kept Nolan Aranaato in St. Louis so far. So here's what he says in his latest article. And he starts off talking about Alex Breggman, which my everydayers should be well aware of by now is one of the main reasons that things have not moved as swiftly as we'd like with the Aronado trade stuff because teams are waiting on Breggman to make a decision. And if he doesn't choose them,

then they can pivot to other options at third base like Nolan Aronado. Now the teams he lists are the same usual suspects, tigers, Astros, Red Sox, Blue Jays, and Cubs. I did see, um, the There was an update. Let me double check this while I got you guys with me right now, that he is close, likely to choose soon, multi-year offers from three teams. This according to Buster only, he's going to sign with either of the Cubs,

Red Sox, or Tigers, according to that report, which just dropped a few moments ago at MLB.com. So that's a little bit of an upgrade or an update, I should say, on what's going on with the Bregman situation. in Passon's article, he points out that Red Sox manager Alex Cora wants Bregman badly. And this is important for us as Cardinal fans because the Red Sox have been the most talked about and seemingly best spot for Nolan Aronado to land.

So after the Breggman stuff in this article, he moves on to Aronado saying that the fallout from Breggman's staring contest extends well beyond him. that three years after joining St. Louis, Aronado wants to be traded, and the Cardinals would like to oblige just for the right price. With the Yankees and the Dodgers seen his long shots to make a move for Aronado when eight-time All-Star third baseman, the Red Sox remain the landing spot that makes the most sense, though Aranado uses no trade clause to block a deal to Houston this winter. He would waive it to end up in Boston, according to sources. He says the Red Sox have yet to bite, not only because of the consequences of such a move,

Raphael Devers, who we've talked about having to shift to a near full-time designated hitter role. But because the Cardinals have not budged enough on the money that they're willing to send with the remaining three years and $64 million on Aaronado's contract. Now, moving Aronado could force St. Louis to eat upward of half the money he is owed. Short of that, Boston's interest is iffy. So let's talk about that portion of Passon's article real quick. None of this is all that shocking. The league knows that the Cardinals are trying to move him. The League knows that he would prefer to get out.

So the Cardinals have been painted in a bit of a corner here where they really don't have much power in the situation to demand things from other teams. Teams aren't banging down the Cardinals door to acquire Nolan Aronado right now. And as I've said a million times, it seems, when that Houston trade got vetoed by Nolan, it screwed the Cardinals royally. Screwed him big time.

And this is not a knock on Nolan Arnado for doing what he did. It was his right to do it. He shouldn't feel bad about it. And none of us his fans should be mad at him either because he has every right to choose. I don't want to play Houston. That's not where I wanted to be. He wanted to wait it out to see if other places that he would prefer to put play we're going to open up and maybe he could land there instead he he took a chance that that could

happen uh but it's really really really made things difficult for the cardinals because they found a deal they had it they found a deal that they liked and that they were like cool money's right whatever was coming back and return was apparently something that the cardinals were were cool with I'm assuming the Astros felt they could live with whatever it was that they were trading away. They were fine with it. They were fine paying what they were going to pay for Nolan Aronado. And every deal after this particular one was likely not going to be as good. Like you had to know that as the Cardinals.

If that was the tippity top, like it was good enough where they were like, yeah, let's go. and you just kind of knew that after that one, things were going to get worse. Any deals that were going to come to them after that was probably going to get worse. And as you can see, things have stalled. Now, how come the Cardinals don't just eat more money, right? Why don't they just do it and move on just to get over all of this and just move on with our lives?

I'm guessing. And I have no source that's telling me this or anything. I'm just guessing that the Cardinals feel that if and when Bregman finally signs that their leverage with Aronado will become better. It will get stronger and that teams who don't get Alex Bregman will get a little more desperate and be willing to bid a little bit more and against each other to get Aronado instead. I'm sure that's what John Moseilock and the Cardinals are hoping for at least. And in theory, it makes sense, you know, supply demand. There aren't a lot of third baseman out there. There's definitely not many with the name that Arnato carries with him.

Yeah, he's got the price tag. Yeah, the power has been diminished. But, I mean, he's still elite level third basement over there defensively, right? He's still a pretty darn good hitter. No, he's not hitting 35 bombs a year anymore. But he's still a pretty, pretty, good hitter at their base. That's some scrub. He's not hitting 210 with, you know, 10 home runs and, you know, 50 RBA. Like he's not a scrub. It feels like people are trying to make it sound like he's

much worse than he really is and he's not. But will other GMs feel pressure if they don't get Alex Breckman to satisfy their third base needs to satisfy their fan bases who are expecting an improvement at that position? So I think that's what the front office is probably, banking on, I think. Again, these are just my thoughts. But it's one of the reasons why they seems like they're holding out a little bit and just kind of play. They're willing to be patient, even though we got spring training getting ready to start. And I think it's going to be really awkward. If Nolan Aronado is at camp with the Cardinals, if he's still somebody that's on the trade block at the time. You know, and Aronado could tell him, like, if I get into camp, that's it.

I'm not going anywhere. Like I have the right to stop it. So maybe I won't do that. But it's just another part of this very strange offseason for the Cardinals so far. And Passan actually delves into why executives around the industry have been what he put confounded by what the team has done or hasn't done this offseason. So I want to jump into that specifically next on Locked on. Cardinals. When the game tips off, the NBA action is just getting started and there's no better place to get in on it than with Fandul, America's number one sports book. Now with Fandall, you can place

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We will get to them. Probably tomorrow's episode is going to be a fan-heavy one unless we get some breaking news of some sort. And then, of course, we got rid things around. But anyway, back to what we were talking about, this whole reset thing, right? This whole reset thing that was brought up by John Moseilac and the Cardinals. I know personally, as a fan of the Cardinals,

I was bombed. I was absolutely bummed because I wanted them to use the talent that they already had. A team that won 83 games last year, despite a lot of down years from certain people. And I wanted them to build on that. You know, I like the idea that, hey, we're at least giving ourselves a chance to win. And when you heard about the reset thing, it was basically saying, hey, look, we're going to go in this direction, which means there's really not a lot of hope that we're going to win much this year. But you, you know, my thought process was like, you've got Sunny Gray locked up.

You got Eric Fetty, who you're hoping will be like he was with the White Sox. and in a couple of starts with the Cardinals. Hopefully, Wilson Contreras can come back for a full season. So it was hurt half the year last year, you know, and he was a really good hitter. Mason win, obviously made huge strides last year, and it looks to be a budding superstar in the league. You still had Nolan Aranatta.

Brennan Donovan, Newpar, Romero, Helsley, a lot of guys, right? Pretty solid core there. Plus, you were hoping that young guys would step up and progress. You know, you hit a wall with guys like, like Gorman and Walker last year, and it was weird, but you're hoping that, you know, they would, they would make strides the way Mason Wend did. Yvonne Herrera, Victor Scott, Fernandez, and Libertory in the bullpen, Palante McGreevy in your rotation.

And if you added just a couple of good names to that group instead of, you know, in the middle of the road, guys, perhaps you could make a decent run in a week in El Central. Instead, they say they're going to do this reset. and in my mind, that meant not only letting go of the free agents like Gibson, Lynn, Kittridge, Goldsmith, which I was not upset about. But also, if you're going to go that way, you got to go all the way. And you got to trade away guys like Contreras and Arnado and Helsley and Gray and Fetty and Michaelis, mats, you know, guys that would have some worth to other teams around the league,

it would help you cut payroll. It opens up spots for everybody else. I understood the direction. I got it. I was like, that's a tough pill to swallow because I'm not used to this as a Cardinals fan and neither are you. But if we're going to do it, let's go. Let's do it.

Let's get this thing, go headed in the right direction again, where we're competing for championships again. And instead, none of them have been moved. They're all still here. It is genuinely the worst reset I have ever seen. Reset, rebuild, whatever R word you want to do. it's not good. It's been bad. And it's something that Passan brings up that has people around the league also scratching their heads. Here's what he had to say in this article at ESPN.com. Why St. Louis has been more aggressive in dealing its bevy of talent is confounding executives around the industry. The Cardinals aren't going to spend and they haven't spent a dollar in free agency. Surely the thinking goes they should leverage the players.

they've got now and start building towards something more. Makes sense, right? Instead, they are seemingly content to run it back, even if that means the awkwardness of Aronado returning. The Cardinals have prepared for that possibility and are content following a mediocre season in which they lost nearly 400,000 fans with another uninspiring winter.

It's an organization stuck in neutral, a feeling that led to John Mosellac announcing that he will step away after the 2025 season in yielding the team's president of baseball operations job to former Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer, I'm Blum. The Cardinals' direction will become clearer when owner Bill DeWitt Jr. decides whether to kick in more money to facilitate an Arnado deal.

Just how willing he is to do so will become clearer in the coming days and weeks. So if you're confused by the Cardinals' moves or lack there of this offseason, you are not alone. Everybody is confused by all of this. Apparently the league is confused as to what in the hell is going on in St. Louis. I have said before, every day or so remember this, when Contreras and Gray said that they'd prefer to stay in St. Louis instead of getting traded,

when they said, hey, we're no trade clause. We're not going anywhere. I don't want to go anywhere. I want to be in St. Louis. Dwye Seine here, which is super nice of them. I think it threw Mo and the boys for a loop. I don't think that they expected them to say that. I think they expected them to be on board with moving on elsewhere to compete for a championship.

And that as soon as one domino went, the others would follow. Again, it wasn't going to be a fire sale, but it was going to be, all right, these are the expensive dudes. These are the veteran dudes. let's move on from them. We'll trade them elsewhere. We'll get some assets in return and we'll start, you know, churning this thing out. And as much as I hated hearing that, the cartels were looking to trade these guys, I at least gave them credit for picking the lane and moving in a direction and saying, nope, this is what we've decided. And we're going to go do it. Problem is nobody wanted to leave. Nobody wanted to leave. Contreras and Grace say they'd rather stick around. Joe St. Louis for a reason.

Michaelis has got a no trade clause. He's going to clog up another rotation spot this year with his declining stuff. You know, again, I've seen people who are like, well, move him to the bullpen. It doesn't matter if he goes there or not. And right now, you know, it's the rotation. Yeah, we got six guys now. But again, health things will happen in the spring. Somebody's going to get hurt.

It's just what normally happens for every team. and then that person's going to be back in the rotation anyway. So there's no need to make it a, like Michael Euse goes to go to the pen right now. What else we got here? They won't eat enough money to move Aronado to unclog things on the infield, which, you know, it's going to move the packing order around of who's getting at bats and whatnot. Would likely, at least in my opinion, is going to keep Thomas C. down in the minor leagues.

Like, again, having him sit on the bench all the time and playing once a week is not going to do him any good. You just let them play every day. You find other people that you don't need to worry about their progression as a prospect. You let them sit on the bench. That's why they got guys like Carpenter and Crawford last year, you know, because they're okay with being on the bench. It's not a big deal.

But when you got like top prospects like Thomas O'J, you don't want him rotting. You need him taking abats and playing every day. So now to move him down to the minors likely, it's going to cost Nolan Gorman at bats. It's going to cost Alec Burleson at bats because you got to have somebody who's going to DH. Burleson looks like he's not got, he doesn't have a spot in the outfield as up right now because of Walker,

Donovan, Newt Bar, Siani. You want all those guys starting in the outfield to over Burleson as far as a defensive player. So where are you going to put it? You're going to make them a DH? Okay. Well, that's fine. But it just keeps things clogged up, right? Where a lot of these guys are going to have to sit on the bench for certain things.

And that's what they're trying not to do. I'm assuming interest in Stephen Mats has been minimal at best, which means McGreevy might have to be in the miners. I don't want to see him in the bullpen. If they're not going to push Mats out there, then I don't want to see McGreevy sitting out there and just rot. and waiting. I want him pitching every fifth day. So Pass and says it perfectly. They are stuck in neutral. They won't make the necessary impact moves to become a much better team through free agency. They don't want to spend the money to do that. And again, I'm not talking about subtle moves. I'm not talking about, you know, like they did last year, which was so overwhelming when it was,

we found out Kyle Gibson and Lance Lennner coming in. You're like, what? Why? Why? Those are so non needle moving moves. I was like, you got gray. Get one more guy. Get one more guy and really make an impact. And they're like, nah, Gibson and Lynn. And we all knew that wasn't going to be enough. And it wasn't, which is why so many of us were disappointed in that decision last year.

This year, they're relying on the youth and the organization to provide that boost, which is fine. I'm all for that. It is time for Gorman and Walker to be one of your everyday three through six guys in the lineup. I'm cool with that. They got to find out if they can do it or not. Sink or swim. New Bar has to have a bigger impact on this team and stay healthy to do it.

I'm excited about seeing Yvonne Herrera's bat in the lineup for a full season. But to not deal away any of these veteran guys to open up things even more, it's just extremely disheartening to a fan base that is already annoyed and fed up with the lack of vision in one direction or another. And you saw that over the last couple of times. several seasons with the way attendance was. Like last year's attendance wasn't a shocker because you saw as things got worse and worse in the previous season in 2023.

And now you had to try to win all these guys back and, you know, Sunny Gray was a good signing. But that was it. Like, it's not going to put butts in the seats, you know? And then when you went Glenn and Gibson, everybody was like, oh, so you're just going to do that again? Okay. And I stayed away.

A winning team in St. Louis, fans stayed away, chose to stay away. Now, I realize things can change during the upcoming season. You know, perhaps by the trade deadline, maybe Contreras and Gray have a change of heart and are willing to go somewhere else. Fetty, Housley, Mats, they can all be moved. Things could change. But what if it becomes we get there? It's July 30th.

It's always at the end of the July when the trade deadline is. So say it's July 30th. Cardinals are three games back in the division or the wild card. They're not first. They're not winning anything yet, but they're not completely out of it yet. Will Mo have the courage to still trade assets away to think about the future, where some of these guys are in big demand and we can get a haul for some of these guys? Or will he try to go win in his final year by hanging on to everyone to the detriment of the future?

You've seen what he's done in the past. And we'll see. It's going to be a tough spot. Again, it's weird too because he's not in charge next year. So whatever decisions he makes, you know, has the repercussions on Heinblum next year. Who is with the team this year? And so he's probably going to be like, dude, no, no, no, no, no, don't, no, don't do that. But he's not in charge.

So I just wonder how this whole dynamic's going to work out. Again, the most middle of the road, neutral spot to be in, which is a horrible spot to be in when you're a franchise. Don't know whether to flush or just keep going. That's where they are. That's where they are. And I know they want to try to trade Arnado. They're still looking to, sorry, my chair keeps sinking. I got a new chair, by the way, that I have to put together because this one, the hydraulics on either I just got fat or the hydraulics on the sucker are wearing out.

So I got to put my new one together. So apologies for you watching on YouTube. But, you know, they're trying to trade Aranaana. They are. But if they really want to just get it done, then eat the necessary money that you have to and get it going. Get it over with. Okay. We're going to discuss the updates on the arbitration hearings, something we haven't talked a lot about this offseason with three Cardinals who should have a big impact on this season.

We'll do that next on Locktown Cardinals. Thank you for making Locktown Cardinals. today for your second list and find locked on MLB, baseball guru Sully, brings you a daily blend of humor in baseball, keeping you updated on all the teams during the offseason, even the silent ones like our Cardinals, find locked on MLB on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast. Brennan Donovan, Andre Palante, and Lars Neutbar

are going to be important pieces for this team in 2025. If there's going to be success, those three guys are going to have to be huge for this team. If they fall apart and they lose a lot, probably because those guys didn't live up to whatever expectations we have for them coming into the season. You know, Donnie has been a bright spot for this scene. The only time that he had any issues is when he got hurt a couple years ago during that horrible, horrible, uh, 2023 season.

Remember he had the injury and then in his elbow. So they were like, all right, let's just bring you back next year. Season's over. That's the only time that he has had failure at the major league level. So a huge bright spot for this team and organization since he came up. Solid player, great defender, one of those glue pieces that all rosters need to be successful. He's not a superstar by any means, but he's very important. Palante made the move to full-time starter last year and flourished in the second half.

Team is hoping that that's not just some flash in the pan situation, that he can legit be a part of their five-man rotation this year and beyond. And then with Lars, all the potential in the world, right? All the potential. has the potential be a very good player in this league. Stat cast, Wonderboy, right? But health has held them back from fulfilling all that potential to its fullest. That's been the problem, keeping them on the field.

So Donovan Palante and DuPar are the only arbitration-eligible players with whom the Cardinals could not reach deals with before the January 9th deadline to exchange their salary figures. Now, Daniel Guerrero did a write-up at STL Today.com, said Donovan and Palante are scheduled for today and Wednesday. I think I saw a tweet or an axe, whatever the hell you call them now, that Donovan's is done for the day. So that's completed.

Palante, I guess, would be tomorrow. And then a decision on Lars Newbar's arbitration hearing is expected in the coming days. He had his arbitration hearing last week in St. Petersburg for a source, 27-year-old outfielder declined to comment on the arbitration process until after a decision is announced. filed for a salary of 2.95 million, Cardinals filed at 2.45. Donovan's 28 years old. Filed for a salary of 3.3 million. Cardinals filed to 2.85.

And then Palante 26, filed at 2.1. Cardinals filed at 1.95. And I know the reaction, when we hear these numbers, you're like, well, that's not a huge discrepancy. Just pay the guys. Quit being cheap. But this is the process. This is what they do.

And in every business, whoever's owner is going to try to pay you less. Like, it's just the way it is. You know, that's how they make more money. And sometimes in this arbitration stuff, feelings get hurt. And it blows up in your face. Hello, Tyler O'Neill. Happened to him with the Cardinals. And they never really recovered after that.

But Helsley did it and came out fine last year. Newt has said before he understands the process. He gets it. He's not bothered by things. personally it's a terrible process the fact that somebody who relies on somebody else to do good things for them but has to speak in front of that person and tell him out what he does wrong and how terrible they are at certain things so that they can save somebody i think it's terrible it's awful but it's what they have right now it needs to be changed but hopefully whatever happens with these three guys everybody's fine and moves on

If they end up all winning their arbitration cases and the colonels have to pay it, so be it. Big deal. But if they lose, I hope that it doesn't hurt their feelings and they're upset about it. Part of the process. But it made me come up with a question before we wrap things up today. If you could extend one of these guys, Brendan Donovan, again, 28, there's Newport, 27, Palante, 26. If you'd extend one of those three guys, you only,

get to pick one though you can give them an extension of you know two years whatever which one would you extend who would you like to keep around but you only get one you only get one so hit me up below give me your thoughts also put it up as a poll question at on our twitter x page as well so go check that out and vote as well thank you for making locks on cardinals your first list that every day if you haven't already please give us a follow on twitter x at l1 underscore cardels in a jd sports radio like, subscribe on YouTube of our channel and love for the Cardinals grow. Make sure you're hitting the like button

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and we'll try to make it through this 2025 season as a family. So you guys are the best fans in baseball for a reason. I appreciate your support. and we will see you next time on Lockdown Cardinals.